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Comments
I do like the main theme and title song, but it would have been nice to hear a Barry score to this film, which is the closest thing to a real Bond film since the late sixties.
I think OP & AVTAK are cinematic masterpieces that are pretty much the opposite from the bottom of the barrel. But I agree about the score.
Beginning with CR67 must be a traumatic experience. I wonder if this first impression will ever let go of the viewer. Perhaps they can never enjoy Bond after that? Bottom of the barrel indeed.
Disagree, DAD and MR make any of the other 20 films look great in comparison.
Fixed ;)
I'm still trying to figure out if you are just having some fun or in reality are "the most tasteless man in the world" and we should sign you up for some commercials :))
I Dissagree about it being better than ATH and AVTAK but it's way better than the Phyllis Hyman version of NSNA.
(shrug) I like the picture, think it's a worthy finale to the Connery years and appreciate it's attempt to make a Bond film that tried to be worthy of the original films, and not make fun of them. I see it's flaws, but in perspective, like it so much more than the other eighties Bonds. To me, and it's just my opinion of course, it's a lot of fun.
Please don't tell me you're including FYEO and the Dalton films in that statement :(
I know you feel different, and that's cool.
I like NSNA too but better than not just OP, but the DALTON FILMS?!?!?!?!?!!
Nah, sorry. Can't agree at all there. NSNA is a good bit of fun but the Dalton films are Bond at his best imo.
1. FYEO
2. TLD (near tie with FYEO)
3. NSNA/LTK (tie)
4. OP
5. AVTAK
If I could rank them as best story/Bond film:
1. TLD
2. FYEO
3. LTK
4. OP
5. AVTAK
6. NSNA
Agreed. I like Never Say Never Again, but not more than either of Mr. Dalton's films.
It's head and shoulders above the other unofficial entry Casino Royale though, I'll give it that
Brandeur is nothing like the adversary that Lonsdale was also. The latter gave us some standout and forever memorable lines that the former simply couldn't manage
'Sweet - like money' or 'You appear with the tedious inevitability of an unloved season' etc. Hugo Drax was a one off for quite brilliant lines that year, throughout the release, it's one reason why I enjoy it so much
So I just watched it and the fact that there wasn't the Moore/Connery rivalry of my youth made me able to watch it more objectively (you were only "allowed" to like either Moore OR Connery, and I was attacked mercilessly for being only one of two guys who preferred "that loser" Connery).
It's a rather mixed film. It started off not so good; the downbeat feel of the beginning (was it as much a reference to Thatcher's England as it was to Bond's age?) made it less fun to watch. Then it picked up, then really picked up, but then went downhill when they got to Africa.
The cast - Moneypenny and Q were forgettable but M was atrocious. I always liked the respectful relationship between M and Bond in the early films and thought the change to "exasperated" M really cheapened the EON films. But they take it to a whole other level here. But that's balanced out by an otherwise absolutely phenomenal cast. Brandauer and Von Sydow are excellent and bring dignity and intelligence (and in Brandauer's case, madness) to their roles. But Carrerra steals the show and is one of the sexiest, craziest villianesses in the Bond universe (and Onatopp seems clearly copied from her). Bassinger is a little bland; I remember that everyone my age at the time thought that she was amazingly hot - which I can't fathom now when I compare her and Carrerra (perhaps she seemed too "enthnic" compared to Bassinger; I grew up in a very WASP-y and redneck area). Casey makes a good impression with limited screentime; you can believe that he and Bond are friends and equals and he's the only screen Leiter that captures the rather strange sense of humour that the character had in the books.
But of course, the main attraction is Connery. It's difficult to be critical of his characterization as there's nothing to compare it to. How do we know what happened to his Bond in the years since being a younger agent? Some people complained that he was playing "someone's horny dad" instead of Bond but I think he did well - clearly more engaged than he had been in the past. He also looked far better (even though he was clearly older) than in DAF. He displayed the effortless charisma that made him a star; the biggest problem is the time that the film was released.
I found a lot of the film to be somewhat close to the Moore films, in terms of humour, OTT-ness, and instantaneous attraction to Bond by the girls. But I think that it's a case of that's what people expected from a Bond film in the early 80s. It's detrimental to be sure, but even though it wasn't an EON film it was still an 80s Bond film.
The action was quite well done; the shark attack and the motorcycle chase hold up surprisingly well. The fight at Shrublands was also very good, and it was nice to see that Bond's "I'm too old for this sh!t" performance in the scene changed to him being a fitter, more active agent as the film progressed (a nice touch as he got his "mojo" back after not being active in the field for a long time).
The plot was pretty standard, the film lacked the exoticness of the best Bond films (perhaps due to them running out of money), but it was a fairly solid effort and in some ways a better swan song for Connery than DAF. Kershner's direction was at times pretty standard but he did add some nice visual touches and some of the humour actually works quite well.
I can understand why some people would have a knee-jerk reaction of disgust at the very *idea* of this film but there is some good stuff there. Not a great film, but certainly not as bad as some suggest.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/never_say_never_again/
But that IS the general audience mainly. Us Bond nuts can be a little harder on it. I personally like it a little, just not enough to own. Love the title song though!
Why? Well, firstly I think it's that 80s B-series feel to it (I know, I know: the budget was actually quite high, but it doesn't show. That's one of the main flaws of this film). The overall aesthetics of it the have always been pure eye candy to me, starting by those opening credits that only lack "A Lorimar Production" to look like a glorified TV movie, the Atari game with its vector graphics, the colorful atmosphere and photography (I greatly admire Douglas Slocombe, so I may be quite biased here), that weird Nice house, good action scenes and that climax in the submarine cave that, yup, should have been more spectacular. Secondly, I think the tongue-in-cheek performance of Connery is brilliant given that the film is just a funny romp like DAF (another guilty pleasure with quite a lot of parallels to this film), and Klaus Maria Brandauer and Barbara Carrera are fine, charismatic villains. I find the title song quite catchy in its own way, the locations are alright, the screenplay is funny (and cheesy), and, overall, I think it's a good action film (but it doesn't belong to the 007 canon, of course). Actually, I like it more than OP (always taking into account that I love all 007 films. even the worst ones have redeeming qualities).
Of course it's flawed: Except for the title song and Jelaousy, Michel Legrand's score is awful, and so are the FX. Rowan Atkinson, who always manages to be funny, especially in Black Adder, that had its share serious moments (that I W.W. arc...), is annoying as Nigel Small. As stated before, despite its fairly large budget, it looks like a B-series (I don't mind it, but I'm a geeky kind of fellow, so I can't expect the general fandom to share my POV), and the fact that screams 80s is a proof that the film hasn't aged well (same problem I find in TB. Anybody else thinks so?).
Still, I think that from a geek point of view, some of the flaws happen to be pros as well, and that NSNA is a charming film in its own way.
And welcome!
Thanks, man!
What did you think of this movie ? Because I personally don't hate this movie as much as other people do.
How do you rate it among the other Bond movies ? Do you consider it to be a Bond movie ? Did you like to see Sean one more time back as Bond ?
good question. I must be honest - I hate that movie. I really like Sean but in that movie he was just too old to be a Bond!!!
And that computer game thing with "Emilio Largo" was (imo) just ridiculous.
In my opinion this was not a Bond movie, sorry.
Plus, Connery was only interested in the big fat cheque.
The only highlights of the film are Klaus Maria Brandauer and Barbara Carrera. They deserved to be in a better film than this.
It's a bland movie at best with a terrible music score. (Though the tango music was good.) Other than that. Meh.
Yeah, it's weird having a totally different supporting cast and no Bond theme or gunbarrell etc and Connery's knocking on a little, but all in all, I think it was a solid effort...apart from the last part of the film, which kinda falls apart imho.
The dialogue is great "You did say you'd catch me later." I loooove the scene with the fake cigar case bomb, that's a classic moment for me and Barbara is just...goodness, gracious me!
The production was a troubled one and it certainly has it's faults but I really feel like it's unfairly treated by a lot of people.
There's actually an 'Eon-ised' version floating around, where someone used Barry music and added a gunbarrell and it's amazing how much it changes the movie.
We also recently review NSNA on our podcast, which you can check out here, if you wanna hear some more details about the production etc...
http://jamesbondradio.com/never-say-never-again-review-podcast-014/