007 December – Never Say Never Again (1983) – MovieRob

Here’s my review of Never Say Never Again (1983)

“I send you to a health farm to get yourself in shape! Instead you DEMOLISH it! Now I’ve had to notify the local police, get a minister to muzzle the press, and allocate a sizable chunk of my meager budget to renovating the establishment” – M.

Number of Times Seen – Probably about 5 times (Theater in ’83, cable and 15 Dec 2014)

Brief Synopsis – Bond is sent to find two stolen nuclear missiles when it is suspected that Blofeld is once again behind it all.

My Take on it – This is the only Bond movie made that wasn’t an EON production but still starred an ‘official’ Bond actor.

This was made basically as part of a lawsuit ruling between the original creators of the series.

The joke was on them because the ruling states that they could only reuse the ideas from Thunderball (1965).

I’m not quite sure why they had the idea tho to remake a movie after only a mere 18 years with the same actor playing the title role but just almost 20 years older.

I think Sean Connery made the wrong choice stepping back into the role. He was much better as a 30 something year old Bond than as a 50 something year old.

Yes, he was still younger than fellow Bond actor Roger Moore was for his later movies, but everyone was used to an older Moore and a younger Connery.

This plot is extremely boring and I didn’t feel as engrossed as I’ve always been for the rest of the installments of the series.

Thus movie actually taints Connery’s reputation as the best ever Bond.

Bottom Line – Connery should have stayed away from this one. Perhaps one of the most boring Bond movies IMHO. Never understood the idea of remaking a movie with the same lead actor less than 20 years afterwards.

Rating – Razzie Worthy

Here’s the main title song: