Thunderball

“Thunderball,” released in 1965, is about the one-eyed antagonist Emilio Largo, played by Adolfo Celi, leading Bond’s arch-nemesis organization known as SPECTRE. They hijack two warheads from a NATO plane and threaten to drop nuclear bombs that are about 100 million pounds. James Bond is assigned to recover the warheads from the base of Largo’s lair in the Bahamas, fighting through underwater attacks from sharks and men. He must also convince Largo’s mistress, Domino, played by Claudine Auger, to become his main player.

Eoin Friel stated in his review, “Thunderball has always been up there with the very best of the James Bond films for me.” Sean Connery is perfect here and will never be topped as 007 but this movie also adds a special ingredient, which it has one of the best final action sequences in motion picture.

The underwater fight is nothing like we’ve seen in any movie prior to this or afterwards and looks like it has never been bested. The photography during those moments is completely amazing and it’s all done without any CGI, but with practical effects. We also get a fight above the surface between a warship and a weapon-filled yacht which was engaging.  Friel mentioned, “It was only let down by the comically accelerated hydrofoil/yacht towards the finale which caused some unintentional mirth.”

The best Bond movies are the ones that have SPECTRE and “Thunderball” has some amazing scenes. Friel said, “One of the opening moments is pure Austin Powers and yet still manages to be chilling with Number 1 (Blofeld) not tolerating failure.”

Friel admitted, “I’ve always been a big fan of Adolfo Celi as the villain Largo who was a nasty piece of work and yet kinda cool at the same time; after all, he has a swimming pool full of sharks at his house. Pretty sure we all wish we had one of those in our back yard…”

John Barry’s music is one of the best in the franchise which, despite never using the main Bond music during the movie, has other catchy tunes that you will be singing long after seeing this. Tom Jones gives, hands down, one of the best Bond themes as he plays it over the opening credits.

Friel admitted. “Domino is one of my favourite Bond girls but so is Fiona (Luciana Paluzzi) who is a refreshingly nasty yet beautiful adversary for our trusty secret agent.”

Friel went on to say, “It may be a little slow in parts for some tastes but I love how it feels more like an espionage movie and there are some truly ingenious ideas like the whole stealing and camouflaging of the plane.”

Friel continued, “I just thought the story was well thought out and it never went into camp territory; although there was some funny humour they got the tone spot on.”

It kept the action a tad bit leveled so you could really feel that mostly everything was engaged which kept you excited until the tense finale.

In the end, “Thunderball” is one of the best Bond films which has one problem with speeding up the action during the climax but its impressive music, fascinating villain and beautiful women make it stand out with the best.

There you have it. If you haven’t seen “Thunderball,” go out and see it, especially if you liked the other Bond films with Connery as Bond. These Bond movies never fail to disappoint fans since they are always engaging and never have a dull moment or flaw that we notice.

Check in tomorrow to see what comes next in “James Bond Month.”