Review of Thunderball (1965) by Jason N — 07 Feb 2011

Let me just say that Never Say Never Again is my favor..um, wait. This movie has a different title? Oh, yeah. That's right. This one is the real one, not the cheap knockoff made by a guy who couldn't write a new story, so he decided to make the same movie over again, but in a bad way.

Thunderball, on the other hand, is the better, more interesting, pull out the damned stops Bond film that Never Say Never Again tried to be. That's like Ringo remaking the Revolver album, but as a solo artist.

Well, maybe not, but still. Thunderball is a total blast. This is truly the big one. The story is heavier than the previous three Bonds, and manages to integrate gadgets, locales, comedy, suspense, drama, and the kitchen sink perfectly.

In other words, this movie is bloated, but it's a good bloated. LOL. The sense of impending doom is made all the more clear with the excellent John Barry orchestrations. His music clearly gives the audience the feeling they are underwater with his uneasy, weary score filled with abrupt crashes of explosive audible action.

On the technical side, this one rules. The gadgets are all cool, but the main gadget that really kicks the crap out of even my favorite Aston Martin (which appears in the film, too) is the Disco Volante (Flying Saucer) yacht.

During one of the most massive fight scenes ever (at the end), this thing splits apart and transforms into a damned hydrofoil! The first time I saw that, I was truly in awe. Yachts that convert into hydrofoils? Really? Yes.

Really. I know that I'm not pointing out plot points here, instead I'm pointing out the cool things; but that's what I love about this film. If you have never seen this one, but you've watched Goldfinger, then you're going to be even more wowed by Thunderball (aka jock itch).

Sure, it's the second Bond film with the whole "take over the world" plot device, but without this plot device, this movie would go nowhere and not pass go and collect 200 dollars! Nice run-on.

I don't really consider Dr. No to be a rule-the-world story. Anyway, in this one, SPECTRE hires a guy who works at a Starbuck's to basically hijack an RAF Vulcan so they can steal a couple of nuclear warheads from its weapons hold.

As you can probably guess, the British send all their agents out to go look for the missing warheads, but to move the story along a little faster, Bond is the only agent who is hot on the trail the first time out of the gate.

From there on out, it's nothing but lowly, inept henchmen being eaten by sharks in a swimming pool, dancing with a dead woman used as a human shield, hundreds of underwater flipper flipping SPECTRE and orange suited frogmen, the dead rising from the grave, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria! You get the point? Good.

Connery is at his best here. The supporting cast does an excellent job. Even though the idea of a fat assed villain wouldn't fly in a modern day action film, Adolfo Celi's Largo is excellent. He's cruel, actually has a brain, and has no qualms about killing folks.

The only issue I have is that the producers got one of their friends to step up to the role of Felix in this one; making him the 403rd actor to play the part in the span of 4 films. That's another thing, by the way.

You have to keep in mind that these films had been coming out yearly, not every 3 years like other movie series nowadays. You could say this series was like the Harry Potter films of their time. Thunderball was the last of the yearly Bond films, and judging by the amount of time and effort that went into the entire production, it's difficult to fathom (no pun intended) that the crew could throw together a film of this magnitude so soon during and after Goldfinger's release.

This is a big film, it feels heavy, but it is really a great testament to the skill and ingenuity to everyone who worked on it.