Never Say Never Again -james Bond 007- -
So, pour yourself a shot of bourbon (Connery preferred it to martinis anyway), and watch the outlaw Bond. Watch the moment the original king came back to remind the world what a dangerous, tired, and still damn-cool James Bond looks like. And remember: In the world of Her Majesty’s secret service, you truly should never say never again. Never Say Never Again is more than a footnote. It is the ultimate “what if” of the 007 saga—a flawed, scrappy, and gloriously bitter middle finger to the establishment. For fans of legal drama, cinema history, and Sean Connery’s rugged charisma, it remains essential viewing.
In a brilliant opening sequence, Bond wakes up in a bed with a beautiful woman, dreams of a past mission, and then stares at himself in the mirror, sighing at his reflection. Later, M (Edward Fox, replacing Bernard Lee) sarcastically notes that Bond failed the annual fitness test. Bond is sent to a “health farm” (Shrublands) run by a dubious Dr. Kovacs, where his massage is interrupted by an assassination attempt via a mechanical snake. Never Say Never Again -James Bond 007-
In 2013, after decades of litigation, the rights to Never Say Never Again reverted to MGM (the studio behind EON’s Bond). For the first time, the “rogue Bond” was officially allowed to sit alongside Dr. No and Skyfall in the home video box sets. Today, it is legally recognized as a valid part of the 007 filmography, albeit the black sheep of the family. For modern audiences raised on Daniel Craig’s brutal, emotional Bond, Never Say Never Again feels surprisingly prescient. Craig’s Bond in No Time to Die (2021) is also an aging warrior, weary of the game, facing irrelevance. Connery did it first, in a cheap wig, with a video-game-obsessed villain. So, pour yourself a shot of bourbon (Connery
Along the way, Bond encounters the (Barbara Carrera), a gleefully sadistic SPECTRE agent who rivals Rosa Klebb for sheer unhinged sexuality and violence. Carrera’s performance is a masterclass in camp villainy—she kills a man with a flick of her poisoned earring and seduces Bond while piloting a horse. The official Bond girl is Domino Petachi (Kim Basinger in an early, luminous role), Largo’s kept woman and the sister of the stolen warheads’ pilot. The “Old Man Bond” Theme: A Midlife Crisis at 10 Megatons What distinguishes Never Say Never Again from every other Bond film is its unflinching focus on mortality. By 1983, Sean Connery was 52 years old. He looked fantastic, but he was no longer the fluid, violent brute of From Russia with Love . The film weaponizes this. Never Say Never Again is more than a footnote
