1965 Directed by Terence Young
A criminal organization has obtained two nuclear bombs and are asking for a 100 million pound ransom in the form of diamonds in seven days or they will use the weapons. The secret service sends James Bond to the Bahamas to once again save the world.
Sean Connery Claudine Auger Adolfo Celi Luciana Paluzzi Rik Van Nutter Guy Doleman Molly Peters Martine Beswick Bernard Lee Desmond Llewelyn Lois Maxwell Roland Culver Earl Cameron Paul Stassino Rose Alba Philip Locke George Pravda Michael Brennan Leonard Sachs Edward Underdown Reginald Beckwith Harold Sanderson Jack Gwillim Suzy Kendall Mitsouko Philip Stone Kevin McClory Anthony Dawson Bob Simmons
Джеймс Бонд. Агент 007: Кульова блискавка, Джеймс Бонд: Кульова блискавка, 007: Thunderball, Åskbollen, Agente 007 - Thunderball (Operazione Tuono), James Bond 4: Thunderball, James Bond - Thunderball, James Bond - I ilden, James Bond 007 Opération Tonnerre, 007 Contra a Chantagem Atômica, James Bond 04 - Opération Tonnerre, Bond 4, Шаровая молния, 007 04 - Contra a Chantagem Atômica, Τζέιμς Μποντ, Πράκτωρ 007: Επιχείρηση Κεραυνός, 007 Операция Мълния, Agente 007 - Thunderball: operazione tuono, 007: Operación Trueno, Pallosalama, Джеймс Бонд 04: Шаровая молния, Operasjon Tordensky, 4탄 007 썬더볼 작전, Operatie Donder, 007 - 04 - Operación Trueno, Кульова блискавка, 007։ Thunderball, 007 - contra a Chantagem Atômica, 007: 04 Thunderball, (1965) Thunderball, James Bond - 1965 - Opération Tonnerre, James Bond 04 - Thunderball, James Bond 007 - Thunderball, 007: Tűzgolyó, James Bond: Tűzgolyó, James Bond IV: Thunderball, James Bond - 04 - Feuerball
Nobody ranks Bond better for Bond-a-thon
Quick question first... Is "You swim like a man" the worlds worst attempt at a pick up line?
Right, I thought it would be fitting to review this one underwater... So scuba diving gear on... here we go
The ....... prooobleeem ......... wwiiithh ......... shooooting .......... looots .......... of ........... thhhe ............ fiiilm .............. undeeer .......... waaater .......... is ............it .......... is ........ alllll ........... sooooo ............. slooow.......... It ........... gets ........ really......... booooooring. ...... [gasp] ....... Alllsoo ....... half ........ the ............tiiiime .......... you .......... can't ........... telll .............. whoooo ........... the ........... fuuuuck ............. is whoooo..',"':;.-"'@&"';:.;,.........................................
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Turns out iPads are fucking useless underwater.
Right…
M here again. As you were. Operation Thunderball is a bit different from Bond’s other missions thus far in its storytelling. Though many of the tropes remain, here we focus a lot on the villains and their activity rather than just on Bond. It is huge in ambition and features many scenes that are filmed underwater, taking our favorite spy out of his element and giving audiences a glimpse of action they had not seen before. What follows is my mission debriefing, I hope you enjoy.
Opening: Bond has some unfinished business of revenge where he shows us what he thinks of the LGBT community when he confronts and murders a transvestite. This is achieved mainly by throwing chairs and…
I’ve got to admit, I was slightly disappointed by Thunderball on this rewatch.
It has the usual flair of the Connery Bonds, and the opening sequence is spectacular but the central storyline is lacking. Domino is a forgettable Bond girl and the villain has an incredible look but not much interesting character development. We spent so many short stints around the evil lair, I feel like it would have been better to have one or two major sequences there instead.
The location is great, and Connery sports his best outfits of the series. It also has the SPECTRE conference room which is impossible to watch without thinking of Austin Powers. The underwater fight sequences alternate between grand and slow. It’s very impressive…
52
I loved Thunderball as a kid, so it's disappointing to say that I fell out of sync with this about fifteen minutes in, only to regain interest towards the tail-end. Some stellar underwater photography that is unfortunately padded out and lost to its own amusement.
Despite a series-best Connery performance I just think this is tremendously unexciting. You could jettison the first 40 minutes entirely without altering the narrative in the slightest, and its major action sequences are in slooowwww-underwater-motion, sadly yanking any kineticism from some conceptually cool frogman scenes (although to be fair, in their own way they must have been as technically challenging as my beloved space-battle scenes in MOONRAKER). Perhaps suffers as a transitional work, as it seems to be caught between the groundbreaking novelty of GOLDFINGER and the self-conscious exaggeration and formal elegance of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE.
Action!: Terence Young - The Many Stages Of A Real "M"
Fuera de Serie: Bond, James Bond - The International Spy, The Icon & The Once Serial Women Beater
Right off the bat, we finally learn what's James Bond's kryptonite: modern massage tables.
So fun fact: I once planned to do a whole Bond marathon, but I only got as far as Goldfinger and the last two Craig films, so most of this run will be me watching most of the films in the series for the first time.
Another fun fact is that this was supposed to be the first installment in the franchise, but legal troubles delayed the filming and release. And actually, this is one of those cases…
Sean Connery is infuriatingly handsome, the Ken Adam sets are jaw-droppingly extravagant, and James Bond romances women by talking about conch chowder. I also like that everyone in SPECTRE wears an enormous octopus ring, just to make it extremely easy to figure out who is in the clandestine organization trying to blow up the world. Then the whole movie shifts underwater, the pace grinds to a halt, and my eyes start to glaze over. It’s the best Bond movie one minute and the most boring one the next. So... three stars?
"Do you mind if my friend sits this one out? She's just dead."
Thunderball is the fourth Bond film in the franchise and features Terence Young returning to direct after Guy Hamilton took over for Goldfinger. As a result it feels much more like Dr. No and From Russia with Love in the way it tries to ground itself in the real world of espionage rather than relying on sporadic comedy beats. However, despite its grittier aesthetic, a lot of it still comes off as a bit silly (e.g. jet pack for one scene then never again). This might be caused by the multitude of parodies which have come out since its release (mostly Austin Powers), and as much as…
Writer: I have a third James Bond movie for you.
CEO: Perfect, people love these movies
Writer: Exactly, I was thinking of making James Bond even hornier
CEO: Hmmm will this age well in 55 years?
Writer: Not at all! We will even have the villain try to rape one of the women.
CEO: OH MY GOD! How is that not going to be the biggest talking point of the film?
Writer: Well there will be sharks in the movie.
CEO: There will be sharks?! Why didn't you mention that first?!
Writer: Do you think that will make people forget about all the horny men?
CEO: I forgot everything you just said, what type of sharks are they?
Bond: That gun, it looks more fitting for a woman.
Largo: You know much about guns, Mr. Bond?
Bond: No, but I know a little about women.
I loved the song, the title sequence and the rest of the music but I found Thunderball to be quite unremarkable for the most part. Connery gives a fantastic and confident performance but this just wasn’t as interesting as other films from his era. The narrative doesn’t really start until 40 minutes in when Bond gets back to base so I did feel the length a bit on this one. I can confidently say that Claudine Auger is my favourite Bond girl so far though lol. Also that spine stretching machine at the start was absolutely hilarious.
It’s not without its moments but bigger doesn’t always mean better.
