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Films: N is for...

Never Say Never Again

‘Unofficial’ but still rather dull legal-loophole rehash of the not-that-good anyway Thunderball. There’s a bit of fun to be had with unfamiliar names in familiar roles, viz. Max von ‘Tim Tyler’ Sydow as Blofeld, Edward ‘VII’ Fox as M, Alec ‘Mr. Palfrey of Westminster’ McCowen as Q etc., but otherwise you’ll have to be content with Rowan ‘Bu-harclaycard??!’ Atkinson, Pat ‘no-one’s grabbed Bomber’s arse!’ Roach, Prunella ‘Kinvig’ Gee, Ronald ‘Radio 4’ Pickup and someone getting piss thrown in their face. Charming.

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. THX 1139

    September 14, 2017 at 8:09 pm

    This is so bad that it ends with James Bond doing a cheeky wink to the camera, like he was Robin Askwith or something. And the big mid-film battle between Bond and the baddie is… playing a video game. Hypersports on First Class with Debbie Greenwood was more exciting.

  2. Glenn Aylett

    August 24, 2019 at 12:59 pm

    It was Sean Connery trying to be Roger Moore’s James Bond and has its moments, like the fight with Pat Bomber Roach in the health farm, the exploding bad Bond girl and Rowan Atkinson as a senior civil servant. Remember people wanted Bond to be played for laughs in the early eighties and also Sean didn’t want to go back to his old 007 for NSNA.As for Thunderball supposedly being not that good, I disagree, it had an excellent villain who was prepared to fight Bond on his own, the underwater scenes were nominated for an Oscar and it has a killer in drag in the early scenes.

  3. richardpd

    August 24, 2019 at 9:09 pm

    It’s been a long time since I watched this but I remember at times it even passes the average Roger Moore film for campness, though it balances out with the health farm fight & the shocking video game.

    • Glenn Aylett

      August 25, 2019 at 4:32 pm

      Fatima Blush was an added attraction, being an OTT bad Bond girl who looked quite fetching dressed up as a nurse. Yet NSNA certainly isn’t a great Bond and Sean was playing it for laughs, but an amiable enough way to pass two hours

  4. Sidney Balmoral James

    September 2, 2020 at 6:57 pm

    Perhaps the one Bond film (ok, not proper Bond), to feature TWO indisputably great actors – Max von Sydow and Klaus Maria Brandauer: luxury casting indeed.

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