Review of Thunderball (1965) by Chris A — 14 Aug 2013

Thunderball is inconsistent in terms of pacing and action and isn't the best entry into the 007 series, but it succeeds due to its plot dynamics and competent technical structure.

Thunderball has pacing which is hit and miss, with moments focusing on James Bond 's predictable usual ego dynamics which slow the film down and feature mixed success and failures to present cleverness, and all in all I feel like there was some role for improvement in the script, even though it was consistent. It just didn't seem to have the cleverness or creativity of some of the earlier James Bond ventures, or the originality for that matter. It takes a while to get started, and then doesn't exactly have the strongest buildup from there.

Plus, none of the bond women really have convincing performances. Despite being thoroughly attractive and rich with sex appeal, the women in Thunderball have more experience with modelling than with acting and leave the sense that they add anything more than a body to the movie to be an urban legend. I began to lose track of who the Bond girl of the story was, but as it progressed on I found that I really did not care anymore.

Lastly, the story was fairly basic and one thing that it could have used wws touch of more creativity to it.

Still, Sean Connery is as cool as ever in Thunderball even though the script doesn't give him the same amount of moments for comedic charm, and the cinematography is lush and shot on brilliantly vibrant locations with beautiful colour to them. It's particularly brilliant because of the amount of filming that takes place underwater in Thunderball is exquisite, and truly what make sit such a success.

Although the action in Thunderball isn't the same high voltage action that had occurred in some of James Bond's earlier ventures, it makes way for the thrills to be more intense in gradual movement and development of the story and characters. Plus, the fact that it takes place underwater in such a lavish blue setting is exquisite, and would have been a whole new thing back in 1965 and is fairly cool to look back on today to see how far things have come in the 48 years since Thunderball's release. Although things occasionally get confusing as the characters aren't as physically comprehendible in an underwater setting as they are above water, whoever is shooting or stabbing whoever else with whatever weapon is cool. Terrence Young gives strong direction to Thunderball and makes it an entertaining one.

So Thunderball is inconsistent and less high voltage than some of the better James Bond films, but its a strong thriller which brings a good name to 007 and still had the charm of Sean Connery.