Agente 007 - Thunderball: operazione tuono

This is the fourth Bond film, and it's a bit of a step back. SPECTRE has stolen two nuclear weapons from a NATO aircraft, and is blackmailing the west for £100M. Bond must investigate leading him to Bahamas.

Adolfo Celi is playing the bad guy Largo. He's not as scary. The most interesting thing about him is an eye patch. The pace is a lot slower this time around. It's mostly due to the massive amount of underwater work. It's a big technical challenge, but it doesn't maintain the tension. The action is slower underwater, and the people can be obscured by the action. I guess the underwater work was cool back then, but it doesn't make it great viewing today. As far as gadgets, the Bond franchise keeps it coming with a rocket pack. There isn't an evil henchman like Oddjob. There isn't an iconic Bond girls in this one although they are very beautiful. It's a small step backwards for the franchise.

Do you have an enthusiasm for water sports like Bond? If you do then you will probably love Thunderball. For me, however, there were too many boring underwater scenes (snorkeling, diving, or whatever he was doing), and that drags the rating down to a 6/10. This film is still a fun adventure. It just doesn't compare favorably to the other Bond films. I actually liked the remake, Never Say Never Again, more than this. On the plus side, Thunderball has more than the usual number of Bond girls. I counted four (two good, one henchwoman, and one which was not involved in the plot). The bad guy (No. 2) was also one of the more memorable Bond villains. A 6/10 is still a good score for me, so don't get the wrong impression. I still like this film. It just has some boring parts that make it a below average Bond film.

Rating-7/10

Thunderball is a Bond that may be slightly slower than the ones before it, but it still packs a punch in the franchise and stands tall among all the entries. With Connery continuing his suave but violent role, he manages to make this film fun yet plausible at the same time with the villain being not so insane as seen before. I felt that this film was solidly a Kind of good film film, and here below is why I felt so.

The story is good fun and the adventure although maybe not scraping every part of the world, still manages to get a lot of out of only one real location it is set in. It has some good action and good scenes that are quintessential to any Bond fans, with big weapons and an underwater scene that is one of the resounding images of this film, it is just all good stuff, and with a plot that isn't afraid to be both light and dark.

Connery comes back with maybe a film that wouldn't be his proudest Bond, but still manages to entertain and do a job that many think, no one can do better. Largo the villain is a good villain, maybe slightly stereotypically Bond but is still a bad one, which turns out good. I felt Adolfo Celi who plays him is very good and stands out for me as one of those villains who is evil when you least expect it, a cunning man indeed.

The stunts are good fun and some of the things involved go a long way to entertain you, I especially liked that this film didn't have to rely on car chases for fun, it has more thrilling chases and a lot of boats are involved too. It is written OK and the script doesn't really go anywhere to help the film although Connery uses it well to his advantage, overall it is Connery who helps this film to it's rating.

The only thing I could really find wrong with this film is that at times it can be slow and maybe just a bit boring, I feel this was only because the film has one setting for the majority of the film and although it is an interesting plot, maybe the over use of location effects it. It could also be said that the film lacks enough humour needed for early Bonds but that it is really up to you if you decide to watch it.

Bond fans should enjoy this and although I don't think this will be there favourite one, it will still serve to entertain. Those who like Bonds with a much more spy like feel will enjoy this as he seems to get into some hiding places and stake outs to root out his enemy. One more thing to say is that this film has some great characters throughout and who is good and who is bad is always hard to predict, good fun.

Overall I give this a 7/10, Solidly a kind of Good film, with this you have to just enjoy this and see exactly what Sean can do in a Bond film, I will mention the underwater scenes again because Connery executes them very well and it is one thing that sticks in your mind when you think about the film. Just see what you think with this and ignore all other ratings including mine, you might just love this.

This Bond film (the 3rd best; the others being From Russia With Love, Goldfinger and 4th would be Dr. No) has exotic locale, superb soundtrack, formidable bad-guy, the hottest real Bond gal (Claudine Auger as Domino), other hot chicks - Martine Beswick and Lucianna Paluzzi, and Sean's toupee still looked good before his final three Bond adventures.

There may have been too many Bond effects underwater in this one, but everything else about it makes up for the scuba scenes, which are necessary to the "plot". Adolfo Celi (Largo) had presence, great white hair, an eyepatch, and figured out Bond almost immediately. It flows with best scenery (Bond-wise) and had no major problems, although a tad long. A 7 out of 10. Recommended for 1965!

After the legendary success of Goldfinger , expectations were understandably astronomical for the next Bond installment, with 007 producers determined to consistently push the envelope, delivering a "bigger and better Bond" than ever before. Unfortunately, this determination proved to be both the strength and weakness of Thunderball, the resulting sequel. On the whole, the film is by no means a failure, but the producers' determination to cash in on elements which made Goldfinger such a success led to overkill excesses which sink Thunderball's overall quality.

The plot is even more outlandish than Goldfinger's radiation of the fort Knox gold reserve, pushing the threat to a more global context with the destruction of major world cities by atomic weapons. As well as being a particularly poignant plot device at the time, in the midst of the Cold War, the gist of Thunderball may seem quite familiar to those who frequent more modern political action thrillers, such as The Sum of All Fears. Despite the larger than life premise, Thunderball remains far more grounded in reality than several later Bond exploits (including You Only Live Twice and Moonraker) which tended to drift into being overly silly and ludicrous. Thunderball still takes itself relatively seriously, with several surprisingly dark moments, which help counterbalance the slightly comical yet still thrilling sight of of seeing Connery in a jet pack, and dramatically aid the overall quality of the film.

However, Thunderball's significantly larger budget is mostly misused through underwater photography sequences, which, although interesting to look at (and were likely moreso back in the 1960s, where such a sight was very seldom visible to the public eye) for the most part fail to further the plot in any way, and drag on excruciatingly long. However, the film does boast some strong cinematography (and some stunning locations), the action sequences (including a tense chase sequence through a Mardi Gras parade) are solid, and an unreasonably catchy Tom Jones title track surprisingly helps not hinders the film.

Unfortunately, for however many of the film's previous strengths, the film descends into utter chaos during the film's final quarter with a painfully repetitive and indecipherable underwater battle (it is increasingly difficult to tell which underwater army is which, who is winning, or why it should even retain our interest) a boat chase flaunting special effects which have dated decidedly unfavourably, and laughably inexplicable character motivations seemingly thrown in to finally tie up the increasingly unravelling mess. It is a disappointment indeed to see what started out with such promise sink into such a banal conclusion.

The character of Bond himself is surprisingly reduced to far less screen time than is usual for a 007 film, which is unfortunate, as Connery gives arguably one of his strongest performances as Bond, oozing self assurance and panache, yet an unprecedented darkness amidst the one liners ("I think he got the point" being the most classic). This time around Bond not only gets hurt, but is not afraid to hurt, unflinchingly bestowing surprisingly vicious physical punishment against his adversaries

The supporting cast proves to be a very hit and miss affair. While former model Claudine Augere certainly looks the part of a sixties Bond girl, but unfortunately for the most part retains the static lack of emoting also associated with them. Adolfo Celi's eye-patched frown makes a visually iconic Bond villain, and is suitably menacing, but as the film progresses, he loses his threat element more and more, eventually degrading to a flimsy carbon copy of an adversary by the final act. Luciana Paluzzi steals the show from all but Connery, making one of the most chilling Bond femme fatale figures in the franchise. Paluzzi, despite the potential to coast by on her sensual looks, refuses to play the part on autopilot, and exudes laudable charisma and threat throughout. The unfortunately named Rik Van Nutter makes the most generic and forgettable CIA agent Felix Leiter of the Bond series, but Bernard Lee and Desmond Llewelyn are on top form as the ever endearing M and Q.

As overlong and let down by some unfortunate overuse of budget and dated special effects as the film may be, Thunderball is nonetheless a noteworthy and suitably engaging early Bond effort. Connery himself, in one of his most charismatic renditions of the role is enough to merit watching, and the film for the most part runs along at a brisk enough pace to retain audience interest. While the film is less likely to enthrall those who are not already Bond purists, fans of the character or series should easily be able to extract moments of enjoyment from Thunderball.

-6/10