Director Geoff Murphy clearly had an enjoyable time making this, putting James Bond type action into New Zealand's South Island West Coast, a marvellous, sparcely populated rain forest terrain, but has it all starting in New Zealand's biggest city as a contrast. Although the action is serious, the male and female lead characters (both played by rather sexy actors) have a mysterious enemy out to get them resulting in plenty of action and spills, there is also plenty of subtle humour along the way - my favourite scene is when commando types in a black helicopter appear, firing bullets into the lead characters' hideout while "Ghost Riders in the Sky" plays on their stereo. Many reviewers at the time of this film's release saw it as a kind of sequel in spirit to "Goodbye Pork Pie" made by Murphy 10 years earlier. This are very few New Zealand films available on home video/DVD release which is a real shame. For those interested in a good reference book, I recommend "Celluloid Dreams", available from Amazon.com
Review of Never Say Die
