Never Say Never Again
{2.5/5} “You’re not going to make any trouble, are you Mr. Bond? Let’s face it, your reputation has preceded you.”
Never Say Never Again, released in 1983
James Bond is sent back into the field to recover two nuclear warheads stolen by SPECTRE. SPECTRE has demanded that NATO pay them billions of dollars. Bond tracks down Maximilian Largo — Largo’s girlfriend is the sister of someone he thinks was involved in the warhead theft. Largo and Fatima Blush are dangerous SPECTRE agents, so Bond will have to be in top form to defeat them.
My favourite part of this movie is the title. Sean Connery previously said he would never play James Bond again. His wife said they should call this movie Never Say Never Again — and they did.
How did 2 James Bond movies come to be released in the same year? The short version is that someone other than the regular Bond producers had the rights to Thunderball. This movie is a remake of Thunderball, although you might be forgiven for not realizing it at first.
Locations include the Bahamas, France, and Spain.
Sean Connery is still great as Bond, 12 years after Diamonds Are Forever. Barbara Carrera inhabits her role of Fatima Blush with such zest it’s a joy to watch her.
The story has some interesting and amusing moments, but also some confusing and bizarre moments.
Bond is an expert at many things, and here we find he’s an expert at video games — plus dancing the tango, and riding a motorcycle.
Stars Max von Sydow, Klaus Maria Brandauer, and Kim Basinger. Directed by Irvin Kershner (Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back). The music is by Michel Legrand — the theme song is terrific and the rest of the music is OK.
This is probably the 2nd time I’ve seen it.
I previously reviewed Octopussy.