From the sublime to the ridiculous…
After the perfection that is Goldfinger the next film was always going to have to go some way
to match up. Sadly Thunderball misses
by a country mile. I’ve always felt Thunderball is a film to be endured rather than enjoyed and this
re-watching has done precious little to change that opinion.
The plot is fairly standard: SPECTRE steals two atomic
weapons and it’s down to Bond to recover them to avert disaster.
The film’s pacing is one of its main problems – some of the
scenes just lag dreadfully. There’s also a palpable lack of chemistry between
Sean Connery and Claudine Auger (who plays Domino Derval) which undermines any
romantic relationship. The direction- by Terence Young (returning for the third
and final time after Dr No and From
Russia With Love)- is almost soporific in
places. Scenes that should have some tension- such as the chase through the
carnival or where Bond searches the sunken plane- are leaden.
As goes the cast, Adolfo Celi is serviceable but immensely
bland as the main villain Emilio Largo
For the third film in which the character appears, there is a third
actor playing Felix Leiter (Rik Van Nutter taking over from Jack Lord in Dr
No and Cec Linder in Goldfinger). Again, as with most of the performances here, it’s
adequate but certainly nothing memorable.
However, it’s not all bad. The pre-credits sequence packs a
punch- the fight sequence is well done and the jetpack is still cool- and the
opening scene with SPECTRE is pretty good. It’s fun to see Q in the field in
Nassau rather than in the lab and the relationship between Bond and Q is as
good as ever.
Fiona Volpe is a fun character- a properly unrepentant femme
fatale- and played to the hilt by Luciana Paluzzi. The scene where she
demolishes Bond’s macho pride is fun and her death prompts one of the
best-known quips in the Bond franchise: ‘do you mind if my friend sits this one
out? She’s just dead’
There is some fun to be had but it’s few and far between.
I’m glad to have got through this – there’s much better still to come
Rating: 2 out of 5
Tez
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