Review of Never Say Never Again (1983) by Naische F — 07 Apr 2009

Just caught this (again and again) in Bluray HD. Sir Sean returned for his final appearance as James Bond in this WB's American production of the remake of 'Thunderball'. This was advertised at the time of being in direct competition with Roger Moore's 'Octopussy' (strange because the dvd was just released on the same day as Daniel Craig's 'Quantum of Solace' this year now in 2009.

.). Connery is so over-the-top and ridiculous and gets away with a lot, because only he can deliver such lines with his witty charm and humour. The movie is best appreciated as an alternative Bond film.

Great stunts and the casting is excellent. Rowan Atkison is a great bumbling spy assistant. German actor Klaus Maria Brandauer is magnetic as 'Largo' and gives a very subtle performance and definitely inspired the latest Bond villain Dominic Greene.

Barbara Carrera plays an amazing evil Bond girl and definitely inspired Famke Janssen in 'Goldeneye' with her outfits and style. Bernie Casey plays Felix Leiter and even gets involved in the action with Connery and is certainly tougher and classier than the current Jeffrey Wright.

Plus we get Kim Bassinger as 'Domino', she does alright, but does not get enough time to develop her character. Overall, this could have been the greatest Bond film of all time. We already have a great tune too (sadly ommited from many Bond compilations).

Unfortunately, the film starts to fall apart during the last act with the underwater scenes and the cave gunfight, skip those scenes and you got a great movie!