Review of Never Say Never Again (1983) by Brian R — 01 Mar 2013

I don't understand why a lot of ppl disliked this film. I really enjoyed it and the return of Connery in the role of Bond. He was great in DAF and he's even more great in NSNA. Connery is still the best James Bond. A remake of "Thunderball" much better 83 version imo with way better Bond villians like Blofeld, Largo, and Fatima Blush. Blush (Barbara Careera) is probably my fav villian in this movie who reminds me of the porn star actress Miss Hybrid. Her dark confident looks, femme fatale appeal, ruthlessness makes her a worthy advasary to Bond. Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer) is a great villian who wanted to dominate and also be liked by his sexy girlfriend Domino (Kim Basinger). In a way Largo in tihs film reminded me of the Claude Rains character in "Notorious" who was evil yet wanted to be liked and be admired by his wife Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman).

There isn't anything really new (Same use of rich locales, Bond flirts and sleeps with women, Q gadgets, M, Q, Moneypenny, help from the CIA) but it's unique how the characters is so much at the foreground rather then in the back. Max Von Sydow is probably the best Blofeld performance I have ever seen, Felix Leiter (Berney Casey) is also in this and he's great as the CIA agent and Rowan Atkinson who would become famous later on would have been more suited in the role of Q instead of Alec McGowen. Don't remember a Bill Tanner but anyways im sure you get the jest of this. I think the worst scene is when Bond and Largo duel off in a cheesy arcade game which maybe should have been left out and the action scenes was shot well maybe more so then Thunderball. Although Octopussy made more money then this, NSNA is the better film imo because the characters are more interesting and seldomly cliched.

Never say never.....Was that the movie's way of saying James Bond might return?