Never Say Never Again (1983)

I got my James Bond film timeline mixed up.  I was supposed to post this review yesterday, but I powered through the final Roger Moore film before I remembered.  Oh well.  We're going to take a detour from the official James Bond films today and review the last non-official Bond film, Never Say Never Again (1983).  This film released the same year as Octopussy (1983).

SYNOPSIS:
Two test missiles were launched from a US military plane in England, but they randomly stopped responding and dropped into the ocean.  Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Max Von Sydow), supreme commander of SPECTRE, claims responsibility for stealing the nukes.  He requests 25% of the cost of annual oil purchases for each country in NATO to be donated to SPECTRE to keep him from using the nukes.  M (Edward Fox) is forced to re-activate the 00 agents, and he sends James Bond (Sean Connery) to the Bahamas to investigate a lead in Maximilian Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer) and his girlfriend, Domino (Kim Basinger).

REVIEW:
Remember Kevin McClory from my Thunderball (1965) review?  The guy who sued Ian Fleming, the original James Bond author, and won the screenplay to Thunderball?  He finally managed to get his own movie produced using that screenplay.  Yes, he worked with EON Productions back in the day and got Thunderball (1965) made, but he wasn't allowed any control over it, just a writing credit in the film.  So, Never Say Never Again (1983) is essentially a remake of Thunderball (1965).

Why does it have this odd title?  Well, in my You Only Live Twice (1967) review, I mentioned that Sean Connery quit the role of James Bond, saying he'd never fill the role ever again.  After George Lazenby refused to continue as 007 after On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), the studio begged Sean Connery to come back for Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and he eventually agreed - for one more film - but again he said, never again!  Finally, when this film began production, he was asked to reprise his famous 007 role one more time.  Agreeing to the role yet again, his wife told him, "Never say never again."  McClory loved this phrase and it became the title of the film.  The original working title was, "James Bond of the Secret Service."

The film makes several references to James Bond getting on in years, from the 00 section being dismantled, Bond being sent to a health spa because he's getting old and slow, a porter commenting on how old Bond's car is, saying "They don't make them like this anymore," etc.  M seems to hate the 00 section, and especially hates Bond's cavalier attitude toward his job.  He claims he runs things differently than the previous M, a nod to the original M from the official Bond series.  Near the start of the film, Bond actually complains that he's stuck teaching instead of doing field work.

Still looking pretty good for a Bond in his 50s.

Bond visits Q (referred to as Algernon in this film), played by Alec McCowen.  Unlike the official Bond franchise, where Q is exasperated at Bond for constantly abusing his tech, Algernon actually seems to love Bond, fawning over him and his exploits, while complaining about loss of funding for Q-Branch.  He gives Bond a wristwatch with an embedded laser, as well as a pen that shoots an explosive round; although it's still being perfected.  Felix Leiter (Bernie Casey), Bond's CIA friend, tells Bond later that he was the first to use those pens in the field, and it blew up in his face!  Sure enough, when Bond uses it, the explosive round is delayed, almost causing Bond to be killed.  Finally, Algernon sends Bond a tricked-out motorbike later in the film, which he uses to pursue an agent of SPECTRE.

Bond about to use his pen to write a very binding contract...

The titular song was performed by Lani Hall, but not set to a title sequence like the official Bond films.  Instead, it played over the opening of the film, where Bond is infiltrating a base on a training operation.  Kevin McClory wanted to do the famous gunbarrel opening scene that the official Bond films do, but he wasn't legally allowed, so he splashed 007 across the screen as the film opened instead.  Here's the opening scene with its title song:

RECOMMENDATION:
This film was decent, and different enough from the original Thunderball (1965) that you might not realize it's a remake unless you remember a lot of details from that original film.  If you want to see Sean Connery fulfill the role of James Bond one last time, this is your chance.  Otherwise, it's basically set in an alternate universe from the official James Bond franchise, so you're not missing out by skipping this film.