Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Blistering performances.

One of the lesser "Bond movies," I'm afraid. Sean Connery looks bad, the plot is a re-hashed Thunderball and it's annoyingly slow and drawn out. No wonder this isn't accepted in the official Bond canon.

Movie Review: "007: Never Say Never Again"In 1983 the so-called "War of the Bonds" took place in once-in-a-lifetime motion picture history occasion concerning "Octopussy" directed by John Glen starring Roger Moore (1927-2017) for Eon Productions Ltd., which had been released on June 10th to a fair success at the U.S. box office with revenues of roundabout 68 Million U.S. Dollars by 28 Million production costs. "Never Say Never Again" producer Jack Schwartzman (1932-1994) engages intitial 007 actor Sean Connery, at the age of 52, to reprise the character of James Bond in this independent action movie production, which uses loose ingredients of author Ian Fleming's novel "Thunderball" from 1961, where underworld organization "Spectre" pursues plans to steal two nuclear warheads in order to pressure the British government for ransom under the surveillance by "Spectre" #1 henchman, the character of Maximilian Largo, here performed with vicious pleasures by actor Klaus-Maria Brandauer, who fights Bond in unlikely repetitious underwater action scene including shark attack, which have a far more realistic touch against the original 007 movie from 1965 directed by Terence Young (1915-1994). Nevertheless "Never Say Never Again" directed by Irvin Kershner (1923-2010), who had been responsible for the highly-dramatic "Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) contracted by executive producer and "Star Wars" copyright holder George Lucas, gives Sean Connery his screen moments of undeniable charms in the part, which made him famous in the year of 1962 in order to carry this out-of-the-usual Bond movie to the finish lines of motion picture entertainment, that furthermore gathers momentum through a fulminate supporting cast inlcuding actress Kim Basinger, at the age of 29, in the role of Domino, which then again stays all too passive against the 1965 pendant actress Claudine Auger as actor Max von Sydow, given face to "Spectre" headmaster Blofeld including obligatory white cat on his lap, when Bond must endure an engaging fist fight at a full of comedy moments health farm sequence over a motorcycle-car chase and a couple of machine gun shoot-outs, timidly captured by cinematographer Douglas Slocombe (1913-2016). The visual image system of "Never Say Never Again" presents plainview, full contact action beats of the 1980s with an higher-noted production budget of estimated 36 Million U.S. Dollars, which gets put mainly into satisfactions of crew and cast, extravagant on-location day-to-day shootings and fewer gadgets then "Octopussy", when this rivaling Bond movie, premiering four months after its opponent on October 6th 1983 to budget-exceeding box office success and delivers even in today's revisits due to an extraordinary chemistry of the envolved cast members.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

Never Say Never Again (1983)Plot In A Paragraph: A SPECTRE agent has stolen two American nuclear warheads, and A long retired James Bond (Connery) is brought back and must find their targets before they are detonated.It was The Battle Of The Bond's in 1983 a returning Connery had this movie, whilst Roger Moore starred in Octopussy. My second favourite Bond movie of the 80's (Behind Licence To Kill) I think this is better than anything Roger Moore turned out that decade, and its superior to Thunderball which it is a loose remake of.It's not without its faults, it has some ropey effects, its theme song is OK, but not up to the usual high standard of songs. And It's a bit daft how Kim Basinger's Domino trust Bond straight away, he touched her up in health club, he introduced himself and they had a chat at the bar (within a 24 hour period) and that's it. She immediately cares about him, and believes everything he tells her over her long term partner.12 years after his last outing as Bond, it's a welcome return for Connery. As much as he'd hate to admit it, he is right at home in the role. It's the the first time he had been clean shaven since 1971, and it would mark the last time he would appear on screen clean shaven too. It has a good amount of tension and the perfect amount of humour too. Most of the supporting cast nails it too Klaus Maria Brandauer makes an a compelling villain (much better than the full guy with an eye patch in Thunderball) Max Von Sydow is in full pantomime villain mode as Blofeld, Kim Basinger looks great and is OK as Domino and Barbara Carrera is a lot of fun too. Bernie Casey is fine as Felix Leiter and Roman Atkinson has a small role too. Edward Fox is awful as M though. I don't know what was going on there.In the end Never Say Never Again lost The Battle Of The Bond's (Octopussy grossed $12 million more) but It gave Connery a much needed boost at the box office. grossing $9.72 million on its first weekend, which was reported to be the best opening record of any James Bond up to that point and surpassing Roger Moore's Octopussy's $8.9 million from June that year. It ended up grossing $55 million at the domestic box office (which was a solid return on a budget of $36 million) to end the year the 14th highest grossing movie of 1983. Connery would not star in another movie for three years. When he did return, it was mostly older, wiser mentor roles from then on. So as a goodbye to the leading man, sex symbol, action man Connery (excluding The Rock) this was a good way to bow out.

In a couple months I will turn 52, just about the age that Sean Connery was when he made this film, which I happened to have caught at the movie theater back in 1983 when I was 19 years old. With this in mind, I re-watched NSNA for the first time in almost 33 years over the course of 4 daily workouts on the treadmill machine, finishing up yesterday.Last night, I turned on a rerun of an old Johnny Carson show on the Antenna-TV network, and who turns up but Connery, sans toupee and sporting his classic 'stache. Turns out the show was from 1983, and Sean was promoting NSNA.Believing this to be another instance of synchronicity in my never-ending study of fine arts, I determined to add my review to the body of literature devoted to this cinematic opus.The most interesting thing about this movie is the middle-aged Connery, playing the middle-aged 007. These facts are used to advantage early on in the film but are mostly forgotten by midpoint, with the Scots thespian's handsomely craggy facial features being the only reminder that in addition to the evil Mr. Largo, Our Hero is also fighting the inevitable effects of father time. As such, this is a lost opportunity.(Two years after this film, cartoonist Frank Miller did a much-praised comic book story of a 50 year old Batman titled 'Dark Knight,' which became a genuine cultural phenomenon...Miller never forgot for a moment that the Caped Crusader was now 50, and in fact in the early scenes Bruce Wayne sports a mustache and receding hairline which make him strangely similar to Connery.) The other missed opportunity is the climactic physical confrontation between 007 & Largo, which takes place underwater, with both wearing scuba gear. As you can anticipate, the scuba fight takes place in slow-motion, thus sucking way much of the satisfaction. This was a story which clearly called for a knock-down, drag-out fight, ala Red Grant, the aging 007 going Mano e Mano against the young Teutonic Largo.The musical score is another weak spot. It seemed decent enough in 1983, but the fusion-jazz stuff seems very outdated now, whereas the bombastic John Barry stuff from the EON films has held up much better.Weaknesses aside, this is a fun enough film with which to waste a couple hours. Besides the enduring appeal of our old friend Mr. Connery, there are plenty of fights, vehicular chases, and fun spy-fi business to enjoy. If you are young and viewing this, remember that the when you are over 50, the world will be a different place, and you will be far more vulnerable than now. Your nemesis will not be SPECTRE, but rather the limitations of your body, and the cruelties of the workplace, where cocky young SOB managers like to treat experienced, seasoned pros as if we are all dead wood.