14. Pierce Brosnan Severs An Innocent Woman's Femoral Artery - The November Man
Retired CIA officer Peter Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan) decides to teach his young rival David Mason (Luke Bracey) a lesson by breaking into his apartment and holding the woman he's just hooked up with, Sarah (Eliza Taylor), hostage. Peter is testing David, and asks what he would do if Sarah's femoral artery were slashed: would he save her, or pursue him? David pleads for him not to do it, but of course, Peter slashes the artery on her leg, and flees, while David makes the decision to stay with Sarah and attempt to save her. The final time Sarah is seen, she's being loaded into an ambulance, with it being somewhat tacitly implied that she survives. Even though Sarah presumably lives, this scene was widely taken to task for critics for being too harsh tonally, and making it difficult to sympathise with or root for the titular protagonist. Is there any excuse for administering a near-fatal wound to an innocent young woman? Not really, and it's not even particularly necessary to the plot. It just reeks of cheap shock value, and is a poorly judged act of callousness rather than a pleasant addition of moral ambiguity.
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