Never Say Never Again is a charming and considerably more entertaining film than its unusual production circumstances might have suggested, a non-EON Bond film of real quality and real entertainment value that gives Sean Connery one final opportunity to play the character he defined with a relaxed self-awareness and an evident enjoyment that makes the experience consistently pleasurable. Irvin Kershner's 1983 film lacks the franchise's characteristic visual language and accumulated mythology, but it is an authentic Sean Connery Bond film, and in that most important respect it delivers everything its central proposition promises.
At a Glance
Director: Irvin Kershner
Runtime: 134 minutes
Starring: Sean Connery, Kim Basinger, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Max von Sydow, Barbara Carrera
Release: 1983
Critics Rating: ★★★ (3/5 stars, a charming and entertaining unofficial Bond)
Audience Rating: ★★★ (3/5 stars, enjoyable)
Review Breakdown
Plot
A reworking of the Thunderball storyline, with SPECTRE again stealing nuclear warheads and Bond dispatched to recover them. The video game sequence between Bond and Largo is the film's most purely inventive individual moment, a demonstration of real creative wit that the more conventionally staged action sequences of the official series did not always attempt. The plot's familiarity is its most significant dramatic limitation, and those who know Thunderball well will find the structural parallels occasionally distracting, but the film's warmer and more character-driven register compensates for the lack of narrative originality.
Characters
Connery's Bond is the film's indispensable element, a portrayal of complete self-awareness and evident enjoyment that makes this the most relaxed and most personally engaging of his Bond performances. The title's wry acknowledgement of his famous declaration that he would never play Bond again gives his performance an additional layer of self-aware charm that the official series could not have replicated. Klaus Maria Brandauer's Largo is the franchise's most psychologically complex villain, a man of sharp intelligence and real personal menace whose video game obsession gives the character a dramatic depth the more theatrically excessive official series villains did not always achieve. Kim Basinger's Domino is one of the era's most glamorous and most dramatically engaging Bond girls, and Barbara Carrera's Fatima Blush is the film's most purely entertaining villain, a SPECTRE assassin of considerable menace and considerable comic energy.
Tone
Kershner pitches the film at a register of relaxed entertainment and adequate espionage tension, giving the film a tonal warmth and a comic confidence the more professionally obligatory later official entries did not always achieve. The film's self-awareness about its own unusual position in the Bond canon gives it a charm and a wit that distinguishes it from both the official series and the more generic action films of its era.
Meaning / Themes
The film's central concern is the relationship between age and capability, between Bond's evident seniority and the suggestion that experience and intelligence can compensate for the physical advantages of youth. Connery's performance gives the theme a personal authenticity that makes it feel resonant, and the film's treatment of Bond as a man who has earned his authority rather than merely asserting it gives the character a depth the more action-focused official entries of the period did not always provide.
Direction
Kershner's direction is technically accomplished and tonally assured, with a command of character and atmosphere that gives the film a warmth and a specificity the more anonymously directed official entries of the period do not always achieve. The video game sequence is the film's directorial highlight, an inventive piece of action filmmaking that demonstrates Kershner's willingness to find new approaches to the franchise's familiar dramatic situations. Lani Hall's title song gives the film a distinctive sonic identity separate from the official Bond series.
Cultural Reception
Never Say Never Again was a commercial success on its release, benefiting from the novelty of Connery's return and the curiosity generated by its unusual production circumstances. Its release in the same year as Octopussy created one of cinema history's most unusual franchise rivalries, with both films performing well at the box office. The film's reputation has settled into a consensus that acknowledges its entertainment value and Connery's performance while recognising its limitations as a non-EON production. It is now most frequently discussed as a fascinating footnote in franchise history and as evidence that Connery's Bond retained its appeal well into the actor's fifties.
Who Should Watch
Essential viewing for Connery completists and a rewarding film for general audiences who approach it as a charming and entertaining unofficial Bond. Those who enjoyed Thunderball will find a warmer and more character-driven version of the same story.
Final Verdict: A charming and considerably more entertaining unofficial Bond than its production circumstances might have suggested. Connery's relaxed self-awareness gives the film a warmth the official series rarely matched in this period, Brandauer's Largo is the franchise's most psychologically complex villain, and Kershner's direction gives the material a character-driven intelligence that makes Never Say Never Again one of the more rewarding entries in the broader Bond canon.
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