We all know that the latter half of Pierce Brosnan’s tenure as James Bond essentially devolved into extended episodes of Archer, only with worse special effects, but that was mostly down to cartoonish scripts and bad direction. Halle Berry didn’t help either. But very few people would truly deride the performance of Bronsan himself as the world’s greatest spy.
Since those days though, with one mostly unseen exception, Brosnan has yet to go back to those action hero ways, instead choosing to rupture our ear drums (and souls) with out of key singing and Hallmark styled romantic dramas.
But now he’s back to shooting people in the face with Last Man Out. And no, it’s not a cricket movie.
The film is an adaptation of Stuart Neville’s 2012 novel, “The Twelve” (published as “The Ghosts of Belfast” in the USA), described by the Observer newspaper as “unbearably tense, stomach-churningly frightening … a future classic of its time”. The thriller is being adapted by British actor/writer/comedian/late night talk show host Craig Ferguson along with his frequent writing collaborator Ted Mulkerin, and newcomer Terry Loan will be directing.
And if you’re wondering exactly why Brosnan would now be shooting faces again, Last Man Out will see him as an “ex-paramilitary killer” fresh out of jail, whose violent quest to avenge his twelve victims by going after his former employers, results in him being hunted by another professional killer in turn.
And because we’re in the year of our lord, Two Thousand and Thirteen, we don’t only have a plot synopsis for you, but also a trailer for the book.
Former paramilitary killer Gerry Fegan is haunted by his victims, twelve souls who shadow his every waking day and scream through every drunken night. Just as he reaches the edge of sanity they reveal their desire: vengeance on those who engineered their deaths. From the greedy politicians to the corrupt security forces, the street thugs to the complacent bystanders who let it happen, all must pay the price.
When Fegan’s vendetta threatens to derail Northern Ireland’s peace process and destabilise its fledgling government, old comrades and enemies alike want him gone. David Campbell, a double agent lost between the forces of law and terror, takes the job. But he has his own reasons for eliminating Fegan; the secrets of a dirty war should stay buried, even if its ghosts do not.
Set against the backdrop of a post-conflict Northern Ireland struggling with its past, “The Twelve” takes the reader from the back streets of Belfast, where violence and politics go hand-in-hand, to the country’s darkest heart.
Last Updated: February 7, 2013
