Bond movies: Never Say Never Again - what the hell went wrong?

[Mangetout]

ITV1 - a UK terrestrial channel has been showing Bond movies on monday nights for a while, last night it was Never Say Never Again.

What a truly awful film; how did the whole thing go so terribly wrong? The characters were wooden, the story limped along painfully, the gadgets (especially those stupid rocket/jet pack things) were irrelevant and shabby.

I mean, I’m not saying that the other 007 offerings are wonderful in every way, but this one stands out from the rest by a long way - was there some reason for this?

[Aro]

It was envisaged as a ‘comedy version’ remake of Thunderball which was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek. Maybe that’s something to do with it.

PLus, Sean was just a tad old for the role, IMHO.

[Aro]

Actually, a little googling later expains this a bit more:

The genesis of Never Say Never Again is complicated. It is often called a remake of Thunderball (1965) and, while both share the same plot and characters, this is not strictly accurate. Never Say Never in fact emerges out of an exceedingly lengthy court battle that has been bitterly fought between Broccoli and screenwriters Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham for the better part of thirty years…

Also:

The point that should perhaps be made is that Never Say Never was trying to strip Bond back to something more realistic. The other rather unflattering comments made are usually about Connery’s age.
<snip>
Part of the pleasure of Never Say Never is that it actually acknowledges and makes a joke out of Connery’s then 53 year-old age and no longer being as young as he used to be. Such wryly reflective acknowledgement of the hero’s age is certainly nowhere to be found in any of the Moore Bond films.

[Short_Guy]

It’s been a long time, but I genuinely liked Never say never again, precisely because it acknowledges the hero’s age. Next to The man with the Golden Gun, it’s probably my favourite Bond movie (even though it’s not, technically, part of the series).

The thing is that I’m not such a big Bond fan, really. So that might have something to do with it.

[CalMeacham]

I generally liked Never Say Never Again. The production design was stylish, Connery was in good form, and Klaus Maria Brandauer was wonderful as Max Largo. There was a lot that was pretty bizarre and downright stupid, but they tried a klot of new things (“Make Felix Leiter black this time,” someone said. “Maybe people will remember him.”)

Irvin Kershner, who directed The Return of the Jedi, was a good choice for director. Lorenzo Semple, Jr., who wrote the TV series “Batman” and the awful 1976 version of King Kong, was a miserable choice for screenwriter.

[paulberserker]

nitpick:

irvin kershner directed empire strikes back. richard marquand directed return of the jedi.

kershner also did robocop II, which isnt as bad as everyone thinks.

i watched never say never again last night until 9pm (started at 8.30) just to remind myself of it. im no great bond fan, but it does suck IMO. but not quite as bad as tomorrow never dies, which i will not watch again ever.

[elf6c]

Horrible.

Connery was too old- he gimped along even worse then Roger Moore in his last Bond flick. "eh come over here and give grampa so lovin’ " Ick.

The plot was a very mild rehash of Thunderball (won the right via a lawsuit- long story). The entire film smacks of a cheap cash in movie by all invovled, which is not surprising as that is exactly what it was. I lump it with Casino Royale- not “real” Bond.