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Never Say Never Again is an unofficial, non-EON Bond
film that was released in 1983, directed by Irvin Kershner.
The film stars Sean Connery, Kim Basinger, Edward Fox, Max
Von Sydow, Alec McCowan, Bernie Casey, and Klaus Maria Brandauer.
The musical score is composed by Michel LeGrand, and the
title tune is sung by Lani Hall. ***
A little history lesson for the unfamiliar. In the
late 50s, Ian Fleming had written several James Bond novels,
and was desperately trying to make a film out of one of
them. These attempts never quite worked and were met with
skepticism, so Fleming teamed up with Kevin McClory, a brilliant
writer. The two created a screenplay, but Fleming had it
turned into the next Bond Novel (Thunderball) at the=2 0insistence
of his publishers. This caused McClory to start a series
of legal battles that continued well after Fleming’s death,
and even rambled on in some shape or form until McClory’s
death in 2006. McClory won the rights to make his own Bond
film after ten years from Thunderball’s theatrical release
had elapsed. What resulted was 1983’s Never Say Never Again,
an unofficial, non-EON film that brought Sean Connery back
to the role. The title was a joke on Connery saying he would
“Never Again” play Bond (this story may not be a hundred
percent accurate and may omit some major details, but it
should give you a general idea of how this film came to
be.) ***
It is also due to McClory’s owning the rights to the
SPECTRE organization and the Blofeld character that they
never appeared in most of the post-60s Bond films. ***
As you probably guessed, the plot is more-or-less identical
to Thunderball. Bond heads down to the islands to foil a
SPECTRE plot, which involves the terror organization hijacking
nuclear weapons and holding the world hostage. Bond has
aged, and is more of an instructor than anything now – but
following a health spa visit, he finds some intriguing details
that lead him straight into the fire. Teaming up with long-time
CIA buddy Felix Leiter, Bond sets out to deal with SPECTRE
by any means necessary. ***
This film gets a bad reputation for no good reason.
Just because it’s not an official EON production doesn’t
make it an inferior work. Hell, it’s better than at least
half of the EON movies. Sean Connery plays Bond here very
well, despite his age, and actually puts a new and interesting
spin on the character, making him more human. He seems to
want to retire and even (gasp!) eventually settle down with
his leading lady. There are some g reat performances here,
and it’s great to see that this take on the Thunderball
story makes Felix Leiter, played brilliantly here by Bernie
Casey, a more important character (see? Casino Royale wasn’t
the first film to feature an African-American Felix Leiter!)
Yes, some scenes do feel a bit dated, and in a few areas
it lacks the classic Bond touch only EON could do. ***
But all in all, this is a more-than-worthy Bond title.
Doesn’t quite rise to the heights of the sixties Bonds,
or even the original Thunderball, but it’s better than just
about anything that came after, including nearly every Roger
Moore film. The film came out the same year as Octopussy,
and while that film grossed more, Never Say Never Again
is by far the superior movie. It was great to see Connery
get one last shot at glory, and he does it nicely. Strongly
recommended, Never Say Never Again gets 4 stars out of 5
(though I wouldn’t put this one quite as high on the Bond
pedestal as most the EON films I give 4 stars to. Do esn’t
mean it’s not great though.) ---
Image and Sound:
Let me start by saying that Never Say Never Again, as
an unofficial film, never got the Lowry Digital Images treatment
that the official movies did. As such, home video releases
of the movie have always been hit-and-miss affairs. This
marks the first attempt to actually make the movie look
decent, and for the most part, it succeeds. There’s some
print damage and dirt here and there, and grain does spike
heavily in a few scenes. Likewise, the increased definition
makes blue screen a nd rear projection work all the more
obvious. But as a whole, this is the best Never Say Never
Again has ever looked and sounded, and given its nature
and history, it isn’t likely it will ever get a better transfer
than this. There’s more good than bad points about the transfer,
though.
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