Thunderball Review

The James Bond series started off very strong with a fantastic trilogy of films, but the silver had to start to tarnish eventually, and it all started with Thunderball. I wouldn't say that Thunderball is a bad entry, but it's the distinct point in the series where cracks would start to show in the franchises armor, and is a major step down in quality after the first 3 films.

Fuck Aquaman!

In Thunderball, 007 must try to recover two nuclear bombs stolen by Emilio Largo, head of extortion and "Number 2" of the criminal organization SPECTRE. Largo plans to use the bombs to hold the world hostage for £100 million by threatening to detonate them in either the United States or England. Thunderball is a largely water themed movie, with many scenes taking place on a beach, underwater, or on Largo's luxury yacht, the Disco Volente.

One main problem with Thunderball is that there is very little action, and what action there is isn't very exciting. There is one main action sequence near the end, one that's become rather infamous among Bond fans for being one of the slowest, most boring in the history of the series. Near the end of the film, a battalion of US Coast Guards, led by Bond's pal Felix leiter, attempt to storm Largo's boat and meet up with all of Largo's soldiers and fight for what feels like 20 minutes underwater. A battle at the bottom of the sea is pretty interesting idea for an action scene, and on paper it seems very exciting, but unfortunately it doesn't translate well to the screen. The only weapon used are harpoons, which are a nice change of pace from bullets, but there's only so many times you can see a man get stuck in the chest in slow motion before it becomes tedious. The plot is also not exciting enough to keep the audience engaged and interested in the why the action is happening, or providing any consequences to it's conclusion.

Largo is visually an interesting villain. He's an older, charismatic man with an eye patch and a beautiful island mansion, complete with killer shark pool. Along with Blofeld (Number 1) he probably has one of the most iconic looks in the franchise. He reminds me a lot of Fransisco Scaramanga from The Man With the Golden Gun, one of my all-time favorite villains. His plan to extort the world with nuclear warheads seems pretty standard and ordinary, for Bond anyway, and it never seems to bring any tension into the movie. He makes his demands early on and we see M and other heads of British Intelligence and the government worry a little about paying the ransom, and then the threat is forgotten about for most of the movie. It never feels like any of the events and situations James is in relate much to the plot, or are working to resolve the conflict at all. Despite his appearance, Largo is the first forgettable villain of the James Bond series.

Our Bond girl this time is Domino, played by Claudine Auger, Largo's mistress. Like her employer, Domino is a forgettable companion to Bond. She is involved with the situation solely because of her relationship with Largo and although she plays a pretty big role in Largo's defeat at the end, she does not contribute much to the success of Bond's mission. Domino is much like Largo in their contributions to the film, they are involved in the plot but never seem like they are having much effect on the movie. They are both largely forgettable and do not in any way live up to their predecessors.

I do not hate Thunderball, but I don't particularly like it. At 130 minutes it is one of the longest Bond films, and due to the lack of action or excitement, you feel every minute of it. There are some good scenes, like when Bond first meets Largo in the casino, and the opening scene featuring Bond using a jetpack (admittedly quite silly, but in a fun way). Also the marti-gras sequence is entertaining visually. Thunderball was the most financially successful movie in the James Bond franchise, but for my money it was the first disappointment, but thankfully it's one small bit or tarnish on an otherwise beautiful piece of silver.