Review of Never Say Never Again (1983) by Deb S — 14 Apr 2011

Plot: Bond (Sean Connery) is reactivated from retirement by M (Edward Fox), and is up against the power of SPECTRE, run by the fearless Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Max Von Sydow). They have stolen two cruise missiles with the help of Agent Number 2, aka Maximilian Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer), and they will explode them unless paid a high ransom. So Bond, with a little help from Domino (Kim Basinger), sister of the missile carrying plane's pilot, is on the lookout for trouble and determined to stop the villains.

Kevin McClory's unofficial Bond film called 'Never Say Never Again' is worthy of a viewing. Sean Connery does a nice job as 007 and Edward Fox is an interesting choice for M, Max Von Sydow is a very impressive Ernst Stavro Blofeld in his short scenes, Kim Basinger is a sexy Bond girl and Klaus Maria Brandauer makes for a deliciously evil Largo.

The witty lines from the likes of Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) doesn't quite make up for the lack of other Bond accoutrements: the theme music, the classically cheesy opening credits, no gun barrel opening and of course the beloved Desmond Lewellyn as "Q but you can't have everything, can you? The whole concept of Bond coming out of retirement is a refreshing stroke of genius and Sean Connery convincing as an aging Bond who still has what it takes.

The movie is filled with great lines and witty dialogue such as M's reaction to Bond's false eye theory "Oh, do come along Bond!" Or Q's approximate words early in the movie of "I hope we're going to see some gratuitous sex and violence." When Barbara Carrera's character Fatima Blush water skis into Bond she says "I've gotten you wet," and Bond replies "yes, but my martini is dry.".