Never Say Never Again (1983)

Sean Connery returns to the role of James Bond for the second and final time in the appropriately titled Never Say Never Again. A continuity orphan Never Say Never Again was not produced by the Eon group like the rest of the films in the James Bond franchise, and accordingly is not generally "numbered" among them. So while this is technically Bond #14 so is A View To A Kill which came out 2 years later. The reason this movie even got to be made is do to a legal dispute involving Kevin McClory, a writer and producer on the 1965 Bond film Thunderball, which resulted in his retaining remake rights to that story, which is essentially what Never Say Never Again is, a remake a Thunderball. In fact the first 40% or so of the film is such a near beat by beat repetition of the earlier movie that I found it kind of grating, though it starts to vary more significantly from the original in the second half which is the better part of the film, even with its interestingly odd 'video game' competition between Bond and villain Maximillian Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer). Exotic locations include an English heath resort, the Bahamas, the south of France, and north Africa. A 29 year old Kim Basinger is a Bond girl, and Mr. Bean himself Rowan Atkinson is in this for some reason. Max von Sydow is wasted in a brief cameo as Blofield. While it was nice to see Connery back I wish he had been given new material. **1/2