In the final act of Never Say Never Again, Bond casually asks the submarine captain about the Navy’s top secret XT-7B platforms, claiming to have read about them in a “Russian translation” of one of his service manuals. Even by Bond standards, this premise strains credibility and the idea that details of a supposedly top-secret experimental weapon would appear in a broadly accessible service manual is absurd.

Conceptually, the XT-7B is not without merit, as Bond and Felix need a rapid means of transitioning from deep-water deployment to shallow coastal access, and a compact, jet-powered delivery system could plausibly solve that problem. Unfortunately, the execution is so unconvincing that the device becomes more distracting than impressive. The flimsy construction and awkward ergonomics, paired with unimpressive special effects make the XT-7B look less like a cutting-edge naval innovation and more like a low-rent science fiction prop.

Rather than integrating the device naturally into the story, the movie pauses to justify its existence, drawing attention to its own absurdity. A more conventional solution like a mini-sub or a refined underwater escape sequence would have felt more believable, but instead, the XT-7B stands as an awkward attempt to manufacture spectacle much like the entirety of this unofficial James Bond movie.