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To maintain the standard of Goldfinger (1964) - many critics' favourite 007 adventure - was always going to be difficult, and from the first few minutes, the fourth James Bond film promises so much in similar style to its predecessors. Terence Young partially delivers on this early foundation and justifies Sean Connery's Bond as arguably the leading pop culture icon of the 1960s. Thunderball sets the bar higher yet again for its follow-ups with eye-popping locales, exotic women and exceptional photography, music and special effects. Unfortunately these pluses effect the running time and even after surpassing the two-hour mark, the film seems a little rushed with wipes to mark the transition from a final shot to the next scene. Consequently, the tempo of the early stages of the film with the recuperation centre and the car chases are sacrificed and the viewer is left in a confused state over the objectives of SPECTRE operatives constantly swimming near the Disco Vilante. Nevertheless, a large amount of scenes are dedicated to these underwater action sequences, and explorations for the hidden weapons and, admittedly, they are shot well and were recognised by the Academy. Again however, these are Marmite touches with some viewers, including myself and the actual director, thinking they prolong the film unnecessarily. However, it can also be argued that the plot needs these inclusions to assure a sense of continuity and tension - the latter a particular must for a successful Bond film.
Emilio Largo is definitely a hands-on villain by undertaking his role as Number 2 in a direct manner, but his henchmen are almost forgettable without Bond's "I think he got the point!" witticism in the final act. Domino is the norm for a passive girl of the Connery era and the usual innuendo and sarcasm with Moneypenny and M occurs. Thunderball can also be seen as the dawn of the gadget-age, with Bond seemingly having to rely more on Q's 'presents', which again can be seen as either a plus or minus depending on what aspects you favour most from the franchise.
The extras
The "A Child's Guide To Blowing Up A Car" featurette must get a special mention. Firstly it isn't available on the MGM Special Editions and so therefore avid Bond fans are adding to their respective archives of footage. Secondly however it must be the most tongue-in-cheek and intelligent 17 minutes of promotional material dedicated to Bond (especially for the 1960s when Bond was still the action series with supposed infallibe hero). Basically, a young boy is shown around the outdoor set as the stunt team is preparing to shoot a car chase. This premise doesn't sound anything special, but the immature humour comes mainly through the informative nature of how the stunt is undertaken and the disobedience of the child. In addition, nothing else is majorly new aside from a repetitive featurette on "The Incredible World of James Bond", a few rarities from Ken Adam's own recordings, and a couple of points of trivia from the stuntman who performed the jet-pack scene in the pre-credits sequence. In all, this 'Ultimate Edition' comes with five new featurettes and loads of new promotional material by way of photos etc. It is worth considering to upgrade from 'Special' to 'Ultimate' depending on fan and financial status, and the attractiveness of watching England's finest in DTS 5.1 Audio.
The summary
Produced in Connery's purple patch, the film still impresses today forgetting what a spectacle it would have been to audiences in 1965. In all, an excellent Bond outing complimented very well with its DVD.
