Thunderball - Review

Right off the bat, I noticed that Thunderball had stepped up the production value from the previous James Bond films. The Cinematography looked more cinematic and the action sequences started to look more realistic... For the first scene, that is. Sean Connery is always fantastic and James Bond and the plot was much more simple to understand, for me at least. For half the film I was thinking to myself, "Man, this might just be better than Goldfinger." ... I spoke too soon. Then I started to notice the bad acting from Claudine Auger, our main Bond girl Domino, and just how campy it was. This film was also fascinated in shooting scenes underwater. Half this film takes place under the surface with an entire battle between 100 people all in scuba gear. It stays exciting for about 2 minutes then the 5-second loop of the score makes your ears bleed and the visuals stop being entertaining. For the climactic battle which takes place on a fast boat, Oh my god is it hilarious. Sure I can't fault a movie for the technology they had back in 1965 but man oh man is it hilarious to watch. It's unfortunate because the ending of Goldfinger was exciting and didn't feel dated at all where this is just hysterical. Overall, it's an enjoyable Bond film, but try to watch the final battle without laughing, I dare you!