3 out of 5

Director: Terence Young

I’m not a Bond guy, but if I watch them through the view of them being their era’s popcorn flicks, I can get the appeal. Thunderball seems to have a lot of what I know to be the hallmarks – an opening thunderous escape sequence, obviously the gadgets and girls, the taking-over-the-world villain, and etc. This was apparently the first Bond flick to go over two hours, and was also a return to the series for director Terence Young, so there seems to be a bit of a celebration of excess in terms of budget – our underwater sequences and a parade chase aren’t edited too effectively, and lag on just a bit too long, robbing the film of some momentum during key chase scenes. This most frustratingly effects things during a massive scuba battle toward the end of the film. It’s fun, staged as an underwater war, but the amount of time it takes up and the scope of it (tons of good agents vs. tons of bad agents) stalls the conclusion and, oddly, takes focus away from Bond until he reappears for the final, thrilling, “get the bad guy.” Connery is an excellent representation of Bond, balancing the assuredness with an awareness of when he might be in danger, also remembering to actually act like an agent now and then, sneaking and investigating, and not just raising eyebrows and looking suave. A good blend of the silly and fun that the original era of Bond presented, but also an implication of the series potential excesses.