Hoping for a golden trio of festival circuit hits following Election and About Schmidt, Alexander Payne brings us his third magnum opus about the sense of loss and failure inherent in middle age and the elderly.

When Jason Bourne (The Bourne Identity), Harry Tasker (True Lies) and Xander Cane (XXX) were still wearing nappies, the ultimate gentleman spy had racked up forty years of bedding hot Eurobabes, crashing his way out of exploding underground strongholds and using superhuman skills to vanquish despotic villains.

While individual scenes are beautifully textured, well written and acted by very competent leads, the film as a whole feels a bit on the long side — although it’s never boring.