Thunderball - Bond takes his first stumble

Okay, I'll admit it... as much of a die-hard Bond fan that I am, I have never liked Thunderball. Dr No was an amazing start, From Russia With Love improved on it and Goldfinger was possibly the best Bond of the Connery era. Then came Thunderball which, in my opinion, is the worst (yes, even behind Diamonds are Forever).

It's just too slow and too long. Although, when I check the running time, it's not that much longer than other Bond movies (past and present). It just feels much longer. Some of the `action' scenes are painfully slow - largely because `underwater' features heavily in the film's plot (about Spectra trying to blackmail the world governments using nuclear weapons). What you get is `action' scenes set underwater, therefore they're - by definition - slow moving and it's hard to tell who's who with all the scuba gear. They just go on forever and should have been cut (in my humble opinion).

I would leave it there by saying that Thunderball is my least favourite Connery Bond film, however, upon reading the other reviews, I find that I'm actually in the minority. Most people seem to love it. Maybe I'm missing something, so, if you're a Bond fan, I guess you have to watch it for yourself and see. Personally, I'm skipping this one and going straight to Never Say Never Again.

5/10 a hard trek, a bit like unicycling to Mordor and back