007 Journals: Never Say Never Again

Okay, so I assume that everyone reading this probably knows what the story is with this movie, but if not let me explain it quickly. Long before Dr. No (the first Bond movie) was made Ian Fleming and his friend Kevin McClory decided to write a James Bond screenplay. It might have been a stage play I'm not sure, there are multiple stories. Well that script was called Thunderball. However the movie was never made. Cut to a later point in time and Ian Fleming was like "Hey, I need to write another Bond novel. Well I have this Thunderball story lying around. How about I turn the script into a book and just chop off McClory's name? Perfect! Thunderball written by Ian Fleming!"  Then James Bond became a blockbuster movie franchise. Well after we get four movies deep someone gets the bright idea of "Hey, why don't we do that Thunderball novel next?" Well that was an issue since McClory would obviously have a lawsuit against the Broccoli's (the producers of the Bond film franchise). So their solution to this potential law suit was to make McClory a producer on Thunderball which locked up the rights to the story for ten years. He would clearly forget about it by then right? Wrong. After ten years McClory took the case to court and as part writer of the story he won the rights to make a James Bond film and the rights to the characters of Bond, Moneypenny, M, Q, and Blofeld to be used in his movie. This also locked up the use of Spectre until recently, which is obvious given the new movies title. So what did McClory do with his rights? Well naturally he remade Thunderball and even got Sean Connery back who said he never wanted to a Bond movie again. Word is he agreed to do it because of his hate for the Broccoli's, and because of his ridiculous salary he was offered. The films title reflects Connery's previous claims of never doing Bond again. This film came out the same year as Octopussy and is not considered part of the Bond canon or the EON film series. So how does Never Say Never Again compare to Thunderball?

Honestly, I like this movie a lot more. Now this film breaks the Bond formula more than ever and does more to feel like a movie of it's time. There's no opening credit song clad against dark naked ladies, there's no gun barrel sequence, and the movie goes out of it's way to be more adult than previous films. This, I believe, is the first actual sex scene in a Bond movie. We normally see them getting into or out of bed where the deed is implied but this time we see some mid action scenes, even though it's just a girl leaning in and out of door way in ecstasy. Since watching the Roger Moore films and just seeing him get older and older it really makes me appreciate this movie as a true aging Bond story. Connery is still great as Bond, even though his commitment to this film may be questionable, and plays the older secret agent role very well. Honestly I kind of wish this was included in the EON line of films and they could have just rebooted with Dalton after this. Roger Moore's only fault was just sticking around for too long. Also it would have been the second time that Connery had come back after someone else had taken the role and hand it off to the next actor. Alas that is not the case.

The cast is really great for this film. You kind of take what you can get from Connery at this point but honestly I don't feel like he's phoning it in that much. There is the very stiff dance sequence but otherwise he seems to be trying harder this time around. Even in the action scenes. Kim Basinger is the Bond girl this time around marking the first time an Oscar winner has had a role of a Bond girl. She's maybe my least favorite performance in the movie but that doesn't mean she's bad. There's just some stiff competition. Klause Brandauer is worlds better as Largo than Adolfo Celi, who's only real defining characteristic is an eye patch. Klause brings the right amount of crazy you want in your Bond villain. He seems maniacal and always just on the brink of snapping and become a crazed killer. He has personality that was sorely missed in Thunderball. We do have another new Felix, who is played by a black actor for the first time but not the last and this is my favorite Felix to date even though I did think that if Bond was older shouldn't Felix be older as well? He seems pretty young and buff in this film. However I will say the versions of M and Q in this film are just so bad and sound like non-British actors trying to do the thickest accents. One thing to note is that Rowan Atkinson is in this movie! Mr. Bean and Johnny English himself had his fourth role in this unofficial Bond film, though it is a small part it was still exciting to see him on screen.

So why do I like this movie more than Thunderball? Well the problem with Thunderball wasn't it's story but more the execution. The movie is boring. There were so many long winded underwater scenes and not enough action. Editing was Thunderball's worst enemy. This film has no problem there. We don't get bored underwater and there are some great action scenes. The motorcycle chase and the opening scene stand out. Not to mention there is real tension in this movie. I just didn't but it in the previous version but now I actually felt like Bond and Largo were toying with each other and you were waiting for one to act. I guess this probably comes from Connery having a better actor to bounce off of. As different as this film was from the EON series, it does still have some of the Bond tropes such as cramming in the thing that's most popular at the time. I didn't look into it but I have a feeling that style of motorcycle was probably new at the time and hey, you know what else was popular? Video Games! So let's have Bond in an out of place video arcade inside of an adult casino and he can play a game with Largo. Honestly though, that game part was pretty cool. So is it an amazing Bond film? Not by any means. Is it better than Thunderball? In my opinion it's leaps and bounds better. Should you watch it? Absolutely! What do I rate it? Honestly I give this film a four out of five. I'd also like to mention that this film was directed by Irin Kershner who you may know for directing a little sci fi film called The Empire Strikes Back.

EDIT: I forgot to mention Barbara Carrera in the cast. She was a fun character that basically seems like a woman completely turned on by murder. She kind of pops in an out but I always found her time on screen to be enjoyable and her performance is just someone having as much fun as possible. Not to mention she is beautiful.