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The November Man

Poorly defined characters and a complete lack of originality

As spy thrillers go, there’s nothing really wrong with this James Bond wannabe. I mean, it’s got a former Bond in Pierce Brosnan (who does well), a Bond-worthy director in Roger Donaldson (The Getaway, The Recruit, The Bank Job), plenty of (nicely analog) explosions and car chases and even a former Bond Girl in Olga Kurylenko, who’s never hard to look at.

But there’s just not much that’s memorable about this collection of clichés, either. Airport-novel narrative that gets less coherent as the film lurches along, poorly defined characters and a complete lack of originality. Japanese title: Spy Legend. (108 min)