(by stamper on 13 December 2004)

Thunderball is the fourth entry in the ever ongoing James Bond franchise and in my opinion one of the better installments. This film features the secret services arch-enemy SPECTRE and I must say that in this episode of James Bond adventures it works better than in From Russia with Love. What I liked about this film, was that there were a lot of good one-liners from Connery, that there weren't too many goofy stunts / henchmen / gadgets and that the film was able to maintain exciting throughout. I've read quite a few comments stating that the underwater scenes dragged on too long, but I must say that I felt even that bit to be quite entertaining and thrilling. I actually have only one criticism and that regards the ending. I felt that the whole out-of-control boat thing was really stupid. I mean I understand that they tried to make it look spectacular, but in using the same technique they used to buff up the fistfights, they made it look cheesy and cheap. Luckily this is just one short moment in the film and the film is not ruined by something as a dreadful character or a bad actor. All in all this is one of the better Bond films and well worth watching if one sets out for 2 hours of pure adventurous entertainment with a standard-formula story.
7 out of 10