Went to The November Man worried it would suck. Despite all the mediocre reviews on RT NM is actually done pretty well.
At it's heart NM is a movie made for Bond fans stuffed with subtle and not so subtle Bond references.
[spoil]When listing assassinated agents the last one is Craig.
Chastises the killer he trained nothing more than a blunt instrument.
Has the OHMSS wife dieing in front of him scene.
Olga Kurylenko lifted completely from QOS and done right.
Goldeneye Valentine Zukovsky like moment
Finally I think I got a shout out from Brosnan,
The bad ass hacker working for the Russian assassin had the omega symbol tattooed on his neck. Later he was killed by the Assassin
but she looks my girlfriend from High School. so maybe it's all connected.
[/spoil]
Of the complaints I've read I'd say only a few a warranted. Most IMO are the over critical for the wrong reasons, it's a spy movie, so it follows the pattern spy movies must follow. It didn't reinvent Spy movies but it does make a good entry.
Someone complained about the score it didn't bother me, I wasn't blown away by it but it wasn't distracting either. Brosnan is good as an older agents coming back, in some way I though his action was better than some of his Bonds, it didn't go over the top but the close quarter combat was believable for a older man to pull off.
Remember Olga Kurylenko character from QOS well her she actually makes sense and is someone you feel for and cheer for. (odd AFAIK this is the third movie I seen her in where she doesn't become romantically involved with the lead, QOS, Max Payne, and this) [spoil]I almost agree the younger version of her and older do not match up however for the story to work the young version can not be obvious. In a way it does make sense[/spoil]
I have two complaints one is the stormtrooper/clone/droid mentality for killing agents, standard for spy movies, shoot up KGB and CIA agents and nobody cares. My other complaint is [spoil]the main CIA bad guy is not killed, after murdering half the CIA agents in wherever the hell it was the good guys basically have to finish killing off all the agency there not on their side then pretend it was the Russians who did it. I don't see how the Agency would be OK with it after giving their approval belatedly to the bad guys plan, which Brosnan and co. put in the toilet.
I'd like so resolution on why all they did would be ultimately sanctioned. But from Brosnan's character POV it doesn't matter he does what he deems necessary and that's all.
Actually the logic behind it is not worse than any other spy move or Bond movie for that matter.
One complaint I'll sort of agree with it the nobody can hide forever line followed by hide were even i can't find you, IMO this felt like it was part of a longer conversation. I hope they release this movie with a extended unrated cut[/spoil]
Brosnan is not Bond, this spy is colder and meaner than Bond. In an odd way more vulnerable to. [spoil]He takes a innocent girl hostage (who just shagged his former protege) for no other reason as far as I can tell than to cut her arterie to test his one time apprentices humanity. Maybe it was to take the young man out of action long enough to do something.
Late in the movie it is revealed Brosnan and his recently murdered by the CIA wife have a daughter they kept secret, this actually works well. Of course she is taken hostage but ultimately doesn't charge the outcome but it had me wondering what Brosnan was going to do. Would he sell out the Russian girl everybody was hunting for to save his daughter or not. And until he says the word we don't know for sure what he is thinking. He is that much colder than he was as Bond.[/spoil]
Bottom line I enjoyed it and hope they make a few more of these. I'd really like Dalton to make a similar move as well.
I saw this movie with the greatest generation, that's right the generation who went to Goldeneye opening day.Which may be some of the BO problem, it was a mostly an older audience who went out to see Brosnan kill again, but not entirely. It's a bad summer for the movie industry it may be a shift in how people watch movies, the economy, or maybe it just there is too much out there and nothing that captures the attention they way a Star Wars or Avatar can.
It's over all solid movie that I'd could see myself watching a few more times, maybe not at the movies but I'll buy it the day it come out.
I thought the movie was very good and Brosnan did a nice job in the process. We all thought it was a quick paced fun film to watch. The plot gets a little complicated at times but if you pay attention you can keep up with it. Those critics that maligned it are morons. 16 people were in the theatre. It's not getting a big enough audience because Brosnan failed to do the talk show tv circuit to promote it probably because there are mostly reruns on in August. It deserves a sequel and I enjoyed it more than ANY Cr-egg Bond film, and it looked like the Bond-ish film Pierce always wanted to do. 
