Review of Thunderball (1965) by Brian R — 28 Feb 2013

Watching "Thunderball" is like watching "Dr. No" all over again. Same exotic locales (Bahamas this time instead of Jamaica), same kinda plot (hold the world ransom with some stolen nuclear weapons), a maniacle villian/villianess, 007 gadgetry (wish Bond didn't have to use a jetpack), and etc.

Imo, Bond is much more colder this time with the ladies. It's clear he just uses them or traps them in cage as Hitchcock would with his blonde actresses. There is a scene in the film where Bond bribes a female massage therapist into having sex so she won't lose her job, another scene shows Bond sexist edge and says to one of the women "My dear girl, don't flatter yourself. What I did this evening was for Queen and country. You don't think it gave me any pleasure, do you?" and she retaliates back mockingly. "James Bond, the one where he has to make love to a woman, and she starts to hear heavenly choirs singing. She repents, and turns to the side of right and virtue... but not this one!".

Well at least she doesn't tolerate the idea of being a mere sex object. "Thunderball" has amazing action scenes, mostly filmed underwater (high marks), and uses various film speeds, but the characters aren't really that interesting and neither is the villian or the idea of nuclear missles being hidden beneath the ocean. The Bond women aren't really that interesting either sad to say, but for someone strange reason TB isn't a boring picture to watch. The theme song sung by Tom Jones is one of my favs (YOLT, DAF and Skyfall also favs) For what it's worth, the James Bond franchise still survives and TB still managed to hold my attention.