Review of Thunderball (1965) by Caspar R — 13 Dec 2009

Thunderball is the fourth of the James Bond films. Director Terence Young helmed the first two of the series, and after his brief hiatus for Goldfinger he returned for this new installment. He had some good ideas this time around, as we can tell from the early jet-nabbing sequence. But he also had some dreadful ones.

To speed up the action, for example, Young uses the technique of simply fast forwarding. Boats go faster and fists fly like you've never seen. But the people inside the boats also seem to increase speed. And the chair that breaks beneath the falling villain breaks extra fast too. Then you have the problem with -- yeah. Cuts. In the middle of the action. From the. First sequence to the last. Making this entire movie a visually uncomfortable and awkwardly constructed piece of cinema. Continuity be damned. Thunderball is about the worst cut movie I have ever laid eyes upon.

Now that that's off my chest, I don't mind reminiscing about the return of the great, cat-bearing Bond supervillain in this movie, or finding it has beautiful undersea wildlife (including some sex that might've frightened a few fishes). I also appreciated the ups and downs Bond finds in a sauna, the grenading of a secret scuba diver, Bond getting taken for a frighteningly fast ride by a lady, and even an undersea battle of epicly hilarious and repetative and boring construction. Worst battle scene ever! On the beach when Bond must suck venom from a woman's foot, the movie hits a narrative stride that makes us wonder how great it could have been. (Then the superfast boat shows up and we couldn't possibly even care anymore!).

Sadly, with a run time of way more than 2 hours, the upsides can't even begin to save this picture. This is a really dull movie that's so caught up in fake world politics that it fails to recognize why we're watching in the first place -- for a spy adventure with ladies, locales, and imagination. Bond is abusive and hard here. There is no joy or charm in either him or his job. The audience can feel it.

If ever there was one, Thunderball is the Bond to forget. After all, any memories of it will likely be in fast forward and. Choppy.