Never Say Never Again (1983)

Simply A Masterpiece

People are voting emotionally.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Yet another remakes infinitely superior to the laughably overrated original.Never Say Never Again: 4 out of 10Thunderball: ZEE.......ROW.The end.

For those who argue Sean Connery was the only "Bond"--well, Moore was considered when Sean got the job (Moore was busy and never actually tested, but if he'd got the job and been Bond for 25 years no one would ever have known the difference). This proves Connery isn't Bond, though Connery is enough.Connery does have a powerful screen presence, but in this movie he comes off as an old spy hassled by his younger superiors yet still able to attract strong young women.The fact is, this movie was made because Ian Fleming, Bond creator, did Kevin McClory. Fleming worked with McClory on an earlier Bond treatment that went nowhere. He then took his ideas (and McClory's) and wrote THUNDERBALL, the rights of which he sold to Broccoli and Saltzman.From that point on, McClory dogged the producers of the James Bond movies we all know and love (or hate) with lawsuits anytime he thought he saw an inkling of his work reflected in the movies. McClory won his lawsuit to make his own version of THUNDERBALL and this is it. It's basically a reboot of THUNDERBALL.Unfortunately, it doesn't have the feel of "James Bond." It doesn't have the support staff (Bernard Lee was dead by this time but his replacement, Edward Fox, is a fussy little man concerned about Bond's diet of white bread; Pamela Salem is wasted as a stupid, if funny, Moneypenny; and while their Q, like Fox, is an otherwise good actor, he's not really Q, is he?) We've come to expect a lot of things from Bond: exotic locations, with hot and cold running women; ridiculously enormous, but wonderful, Ken Adam or Peter Lamont sets; John Barry music; villains who are either over the top or snidely self-righteous in a Clinton/Gore sort of way. Gadgets.Well, we have the locales. We have SPECTRE and its villains, the cold Blofeld (Max von Sydow, complete with cat) and the almost painfully over-the-top Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer). Georgia peach Kim Basinger woefully out of her league as Domino, but dark and fiery Barbara Carrera picking up any decline in sexual heat.We also have Rowan Atkinson as idiotic comic relief (as if we needed more), after Fox and Salem.What we don't have is good music, and especially the "James Bond Theme"--a tune that never grows old and always breaks out, either that or Barry's "007", every time something Bond-like happens. What we don't have is Cubby Broccoli's money thrown into design so even in the days when his Bonds ceased being the only game in town and slid in with the other action movies, they were still a peg up from the others in look.This is what James Bond movies might have been without Broccoli and Saltzman. Slapdash, with new faces thrown in willy-nilly on second-hand ideas. Oh, they updated their technology--to 1983 standards. So what? Outside of Bond, Sean Connery made some good movies ("Murder on the Orient Express" or "The Man Who Would be King") and he's made an ass of himself (Remember "Zardoz"? Or the wifebeating comedy "A Fine Madness"? If you don't remember them, thank your lucky stars) He holds up well (only six years later he was Indiana Jones' father). But we've been conditioned to think of "James Bond" as Broccoli rather than Fleming (in fact, instead of Fleming). This is neither. It's just another Connery movie, not as run of the mill as some, not as good as others; certainly better than Peter Sellers' "Casino Royale." It has the feel of one of the better Bond imitators the 1960s were full of. And we can be grateful it was Broccoli, not Kevin McClory, who got his hooks on the rest of Bond.On a curious note, "Never Say Never Again" was released the same years as "Octopussy"--not one of Moore's best outings. I'm old enough to remember the "competing Bonds" news reports. Well, there was no competition. Octopussy was number 6 at the box office. But both Bonds were blown away--by "Return of the Jedi."

1983 was an interesting year for Bond fans. We had the 13th official James Bond film Octopussy starring Roger Moore and an unofficial James Bond film by the name of Never Say Never Again starring Sean Connery. This is a remake of the 1965 Bond thriller Tunderball. I think if you are a fan of Sean Connery as James Bond then you'll like this movie. Barbara Carrera is this film's femme fatale and she is very over the top but she is incredibly enjoyable to watch in an otherwise dull movie. There is nothing visually appealing about Never Say Never Again, the cinematography is bland and the score is bad. But it still is fun for Sean Connery fans.

Never Say Never Again is a historic event and is remembered as the surprising return of Sean Connery in his iconic role as James Bond, but I grade films on quality. This film is just bad.The casting (Basinger aside) is weak. The weak score pales in comparison to John Barry's compositions. The set staging consisted of just buildings with expensive furniture rather than anything atmospheric. The plot is basically a rip off of Thunderball. The arcade scene was the most original part of the movie though. Overall, it lacks the iconic fantasy elements of the official Bond films but is far too campy to take seriously. It derives from them but doesn't push it in any new direction. Connery should have retired from the role for good after You Only Live Twice.