I know! Weird right?
The man that made the greatest sequel of all time, and one of the best movies period, Empire Strikes Back.
He presided over 2 absolute turkeys:
Never Say Never Again
Robocop2
Those aren't turkeys! They're just misunderstood. Robocop2 was one of the first major movies to suggest the "war on drugs" was a failure.
shareYou can tell Hollywood threw this movie and 'Robocop 2' at him because they saw him as "the sequel guy."
Thing is, directing ain't magic. No matter how good you are there's no overcoming weak scripts or stars/producers that can veto all your decisions. 'Never Say Never Again' actually does have one of the more distinctive directorial styles of the Bond movies (it's striking how much more modern for the time it feels than 'Octopussy,' which sometimes still feels like it was made in the 70s). But they were legally required to just rehash 'Thunderball' and Kershner was stuck with the bland department store music . Most of the budget going to Connery also meant there was only so much they could do with the action and set pieces. So Kershner mostly focuses his efforts on the camera framing, the performances, and using as little of the music as he could get away with.