Never Say Never Again

Warner Bros. | Release Date: October 7, 1983

5.6	USER SCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 38 Ratings

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Kai82Mar 10, 2021

It is basically a remake of fireball, a return of Sean Connery to (t)his iconic role and one of a few James Bond movies that was not produce by Eon Productions. Because of the last it is often debated if it is a true James Bond movie. For meIt is basically a remake of fireball, a return of Sean Connery to (t)his iconic role and one of a few James Bond movies that was not produce by Eon Productions. Because of the last it is often debated if it is a true James Bond movie. For me it is and I don't understand this reasoning or why it should not be counted. Just as remark: Some hallmarks of the franchise could not be used because of legal reasons like the James Bond theme or the standard gun sequence. Story: After the refreshing and remarkable intro scene which I call a masterpiece in positively subverting expectation James Bond is send to a health clinic by M (New boss same codename). There he witnessed some strange behaviors of a nurse and another patient he can explain yet. Meanwhile SPECTRE is planing a master-coup. I stop here with this set up. The movie and story is good and solid James Bond entertainment. It has an engaging and immersive story which delivers all hallmarks you expected but still being fresh and charming enough to avoid franchise fatigue. It might not be my favorite movie in the franchise but fully delivers and has memorable scenes. For those who don't know: The movie title is a reference. Sean Connery quit his role as James Bond and said he will never play this role again as he did not want to be typecast or better said be a prisoner of this role for the rest of his career. He managed to stay true to this statement for over a decade and after this movie managed to never returned again. In general I say this feels more like a Roger Moore era style James Bond movie (meant possessive). For clarification: It has more humor and emotions but also delivers Sean Connery's style and charm. For the cast I already praise Sean Connery who gives a last and great farewell in this role. Klaus Maria Brandauer as Maximillian Largo is a great villain. Maybe not top 3 James Bond villains but definitely top ten and not missing that much. Max von Sydow is a good Ernst Starvo Blofeld but he is not the main bad guy here. Q is not played by Desmond Llewellyn and it feels strange even when Alec McCowen is no misstep. I just cant imagine anyone else in this iconic (side) role. Edward Fox is a great M and more strict and critical to James Bond (More like a male version of the great Judi Dench who will fill this role later). I have forgotten that Kim Basigner played Domino Petachi. A good performance but like before females were not that well presented in the franchise. Barbara Carrera was intimidating and a great adversary except for the final scenes where it ruins her character. However this is the scripts fault and I will not use a bad script to ruin my evaluation of a good performance. In total we have a good cast and overall performance. The action scenes and fights are well done in this movie. I praise how they manged to make a 53 year old Sean Connery nailing the role and never fail do deliver (It was a discussion topic / critique for his last James Bond movie over a decade earlier). The soundtrack sadly misses the James Bond theme but can deliver with the themesong and a good performance. Overall this is one of the better James Bond movies and worth watching. While it is not in my top 5 movies in the franchise it is still good and I rewatch it from time to time.… Expand

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