1983 be the battle of the bond . that year both roger moore and sean connery star in two separate james bond film and the former ( octopussy ) be produce by the official maker of the bond film while the later ( never say never again ) be produce unofficially by a group lead by kevin mcclory who hold the film right to thunderball . surprisingly enough be the unofficial film that be well despite the obvious flaw of and the fact that never say never again be a remake of thunderball . never say never again have the distinction of sport one of the best cast ever assemble for a bond film . it all start with sean connery and return to the play bond for the first time since 1971 diamond be forever . connery might be old then he be then but he look well here then he do in diamond be forever . the bond of never say never again be the sleek and dangerous shark of dr. no or from russia with love and just a few year older . connery delivery of one liner and dialogue be a dead on a it ever be . the one downside to connery age be his believability and especially when it come to the lady of the film . let face it even connery and despite be in top physical shape and look as odd a moore when he be bed woman half his age . yet despite this believability issue and never say never again show connery in one of his good bond performance and a definite improvement on his two early bond performance . kim bassinger play domino in one of her early film role . bassinger play the role with considerable confidence for a relative newcomer and she make the character believable . bassinger hold her own against her co star and have considerable chemistry with them as well . in fact she may well outshine her thunderball counter part play by claudine auger . then there the villain and maximilian largo play by klaus maria brandauer . brandauer largo be everything a james bond film villain should be represent suave and charming and evil and above all believable none the less . brandauer make the role realistic and choose not to fall into the trap many other bond villain have fall into by go over the top . brandauer play largo with a silent menace and charisma unseen in many adversary of 007. the excellent cast extend into the support cast as well . barbara carrera make a fine henchwoman in fatima blush and the screen light up when she appear . max von sydow a nice appearance a blofeld and though his appearance be more akin to a cameo . rowan atkinson make an appearance a bond bumbling contact that make for some of the best scene in the film . with all that the highlight of the support cast come from the mi6 staff from edward fox m who make for a great contrast to bernard lee and pamela salem who make s affine moneypenny and the icing on the cake with alec mccowen wonderful q. the support cast have a couple of misfire though in the form of bernie casey a felix leiter and gavin oherlihy a jack petachi who both seem to lack credibility in their respective role . otherwise this film sport one of the best cast ever assemble for a bond film . on top of an excellent cast the film have several other essential ingredient . from the opening central america sequence to the fight at shrublands to the underwater sequence and motorbike chase and this be a film where the action sequence be not only great but service the plot as well for the most part . the film also sport good special effect in term of cruise missile model and explosion and and all the thing we expect from a bond film . irvin kershner and then fresh off do the empire strike back and bring a tight sense of direction to the film especially in sequence like the substation of nuclear warhead and the subsequent theft of the cruise missile . yet this film be far from perfect . never say never again be easily one of the most dated of the bond film with it heavy use of 1980 computer sand video game . while technology date any film after a time and this film heavy reliance on it and especially in the hijacking of the cruise missile and the domination sequence make the film look incredibly date some quarter of a century after it release . the script also tend to suffer from predictability due to the very fact it a remake of thunderball . yet for it predictability the script for never say never again be pretty good . the script sport good dialogue scene and not a single cringe worthy one liner ( how many of the roger moore era script can you say that about . ) and some humorous situation and and yet be watchable and tense for the most part . once you look past he fact that it a remake and there quite a lot of good thing in the script for the film . music be in fact the big weakness of the film . due to the unofficial status of the film and the james bond theme could not be use . that say this could have show with the right composer that a bond score without it could work . unfortunately michael legrand score be far from adequate . legrand score be totally out of place in a bond film and there be only of or two place where it actually work . to make matter bad the film be also lumber with one of the bad title sequence ever to grace a james bond film . despite be heavily date and somewhat predicable and and have a bad score never say never again be still a good bond film . with one of the best cast of any bond film and good action sequence and good special effect and good direction and and some terrific dialogue and this film prove that unofficial isn not a bad thing . in fact it be be well then octopussy and the winner of the battle of the bond .