Starring: Sean Connery, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Rowan Atkinson, Barbara Carrera, Kim Basinger, Max von Sydow
Composer: Michael LeGrand
Title Song: Never Say Never Again by Lani Hall
The story: The evil philanthropist Maximillian Largo reprograms two cruise missiles and steals the nuclear warheads. James Bond becomes aware of the nefarious activity while visiting a health spa and tracks him down to the Bahamas. From there, he fights negative Arab stereotypes and meets Largo in an anti-climactic struggle for the fate of the world.
This film so interesting due to Connery's portrayal of Bond. Unlike Roger Moore, who played Bond like a virile teen despite being in his fifties, Connery gives us an older Bond on the verge of retirement. He is fed up with cutbacks in the MI-6 budget, which makes this the perfect movie for someone who was put off by declining defense budgets during the Clinton years.
There are also many other interesting twists on the Bond formula in this adventure. Bond plays Largo in a computer game instead of a card game, for instance. Max Von Sydow does the best ever portrayal of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, and Klaus Maria Brandauer also has a good showing as Largo.
There are a couple detractors from this movie, though. In Thundeball, the movie moved slowly but it was saved by an exciting ending. Never Say Never Again is more exciting but the end is anticlimactic. Some of the dialogue is pretty dumb, but what can you expect when the script was written by the same guy who did the Batman TV show? And the DVD special features pale next to those in the "official" Bond movies. Despite the minor flaws, Never Say Never Again is a classic and arguably Connery's best. All Bond fans must watch this exciting flick!