There are Bond films that feel out of place in the saga, and this is one of them. It doesn’t belong to the official EON line, and although Sean Connery returns to the role, it feels like a somewhat forced comeback. Seeing him again in the tuxedo with a gun is intriguing, but it’s also clear that time had passed and the character no longer fit him naturally.
The story, a reworking of Thunderball, lacks the vibrancy of the stronger entries and drags at times. The script tries to balance this with humor and secondary characters, but the classic Bond spark only shows up intermittently. The real highlights come from Klaus Maria Brandauer’s intense villain and Barbara Carrera’s magnetic presence.
Visually it delivers, with solid settings and polished cinematography, but it never reaches the elegance or freshness of other films in the series. It stands today as a curiosity, almost a collector’s item, letting us see Connery’s final 007 performance—more of a rare artifact than an essential entry.
