Review of Thunderball (1965) by Chris W — 08 Feb 2013

This is the fourth entry in the James Bond series, and this timearound Bond once again finds himself squaring off against international criminal organization S.P.E.C.T.R.E.- specifically their member Emilio Largo- an eye patch wearing nut job who drops enemies and ineffectual henchman into a tank full of hungry sharks. Largo has hijacked a NATO nuclear bomber and hidden the bombs in the ocean depths. He gives the British government one week to pay him a ransom of 1,000,000 pounds or else he'll launch the weapons.

Well, it doesn't take long before Bonds sets of for Nassau to foil this diabolical plot, and he's get a few beautiful woman to accompany him along the way.

This is a fun one. It's Connery (once again), and, while he's not as strong as he was in the previous two entries, he's still quite strong here, and very comfortable with the role. It's a solid film, but maybe one of my least favorite of the Connery era. It's not a bad movie, just not quite as exciting as some of the others. It's a bit goofy, but I think it really only adds to the charm.

Plus, we get some great underwater scenes, and those are quite well done, especially for the time period. Those are some of the best parts, but the cinematography in general is quite good, and there's some okay land sequences as well.

With a decent title theme from Tom Jones, a fine score in general, and an entertaining title sequence, this is a really fun movie, and a decent entry in the long running series. Give it a go.