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Sean Connery returns as James Bond, in a movie remake of Thunderball. Here, mad man Maximilian Largo steals two American nuclear warheads and demands millions of dollars in ransom from the world leaders. As a result, MI6 reactivates their "00" agents and James Bond comes out of retirement to carry on the mission.

Armed with secret weapons and an armor of one-liners, Connery still shines once again as the suave 007, though, he does look rather emotionless and mellow portraying his character at times. There is lesser action in this movie than in previous Bond films, but some of the the thrills are still a little entertaining, especially the part where Bond attempts to dispatch the femme fatale Fatima Blush (Barbara Carrera).

Sorely missing is John Berry's iconic James Bond theme and score, and what we have instead is a very 80s-sounding soundtrack from Michel Legrand. The acting was just OK for the most part - Connery had some good chemistry with the Bond Girls, but much of the other cast members were forgettable. Max von Sydow gave a mediocre performance as Blofeld, Edward Fox gave a very overzealous and pompous portrayal of M and Rowan Atkinson gave a rather unfunny role as Small-Fawcett. Klaus Maria Brandauer gave a convincing villain in Maximilian Largo - slimy and sly, making you want to punch him in the face.

The film its adventurous moments, but, it's not one of the best Bond movies out there - it's more like a stand alone action flick.

Grade C+

The year 1983 saw a strange phenomenon; two rival Bond films. "Octopussy", starring Roger Moore, was part of the official Cubby Broccoli Bond franchise. "Never Say Never Again", made by a rival producer, is, apart from the awful "Casino Royale", the only Bond movie which does not form part of that franchise. Its big attraction was that it brought back the original Bond, Sean Connery; its title reputedly derived from Connery's remark after "Diamonds Are Forever" that he would never again play the role. Some have complained that Connery was, at 53, too old for the role, but he was in fact three years younger than his successor Moore, who not only made "Octopussy" in the same year but went on to make one further Bond film, "A View to a Kill", two years later.

The film owes its existence to the settlement of a lawsuit about the film rights to Ian Fleming's work. It is perhaps unfortunate that the terms of the settlement included a clause that the new film had to be a remake of "Thunderball", as that was perhaps not the greatest of the Connery Bonds. (A remake of "Dr No" or "Goldfinger" might have worked better). The plot is much the same as that of the earlier film; the terrorist organisation SPECTRE, acting together with a megalomaniac tycoon named Largo, have stolen two American nuclear warheads and are attempting to hold the world's governments to ransom by threatening to detonate them unless they receive a vast sum of money. It falls to Bond, of course, to save the world by tracking down the missing missiles.

The film is fortunate in that it has not just one but two of the most beautiful Bond girls of all, Barbara Carrera as the seductive but lethal Fatima Blush and Kim Basinger as Largo's girlfriend Domino who defects to Bond's side after learning of her lover's evil plans. A number of the Bond films have a plot that hangs upon the hero's ability to win over the villain's mistress or female accomplice- there are similar developments, for example, in "Goldfinger", "Live and Let Die" and "The Living Daylights". In the official series, Bond's ally is normally regarded as the female lead, but here Carrera, playing the villainess, is billed above Basinger, who was a relatively unknown actress at the time. Basinger, of course, has gone on to become one of Hollywood's biggest stars, whereas Carrera is one of a number of Bond girls who have somewhat faded from view.

Of the villains, Max von Sydow makes an effective Blofeld, the head of SPECTRE, but Klaus Maria Brandauer seemed too bland and nonthreatening as Largo, except perhaps during the "Domination" game, a more sophisticated variant on those violent computer games such as "Space Invaders" that were so popular in the early eighties. Brandauer can be an excellent actor in his native German, in films such as "Mephisto" and "Oberst Redl", but he does not comes across so expressively in English.

One of the film's features is that it both follows the normal Bond formula and, at times, departs from it. There is the standard world-in-peril plot, chase sequences, a series of exotic locations, glamorous women, sinister villains and a specially written theme song based on the film's title. There is, however, no extended pre-credits sequence, and we see some familiar characters in a new light. For example, Bond's boss M becomes a languid, supercilious aristocrat, his American colleague Felix Leiter is shown as black for the only time, and the scientist Q is portrayed by Alec McCowen as a disillusioned cynic with (despite his characteristically upper-class Christian name of Algernon) a distinctly working-class accent. There is also an amusing cameo from Rowan Atkinson as a bumbling British diplomat. Although Connery was perhaps not quite a good here as he was in some of his earlier films in the role, this ringing the changes on the familiar theme makes this one of the more memorable Bonds. 7/10

A goof. Rowan Atkinson's character states that he is from the British Embassy in Nassau. As, however, the Bahamas is a Commonwealth country, Britain would have a High Commission in its capital, not an Embassy.

"Connery is back" was the advertising posters for this James Bond film. Being released the same year as Octopussy starring Roger Moore, this one titled Never Say Never Again was clearly made outside Pinewood Studios and was never an official 007 film but a remake of Thunderball. Connery delivers a usually convincing performance as Bond but was looking older at 53, the film isn't always good. It's almost all-cast with lots of womanizing in evidence that makes him extremely seedy and neither does he raise much suspicion. The reason why Connery made this one was to stick the guns on Albert R Broccoli. As a result, Connery felt that Broccoli diid a very poor job with Diamonds Are Forever and why Broccoli choosed to leave out some of the important editing work is beyond. There are some plus points about Never Say Never Again particularly the Pat Roach scene and the topical seaside settings but on the other hand it's alrightish.

The final installment in Connery/Bond series finds 007 on a mission to thwart Spectre which has threatened to blow up cities if a ransom is not paid . James Bond (Sean Connery who shows his face clean-shaven and wearing a variety of grey and brown wigs) matches wits with a nasty , good-looking tycoon , Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer) , who is holding the world nuclear hostage as part of a diabolical plan schemed by Espectre led by a sinister leader (Max Von Sydow) . As Emilio Largo , is a ruthless and flamboyant enforcer who has hatched a scheme against the North Atlantic Treaty powers . British send his "00" agent , James Bond , to recover the warheads before SPECTRE carries out its threat to detonate the devices on the UK and US mainlands . As the world is held hostage by the threat of a nuclear nightmare , Bond jumps into action , racing against the clock as the trail leads him to tropical Nassau . Later on , Bond facing off heavies and bedding a lot of pink and dust beauties (Barbara Carrera as Fatima Blush , Kim Basinger as Domino , Valerie Leon , among others) . Will 007 prevent the killing of millions of innocent victims?

Connery returns to the world of Bond after 12 years , it results to be smooth in this peculiar remake of ¨Thunderball¨(1965) by Terence Young with Claudine Auger , Adolfo Celi , Luciana Paluzzi . The noisy action is staged with all the mechanical efficiency of the classic Bond pictures with a bit more bite . After Diamonds are forever (1971) Sean told her he'd never play James Bond again, there he was, playing James Bond again , her response was for him to "never say never again" ; however , for a big salary he accepted this film . Although Connery is back to recover two nuclear warheads stolen , purists will have qualms deeming this part of the official Bond series since longtime producers Albert ¨Cubby¨ Broccoli , Harry Saltzman , had nothing to do with this endeavor . This Bond film was not part of the franchise produced by these producers , but here Kevin McClory who was producer and co-writer of Thunderball (1965), won a legal battle against Ian Fleming to make his own Bond movie , the settlement stipulated that it had to effectively be a remake of Thunderball . Here James Bond/Connery bedding a variety of wonderful women , the bond girls are the followings : Kim Basinger as the beautiful heroine , Barbara Carrera is excellently cast as the nasty villainess and the Hammer-girl Valerie Leon . Bond/Connery is given hot competition in the acting department by Klaus Maria Brandauer who makes ¨Largo¨ a stunning , memorable smiling psychotic baddie from Sprectra criminal organization , replacing prior Adolfo Celi . Being Final James Bond film to feature Spectre until recent film Spectre (2015) . Support cast is frankly magnificent as Bernie Casey , Alec McCowen , charming Pamela Salem as Miss Moneypenny , Rowan Atkinson as Embassy official , Edward Fox , Gavan O'Herlihy , Ronald Pickup and brief acting by the busty Bond girl Valerie Leon as Lady in Bahamas .

Colorful cinematography by Douglas Slocombe shot on several locations in Côte d'Azur, Antibes, Beaulieu-Sur-Mer, Alpes-Maritimes,France , Malta Nassau, New Providence Island, Bahamas , La Alcazaba , Almería, El Ejido, Almería, Andalucia, Spain . However , this ¨Never say never again¨ is hampered by an atrocious soundtrack by Michael Legrand . The motion picture was professionally directed by Irwin Kershener , but with no originality . The main theme that runs through many of his films is social alienation and human weaknesses - although his biggest commercial success was the science fiction blockbuster ¨Star Wars: Episodio V Empire strikes again¨ and made decent sequels as ¨Return a man called horse¨and ¨Robocop II¨. This is an acceptable and passable Bond movie but inferior to other entries . This monarch of mayhem and luxury strides easily back into his kingdom .

"Never Say Never Again", as everyone knows by now, was the second Bond film to be released in 1983, and was nearly as big a hit as "Octopussy" was (that film was still playing in some theaters when "Never Say Never Again" was released). Lacking the distinctive gun-barrel opening and famous Bond theme among other distinctive features of the EON franchise films, this lacks not only the feel of the EON Bond series, but of Fleming's work, leaving a seriously bloated mess of an American action thriller which happens to feature Bond as the lead character.

Why? That's the first question anybody should be asking about this film. A cynic (which I probably qualify as) would say 'for the cash', others might say it was just to get Connery back as Bond and give him a proper goodbye. Some might say it was in retaliation to the direction the Moore films were headed in, although "For Your Eyes Only" is a far superior and far less bloated film than this, so that argument doesn't quite work.

Of course, there's a lot to dislike here. Connery has moments of inspiration where he slips right back into character, but for most of the film he just looks really old and slightly ridiculous, which fits the plot but doesn't make his performance any less tired. Still, I'd argue that this is a better send-off for him as Bond than "Diamonds are Forever". Kim Basinger is a terrible Bond girl, and as much as I like Rowan Atkinson he shouldn't be anywhere near a Bond film. In addition, the villains here fall flat as well.

That said, "Never Say Never Again" is not a film I can hate, even if I wanted to (and I never want to hate anything), simply because little of it comes off as especially bad yet all of it comes off as flat, bland, and uninspired, and far, far too American for a Bond film. It's just sort of... there being the bloated, over-long, but not terrible film it is. I don't count it as a 'Bond film', as it doesn't feel remotely like one, but even just as an action thriller it doesn't quite work.

5/10