ThiefHott Too much of everything

Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Pluskylang Great Film overall

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

OllieSuave-007 Sean Connery returns as James Bond, in a movie remake of Thunderball. Here, mad man Maximilian Largo steals two American nuclear warheads and demands millions of dollars in ransom from the world leaders. As a result, MI6 reactivates their "00" agents and James Bond comes out of retirement to carry on the mission.Armed with secret weapons and an armor of one-liners, Connery still shines once again as the suave 007, though, he does look rather emotionless and mellow portraying his character at times. There is lesser action in this movie than in previous Bond films, but some of the the thrills are still a little entertaining, especially the part where Bond attempts to dispatch the femme fatale Fatima Blush (Barbara Carrera).Sorely missing is John Berry's iconic James Bond theme and score, and what we have instead is a very 80s-sounding soundtrack from Michel Legrand. The acting was just OK for the most part - Connery had some good chemistry with the Bond Girls, but much of the other cast members were forgettable. Max von Sydow gave a mediocre performance as Blofeld, Edward Fox gave a very overzealous and pompous portrayal of M and Rowan Atkinson gave a rather unfunny role as Small-Fawcett. Klaus Maria Brandauer gave a convincing villain in Maximilian Largo - slimy and sly, making you want to punch him in the face.The film its adventurous moments, but, it's not one of the best Bond movies out there - it's more like a stand alone action flick.Grade C+

freemantle_uk Never Say Never Again is an oddity of a film, made because of a legal dispute screenwriter Kevin McClory and MGM after McClory worked with Ian Fleming when writing for Thunderball before it was turned into a novel and subsequently turned into a film. After McClory sued he was allowed to credited as a producer, got the rights to the character of Blofeld and organisation SPECTRE and allow to make his own Bond film after enough time has elapsed. This is more interesting then the actual film.In Never Say Never Again Sean Connery plays an aging Bond working for an MI6 that has limited funding and an M (Edward Fox) who has no respect for the 00 section. After failing a training exercise Bond is sent to a health camp to get back into shape and stumbles on a plot that leads to the theft of two American nuclear warheads and leads to Bond going back into action to stop SPECTRE and their agent Maximillian Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer).Never Say Never Again is an interesting case study of a film, made because the rights controversial, that allowed another Bond film to be made outside the main series and to see Connery return one more time as Bond because of the big paycheque and as a way to say screw you to EON. It is the most official unofficial franchise film to be made. It even lead to a media dubbing 1983 as the Battle of the Bonds, forcing Roger Moore to stay on in the official series. The official one won.Never Say Never Again is really a poor remake of Thunderball, which is a damning indictment because Thunderball is one of the weaker Connery Bond films. McClory and co could only make a film with the Thunderball plot, so the big selling point was the return of Connery. Never Say Never Again did have some interesting ideas, we see an older Bond who seems past his best, an idea that was used in Skyfall, has an M who has a dislike to Bond, like Judi Dench's M in Goldeneye and showing MI6 struggling financially and politically. But that idea seems to be an excuse to for why Never Say Never Again then be a commentary about the espionage world. Plus the official series ended up doing these ideas better then Never Say Never Again.The film does has some decent set-pieces, the opening training exercise was strong except for the god-awful theme song, the fight in health club and the motorbike chase and the scene where Bond dances with Domino (Kim Basinger) could have easily have fitted in an official Bond film. Barbara Carrera as the main henchwoman, Fatima Blush was a great addition and Alec McCowen was strong as the film's Q, Algernon, having great banter with Connery and having to work with work with limited resources. The film also the excellent casting of Max von Sydow as Blofeld, a man who would have been perfect to play an official Bond villain.Despite these positives Never Say Never Again is weaker then most entries in the Bond series and can tie with Diamonds Are Forever as the worst Connery Bond film. Like Diamonds Are Forever Never Say Never Again had an interesting set-up for a darker, more thoughtful Bond but wasted the potential. The film has also feels very dated, that it was a product of its time - the special effects look worst then what was in Thunderball and the video game sequence was just added because of the growing popularity of video games. Even the music didn't feel approach for a Bond film or even an action film in general: it sounded more like an attempt of making a jazz album. The score only has action beat during the climax. Bond was also still able to bed women 20 to 25 years his junior, which was just creepy with the film having a nonchalant attitude towards it.Fox as M was wasted. He had a great set-up as a civil servant and an outsider to the intelligence service, someone who has run down the 00 section. He was just made out to be pompous public school boy with no understanding of the world and Fox exaggerated every mannerism. He was the worst portrayal of the character, official or unofficial.Never Say Never Again is just an exercise in vanity from McClory and Connery, making it just because they could. It was made out of spite and if Connery wasn't involved no one would have been interested. It is nothing but a footnote in the Bond series.

KineticSeoul Although this is not a official James Bond canon film that is part of the franchise since it is not produced by Eon Production company. It's a alright rehash of the 007 movie "Thunderball" which also starred Sean Connery as James Bond. So the story behind the making of this film is that Kevin McClory was one of the guys that collaborated together to make "Thunderball". Kevin McClory was obsessed with one of his works which is "Thunderball". So he fought tooth and nails to get the rights for the Bond franchise when the courts ruled him out. There was a long legal case and it was ruled that after 10 years "Thunderball" would revert back to him. Kevin McClory really wanted "Thunderball" to be his own, so he even hired Sean Connery from the first Bond movies to reprise his role as 007. Thinking that having Connery would be the trump card to winning the battle against McClory's opposing side. At the same year the movie "Octopussy" distributed by United Artists/Eon Productions came out. And when it came to the box office, "Octopussy" won by a small margin. So it was Bond basically trying to kill off Bond at that time. Anyways this one portrays Bond as a aging agent working for MI6 and losing his edge, thus he goes back to training. I agree that Sean was a bit old to play Bond, but it wasn't all that distracting and he still had the iconic essence of James Bond going. The villain this time is a rich ego maniac named Largo, who through his wealth steals 2 warheads and tries to commit extortion around the world. And it's up to James Bond to stop him with the help of the Bond girls of course. Kim Basinger is one of the Bond girls that will stay relevant in the acting game in Hollywood for quite some time. This really is a understated Bond film that just didn't get the recognition it deserved despite having one of the best Bond's in it...Sean Connery. This is a down to earth Bond film, well down to earth when it comes to a Bond film with Sean Connery in it. That has it's moments from time to time, one being where one of the villains blowing up the hotel room that Bond was staying at. However Bond was in another room shagging a woman and say "it's good that I made the right decision" the girl he is shagging asks "about what?" where Bond responds by saying "your place or mine". The car chase sequence in this or the motorcycle chase scene in this was executed very well and was actually entertaining to watch. Which ends with a amusing scene with James Bond and a sadistic female villain. Again this is a understated Bond film that didn't get the right treatment because it isn't part of the original 007 franchise. I don't know if it's because of the updates or because of Sean Connery, but I was personally entertained from start to finish with this installment.7.2/10

flapdoodle64 In a couple months I will turn 52, just about the age that Sean Connery was when he made this film, which I happened to have caught at the movie theater back in 1983 when I was 19 years old. With this in mind, I re-watched NSNA for the first time in almost 33 years over the course of 4 daily workouts on the treadmill machine, finishing up yesterday.Last night, I turned on a rerun of an old Johnny Carson show on the Antenna-TV network, and who turns up but Connery, sans toupee and sporting his classic 'stache. Turns out the show was from 1983, and Sean was promoting NSNA.Believing this to be another instance of synchronicity in my never-ending study of fine arts, I determined to add my review to the body of literature devoted to this cinematic opus.The most interesting thing about this movie is the middle-aged Connery, playing the middle-aged 007. These facts are used to advantage early on in the film but are mostly forgotten by midpoint, with the Scots thespian's handsomely craggy facial features being the only reminder that in addition to the evil Mr. Largo, Our Hero is also fighting the inevitable effects of father time. As such, this is a lost opportunity.(Two years after this film, cartoonist Frank Miller did a much-praised comic book story of a 50 year old Batman titled 'Dark Knight,' which became a genuine cultural phenomenon...Miller never forgot for a moment that the Caped Crusader was now 50, and in fact in the early scenes Bruce Wayne sports a mustache and receding hairline which make him strangely similar to Connery.) The other missed opportunity is the climactic physical confrontation between 007 & Largo, which takes place underwater, with both wearing scuba gear. As you can anticipate, the scuba fight takes place in slow-motion, thus sucking way much of the satisfaction. This was a story which clearly called for a knock-down, drag-out fight, ala Red Grant, the aging 007 going Mano e Mano against the young Teutonic Largo.The musical score is another weak spot. It seemed decent enough in 1983, but the fusion-jazz stuff seems very outdated now, whereas the bombastic John Barry stuff from the EON films has held up much better.Weaknesses aside, this is a fun enough film with which to waste a couple hours. Besides the enduring appeal of our old friend Mr. Connery, there are plenty of fights, vehicular chases, and fun spy-fi business to enjoy. If you are young and viewing this, remember that the when you are over 50, the world will be a different place, and you will be far more vulnerable than now. Your nemesis will not be SPECTRE, but rather the limitations of your body, and the cruelties of the workplace, where cocky young SOB managers like to treat experienced, seasoned pros as if we are all dead wood.