Project Bond: Thunderball

I found this instalment rather pedestrian compared to the two that preceded it. It takes quite a while to get going, and even then, it didn’t really have the same impact as From Russia With Love or Goldfinger.

Nevertheless, there were some memorable moments, like your man with the eyepatch giving his daft hypocritical speeches, and his swimming pool full of wee sharks, which looked all too easy to fall into. Presumably he’d taken the necessary precautions, like putting out those wee blue bags you put over your shoes, and investing in a “no running, bombing or heavy petting” sign.

At no stage does Bond seem perturbed by not knowing who was on whose side, and goes on a mad shagging rampage throughout the film. A real highlight was the heart-warming scene in which Bond blackmails a woman into having sex with him under threat of losing her job for something that wasn’t her fault. Classic British values.

While the middle part of Thunderball is entertaining enough, the beginning and ending are both too long and don’t have enough going on in them. There are also several lengthy underwater sequences that seem to serve little purpose and are very difficult to follow. It’s okay overall, but I felt it lacked the structure of Goldfinger and the intricacy of From Russia With Love.