Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Thunderball’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

The Sean Connery era of the James Bond franchise still retains a certain level of charm when you watch them again after all these years. Which one could easily attribute to the fact that Connery embodies the role so well and genuinely made it his own. But one cannot overlook the fact that the quality of these stories, and the epic action and fun they exude, is also a big contributor to the charm in question.

Because all of those elements just suck you in and leave you cheery and as I popped the fourth 007 film in the other day, I once again found myself surprised at how easily I lost myself within the story and at how grandiose and epic some of Connery's adventures turned out to be, especially Thunderball. In fact, I would have to say this is/was one of the biggest Bond adventures to date and after sitting through it one more time I can fully understand why it is truly a fan favorite and one of the most loved films of the Connery era.

After all, this is the film when the stakes were raised to their highest and Bond saved the planet for the first time. I mean, it doesn't get much more diabolical than S.P.E.C.T.R.E. stealing nuclear weapons and threatening to use them against populated cities in exchange for gobs for money and that particular action is what gave the film its incredible power because this time around a single mistake from 007 could result in disaster.

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​The other element that caught me by surprise in this one, was the interesting balance between the over the top villains and Largo. After all, we saw the inner workings of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. in detailed fashion, to the point that we even got to know Number One, something that would matter for sure later on, but Largo is quite the foil to our favorite evil organization. He is also in many ways the Anti-Bond, just as cool and collect as James with a hint of psychopath thrown in for good measure and it is an absolute thrill watching James and Largo square off on screen, since the two play off of one another nicely.

Speaking of James Bond, there was a certain magic this go round watching Sean Connery in the role. After discovering how to play Bond in the last film, his comfort level here is nothing short of amazing. For this is the motion picture where he truly masters the role and exudes everything we hold near and dear about his time in the role and Bond in general. Not to mention, there was a certain darkness that he added to the role in this story, something that nicely complimented the plot and really gave us an idea of how far Bond would go to get things done, something that would show up later in his adventures.

In the end however, this is seriously one fantastic Bond adventure. I love the dark cloud that hangs over this story with the threat of nuclear weapons, and it makes every second of this motion picture thrilling and that ending is simply spectacular and satisfying. If Goldfinger was the first outing that brought all the elements of Bond together than Thunderball serves as the film that perfects the formula and all the magic that comes with it.

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