Thunderball on Prime Video — I Forgot Your Ego
The bond formula has been successfully wrapped up in the previous movie, Goldfinger. The template is set. The cold open with an unrelated, curiously cool, action sequence. Then, the title song. The introduction of the villain’s plot. The new bond women. Getting the assignment and gadgets. Cool locales. Over the top action and endless one-liners!
Starting with Thunderball and all the way till Craig’s latest and last movie, this formula will go on. I am excited that we reached here, in movie no.4. Of course, at least one of these items will get a little shakeup. Fortunately, that wont happen till the bond actor changes.
So, yes, once again, Sean Connery’s James Bond, totally kicks ass.
Underwater Action
I knew before hand that this movie goes deep, pun intended, with its water related story. Right off the bat, the opening sequence has the super cool stealing of nukes. Despite my 30 years of non stop movie watching, I wasn’t expecting a water surface landing. That scene blew me away.
This is the thing about Bond movies. There is at least one super cool sequence which leaves a strong impression on you.
Really, really innovative. The landing scene was truly impressive. Yeah, that was cool. As always, we have another no.2, who is once again a general who leads from the front. These bond villains, they are take charge sort of guys. Many of them are old, but, by god, are they energetic and active.
For a movie that came in the 60s, the underwater action choreography is comparable to modern movies. Underwater action sequences are always difficult. Recently, I watched, Deep Blue Sea 3, and I can see how tough it is to show under water scenes. The initial stealing of the nukes. All those underwater romance sequences. Ocean life.
The grand scope and ambition of SPECTRE. Blackmailing two of the world’s most powerful nations. That scary voice thing with that chair execution. They are bad guys but the more I see them, more insanely crazy awesome these Bond villainous organizations are. I keep thinking if James Bond goes away, SPECTRE would obviously take over the world.
Or may be, SPECTRE simply started operating under the radar. Either way, SPECTRE is scary. I am also convinced
The end climax, god, the end climax.
Yes, it’s definitely five minutes too long, but that is like an underwater battle. Even Aquaman, a movie that takes place inside the ocean, did not have such incredible battles. How did they shoot that thing? The amount of planning and patience and effort that went into it.
Also, Sean Connery had to do many of those scenes without an oxygen tank.
I have always been a Pierce Brosnan guy, but, these movies are making me think, Sean Connery will dethrone Brosnan. At least, I will start thinking that they are both number 1.
Fiona Volpe — Hench-woman Extraordinaire
I am always looking forward to the next bond movie, as they come with very interesting villains. There is the head of SPECTRE, Blofield, who we don't get to see yet. Then comes №2. This time, this Largo person. He is cool, but, not as cool as Goldfinger, who is the, gold standard. He dies in an extremely lame fashion.
However, the hench woman, Fiona Volpe. SPECTRE should make her №2 right away!
If she was working on the good side, she should have been 007. I know people keep talking about making bond a woman. If they can get someone like Fiona Volpe, I would be okay with it. The first time we see her, she is speeding down the highway, and takes out a card, with explosive rockets shot from a bike.
Then, she just coolly drives away. Second, she is well aware of her enemy, James Bond. She knows what happened with that bisexual pilot lady who worked for Goldfinger. She’s wary of Bond’s charms and is prepared. Ruthless, cold, smart and prepared for everything.
This is OddJob and Donald Grant level of sophistication.
I got goosebumps when she almost took down Bond. It’s too bad about the way she died. I think, if this movie was made in modern times, where villains are allowed to survive stories, she would have escaped unharmed.
Jetpacks, Grandiose and Bond Girls Overload
Along with the underwater stuff and nice henchwomen, we have everything as usual with James Bond. The fight scenes, even with a guy who is wearing high heels, is super cool. The jet-pack escape is, well, comes out of nowhere. It was cool though, but, very impractical, even for a bond movie.
I also, sort of, understood, this is the movie where folks will complain about bond forcing himself upon a woman. The nurse character, could have been better. I mean, instead of bond blackmailing her into sex, they could have made her just like bond anyway. I don’t know what they were trying to achieve here, making her a reluctant lover. I understand why folks might complain about this.
Also, there were just one too many women in bikinis this time. Four women in bikinis. I like hot women in minimal clothing as much as the next guy, but this was too much.
But other than these minor complaints, the action continues to explode. The shark sequence when Bond infiltrates Largo’s house, that was real scary. I know these things were shot without any special effects. My hair stood up watching it the first time. Also, perhaps, to show the urgency and make things more exciting, some scenes had the ‘speed up’ effect.
It was overused. Compared to Dr. No were the fight scenes were slow, here, there seems to be an urgency to make everything bigger and louder and faster. The movie already has too many action sequences.
Scoring
I am marathon watching the James Bond movies and I wish to rank them at the end. So, I came up with a numbering system. The scores for this one are here.
- Action and Stunts 9/9
- Coolness Cool 9/9
- Double Entendre and One Liners 9/9
- Hot Women 9/9
- Ludicrous Villainy, Cool Deaths and Traps 9/9
- Gadgets Man! 9/9
- General Awesomeness 9/9
- Boredom Factor 0/-9
Total : 63
Final Note
The bond movies have gone as high as they can go with Goldfinger. It’s like a rocket taking off, and then settling down on a orbit. With movie no.4, we have reached that point.
I can also feel that Connery appears to be slowly getting bored of playing James Bond. He is less playful here and appears less invested. These movies were being made every year, and with all that traveling and promotional activities, he must have been tired. He is still awesome, but he is not enjoying it, man.
No wonder he quit after the next movie.
From now on, I will begin to start seeing how the future movies play around the formula and how they try to keep things exciting.
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