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Thunderball

Thunderball

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good, but not exactly great
Review: This film would have been much better if the underwater scenes had been shorter. However, it is still a good movie. SPECTRE is back in action, with Ernst Stavro Blofeld in charge, but still faceless to the audience. SPECTRE hijacks two nuclear weapons, and threatens to use them unless a considerable ransom is paid. Bond gets a clue about the situation at a health spa, and uses it to track down Blofeld's number 2 man Largo. Felix Leiter is also back, though the producers can't seem to keep one actor in the role constantly.

All in all, the plot is good, there are interesting characters, and Connery is still the top Bond. The film just seems to drag on a bit toward the end, due mainly to the underwater scenes.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Thunderball is a Direct-Hit
Review: This is Sean Connery at his best. "Thunderball" includes some of the most spectacular underwater scenes ever captured on film as well as a high intensity and unforgettable score by John Barry. A must see!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Thunderbauble
Review: Despite a title that promises non-stop 007 thrills, this Bond on the High Seas bauble just didn't knock me out. Tom Jones even sings the title track! And the opening sequence, as is often the case with the vintage Bond films, hurls us right into the action with nary a preamble in sight. But it's all pretty much downhill from there -- once the deadly drag queen has been dealt a fatal blow and Sean Connery has flown away from the scene of the crime in his Commander Cody-styled flight suit. I guess I prefer "Dr. No" (1962) and "Goldfinger" (1964) as far as this particular incarnation of Bond is concerned. "Never Say Never Again" (1983) is pretty much a remake of "Thunderball", and I prefer it, although it's not top notch Bond either (Klaus Maria "Mephisto" Brandauer makes for a delightful villian, however). If "Thunderball" passes muster, and it -- barely -- does, it's due to the slick, sexy antics of Connery and the ambitious (underwater) stunts, but the bad guys are a little bland this time 'round. "Q" (Desmond Llewelyn) is the only supporting character to liven the joint up with some much-needed humor. More "M" (Bernard Lee), Bond's arch nemesis, would've been nice. We never even see his face, just his hand endlessly caressing a limp white cat (this is nicely spoofed in Mike Meyers' spy movie pastiche, "Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery").

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The second best film of Bond series
Review: Thunderball is a feast eye. Visually stunnig with advanced and ingenious twist and ideas.
The presence of Adolfo Celi as Emilio Largo and one of the most beautiful Bond's girls - Claudine Auger , are winners components.
The unforgettable submarine fight deserved for this film won Best special effects . And from its release became in a classic sequence.
Funny and plenty of chases , sharks and arresting locations.
After Goldfinger , this could be the most clever and kinetic movie of Bond series.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Bond Mania at its best
Review: Thunderball was released in 1965, at the height of Bond-mania from the blockbuster smash that was Goldfinger. If Goldfinger was the first film to bring all the classic Bond elements together, then Thunderball is the first time where these elements are truly refined and meshing together. It's all in the little touches, such as how Connery is now in the gun-barrel and the transition to the teaser is smoother, how the budget is now big enough to support all the epic action that Goldfinger sometimes faltered on, and how the whole film is presented in glorious panavision widescreen. It's not hard to see why this film is still a record-holder when you adjust for box-office inflation.

The plot, surprisingly, is probably my least favourite aspect of the movie. This isn't to say that it's bad, but only that a leaner screenplay could've been written. The world's in danger, yet you get no real sense of urgency from Bond, who goes about business like usual. The underwater scenes, for all their superb imagery and cinematography, are long, drawn out, and get tedious (especially when John Barry's score isnt there to boost things). I'm sure they were jaw droppers in 1965 when this kind of filming was still innovative, but today it's fairly common (though no less beautiful). Still, everything else is there. Connery puts in a great performance - he looks a little weary from all the Bond-mania, but the passion is still there, unlike his later entries. And the Bond girls are jaw-dropping beautiful - I'm usually not a sucker for the older Bond girls, but Claudine Auger definitely makes my top 5 list, and I'd have an even bigger crush on her if this film wasn't now 40 years old (though I'm sure she's still got that elegant charm).

MGM's given us a great disc to enjoy Thunderball with. I wish the picture had been restored, as it contains a little too much dirt and grain, but the audio got a good 5.1 mix, and the supplements are very extensive. Of particular interest are the two documentaries and one of the audio commentaries that plays the alternate "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" song over the titles. There's a rumour that MGM will release all the Bond movies again in remastered hi-def versions to coincide with the next Bond film, and Thunderball is definitely one of the ones I'm willing to buy again. Bond Mania at its best indeed.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Bond 4
Review: No Bond movie illustrated Connery's greatness better than Thunderball. From the moment this movie gets started beginning with the classic fight scene & the jet pack escape you will agree that there's none like it. The underwater fight scenes are exciting & brilliantly filmed. Thunderball is the movie that Sean Connery quoted his most classic line, which was after he shot one of Spectre's men with a spear gun "I think he got the point".

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: No Amphibious Landings Allowed
Review: Bond 4 arrives on the back of the success of Goldfinger and tries to keep up the pace of action and adventure.

As usual the gadgets by Q get better, the rocket-pack that would be in everybody's homes by the 1980s is seen for the first time.

Dr Bloefeld makes his debut as the evil leader of spector. Sadly thanks to Austin Powers the impact of Dr Evil is too much of a distraction...

The story line takes us to the Bahamas and Spector's Highjacking of a RAF Vaulcan Bomber carrying nuclear weapons. In a spectacular stunt, the aeroplane is landed on shallow water, allowing easy access to the bomb bay by an army of SCUBA divers. Thus creating a new craze for everybody.

007 is sent to find and recover the weapons, and as we know by now, has his usuall adventures along the way.

The DVD itself is packed full of information and documentries that is part of an overall 20 edition set.

Explained during the directors commentary is the fact that the RAF and the Home Office thought Vaulcan mockup cockpit was considered too realistic and some potentually secret systems had to be removed.

This is the film that was remade in the 1980s as Never Say Never Again, albeit with a modified storyline.



Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Disappointing Bond Film. And Luciana Paluzzi !! Wow!
Review: This is a Bond movie that disapponted so many people when it was released back in 1965. It was just----OK. There's some good stuff in the film,
Luciana Paluzzi as the Woman Killer to me, is the most stunning and sexy of the women in the Bond films. But one of the problems in the film is, Sean Connery. He clearly is bored and would rather be somewhere else, it really shows, also he has gained some noticeable weight. He's a far cry from the lean, mean 007 of Dr. No and From Russia With Love which were only a few years before. The villian, I can't even recall his name, is nothing, and the underwater stuff, god, it just goes on forever!!! Particularly when they are off-loading the bombs from the plane to his ship, jeez, that scene just drags on and on. It should have been a quick 'cut to' and it is done, get it over with!! Bond is not on screen for quite some time.

The Musical Score by John Barry is superb, I have the old LP and listen to it often. The music builds beautifully in the scene where Bond is being chased during that night parade, and he finally sits at a little Tiki bar, thinking he has gotten away, then, Luciana Paluzzi ( omiously appears at his side-----then she is killed mistakely by her own people as she and Bond dance. And Bond, drops her off at a nearby young couple's table and says, "she's just dead." That is the best scene in the whole film to me. And the music builds it beautifully.

I used to think 'Thunderball' was the worst Connery Bond film, but I'd have to say I've grown to like this film a little bit more over the years, and by far the worst Connery Bond film is the dreadful 'You Only Live Twice."

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: AirSea Battle
Review: This exciting bond adventure set in various locations, including Nassau in the Bahamas, pits Bond once more against the minions of SPECTRE. Beginning in a health spa in Southern England, where bond must battle various would be assassins, in between seducing a curvaceous blonde spa assistant, he is soon taken to Nassau, where he is pitted against SPECTRE's second in command Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi). He soon wins over Largo's gorgeous young mistress, Domino (Claudine Auger)-another delectable Bond beauty-to his side.
More dangerous is Fiona Wolpe (Luciana Palluzzi) whose magnificent figure, belies the fact that she is a vicious killer, who murders a young girl from the CIA, working with Bond.
Bond finds that he must engage Volpe in a dangerous life and death play...(do you mind if my friend sits this one out...she's just dead")
Much of the movie is spent with underwater and helicopter scenes, which I find take up a bit too much of the score. I always like the rescue of the lovely damsel in distress, in this case Domino, gorgeous to look at, and in a quite a fix having to survive the likes of Largo and Fiona.

All in all, thrilling , and once again Connery's Bond fails to disappoint or depart from the magnificent flavour of the 007 of the 60's.


Rating: 5 stars
Summary: CLAUDINE AUGER IS THE TRUE THUNDERBALL.
Review: You wonder did Mario Puzzo think of her when he wrote of Michael Corleone being "struck by the thunderbolt". She is truly stunning and the most pure beauty of all the Bond girls. THUNDERBALL is one of the great Bond adventures. Nobody wears Saville Row tropical wool better than Connery...he looks great and carries the film over the gadgets and special effects. The scuba sequences are masterfully executed by Ricou Browning (SEA HUNT). Tom Jones should sing the theme more in concert.


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