Has James Bond lost his on-screen flair? In some scenes he looks a bit tired, but not in the scene where he steps out of his scuba diving suit wearing a white tuxedo. Even for a non Bond fan like me, that was smooth. But a smooth move isn’t enough to overlook his negative treatment of women. Oh James…when will you change your ways? Here’s some things that stood out for me as I watched Thunderball. (There will be spoilers below.)
By the way, if you don’t know why I, a non Bond fan, am watching all 25 James Bond movies, you can find out here: Who Is The Next James Bond? A Non Bond Fan Makes Her Prediction.
James Bond/Sean Connery Looks Tired
Sean Connery/Bond seems to have lost the flair he had in Dr. No, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger. Not all of his flair, but he looks tired and seemed a bit lackluster compared to his first three movies. He was filming back to back movies since 1962 so it’s possible that he was tired, and it was beginning to show.
James Bond and Women
Bond may have lacked his usual flair, but he’s definitely the same Bond, disrespecting and taking advantage of women whenever he can.
At a medical facility, he forcefully kisses a nurse against her wishes, and in another scene with the same nurse, he coerces her to have sex with him when she says no. Next thing you know he’s backing her into a little room where he begins to kiss and undress her.
In the next scene he’s leaving the office casually as though nothing happened. This is disturbing.
The funny thing is (no, it’s not funny) it’s made to appear as though the women like that he forces himself on them because that same nurse ends up in his hotel room in another scene, as though his previous advances were so wonderful that she needed to be with him again.
Does James Bond Evolve In Thunderball?
James Bond continues to be the same…no depth, no evolution as a person. His human side doesn’t show. He’s an agent who fights, has sex with women and drives fast cars. Although, in this movie I only recall one car scene. I guess the car chases were replaced with underwater fight scenes.
I’m actually looking forward to finishing the Sean Connery Bond era. I don’t think I can take much more of his brute behavior toward women.
Thunderball Has Too Many Underwater Scenes
If you like underwater scenes, this movie is for you. Underwater scenes make me sleepy, and I tend to zone out. Had I watched this in a theater I would have fallen asleep during the underwater scenes or went to the bathroom to keep myself awake.
There’s one underwater scene where Bond and his people were fighting the enemy, and everyone is wearing scuba attire. It was creatively done but looked more like a synchronized dance routine because of the music playing along with the battle.
What I Liked About Thunderball
The best scene was him stepping out of his scuba diving suit wearing a dry white tux. There’s another good scene when a fake funeral takes place, and the widow turns out to be the dead man and a fight ensues with Bond.
Although there are some good action scenes, Thunderball is my least favorite of the four films I’ve seen so far, because of the underwater scenes. (I’m not including the awful treatment towards women because that goes without saying.) Also, the plot was all over the place. That could be just me because I zoned out during the underwater scenes. One thing I enjoyed during the underwater scenes is the general trivia provided by Prime Video (I talk about it later, below).
Production/Filming Info on Thunderball
I don’t know how they did it, but Thunderball was filmed in 1965 and released in theaters the same year, 1965, in December. That’s a fast turnaround.
Watching Thunderball on Prime Video (Amazon)
A good thing about watching the movies in Prime Video (Amazon), they have a feature called X-RAY that displays bonus information about the movie. Watching on my laptop, when I move the cursor, it displays who’s playing who in the particular scene and interesting trivia information about the scene and goofs made during filming.
I enjoyed Prime’s X-RAY information more than the underwater scenes. It told how in one underwater scene, it was obvious that the victim of Bond’s stabbing is a dummy. So I re-watched that scene a couple of times. The Prime X-RAY feature is awesome.