Rent Thunderball (1965)

007 Action Adventure - Thunderball review by GI

The fourth James Bond film and arguably Connery's last decent one is a bigger and more spectacular film than anything previously and it was hugely popular. As an action adventure film it's as entertaining as ever and even though it will possibly make modern audiences cringe somewhat it's a worthy addition to the franchise although it's not as good as the first three films. It also marks the moment when more slightly silly gadgetry began to be the norm and here we have a jetpack as well as the return of the famous Aston Martin DB5. The enemy here is SPECTRE who will go on to dominate the missions of Bond for sometime to come. They have stolen a couple of nuclear missiles and are blackmailing the world but 007 is soon on the case which centres on the Bahamas. Bond essentially manages to have sex with just about every woman he encounters sometimes by his own unique blackmail methods! There's a spectacular underwater speargun battle which it takes all your concentration to keep track of who is who but it all works in exactly the way you'd expect. You can see the budget has grown with ever more expansive sets and there's more explosions and destruction. The support cast are mostly forgettable and chief baddie Largo (Adolfo Celi) is a tame villain by Bond's standards. For fans this is a Bond film that still does what you'd expect and Connery, although tiring of the role now, is still on top form.