The November Man

Beginning in 2008 in Montenegro on the shores of Lake Geneva, The November Man finds retired CIA agent Peter Deveraux (Pierce Brosnan) being recruited back into service by his former handler, John Hanley (Bill Smitrovich). But a glitch in the mission sees Devereaux reluctantly pitted against his own trigger-happy protégé, David Mason (Luke Bracey), while also attempting to protect Alice Fournier (Olga Kurylenko), a relief agency worker in Belgrade who has evidence that could jeopardize the ambitions of a misogynistic, Putin-like politician named Federov (Lazar Ristovski)—the man next in line for the Russian presidency. As this curiously convoluted espionage plot unfolds (involving the Russia-Chechnya conflict), the principals' paths cross with a number of others, including a former CIA double-agent with whom Deveraux once had a significant romantic relationship, a bumbling New York Times reporter, and a ruthless Russian assassin. Generically adapted and updated from Bill Granger's 1986 novel There Are No Spies, and formulaically directed by Roger Donaldson, the film has Brosnan uttering too many ridiculous lines (“Don't put your faith in me. I promise I'll disappoint you.”). An uninvolving saga of international intrigue starring the former James Bond, this is an optional purchase. (S. Granger)