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Was THUNDERBALL the first Connery Bond during which you fell asleep? You're not alone! Do you remember the beginning and end, but not the middle? Not your fault. It drags! Are you put off by the memory of water, water, ever more water? You're right! THUNDERBALL is a spectacular Bond movie that needs more focus, and less water.
Welcome to the fanedit THUNDERBALL: THE KISS KISS BANG BANG CUT. No more aquatic slumber, this is solid James Bond! Thunderball has some of Connery's best acting. In this fourth Bond adventure he really owns the role. It has SPECTRE, beautiful Bond girls, gorgeous sets, and memorable gadgets. See for yourself! Password: fanedit.org
Thunderball has imperfections, but only a few that really hurt the film.
Primarily the film drags. Early on (the plane theft), in the middle (huh, wha..., how much did I sleep through?), and at the end (can someone please hurry up the final battle?). One cause is that the director shows us too much and implies too little. Usually that's a good thing but Terence Young takes it too far. Many logical moments to cut away to the next scene are wasted by staying with a scene for too long.
Second is the convoluted story. Its sum is not greater than its parts, perhaps because Thunderball had five writers. After the overwhelming success of the preceding three Bond films, the makers were determined to top all that came before. When they said Thunderball has it all, they weren't kidding! They just overdid it, throwing in everything they could think of. When Bond tells Leiter "even the kitchen sink" it could refer to the film itself. More Bond girls than ever. Fancier gadgets than before (jetpack!). Great one-liners. The evil Bond girl, Ms Volpe, refers to previous Bond girls (meta language!). But rather than advancing the story, it feels like a James Bond medley.
Third is the rape. Bond blackmails a spa employee into having sex with him. Fleming wrote Bond as a rough, over-sexed alcoholic. Those flaws make him more interesting than a boy-scout caricature. I get that. I enjoy that. But Bond is also a role-model to the movie-going audience, he fights for what's right. While seducing Bond girls is exciting, raping one is an offensive crime. The writers compound their misstep by showing it was "okay" because she liked it so much she slept with Bond some more afterwards.
Fortunately, these problems can be addressed without sacrificing too much of the film.
A technical shortcoming of the blu-ray is the 5.1 audio mix: dialogue is too quiet relative to the music and sound effects. I've boosted the dialogue so as to not have to adjust the volume so often while watching the film. (A very gentle Compression of the Center channel in Audacity. I was initially hopeful that adding the inverted L+R channels to the Center channel would yield the best result but it caused glitches and only addressed the music not the sound effects).
I enjoyed @Ranger613 's Thunderball Warhead Edition, but not all changes worked for me. Some cuts were perfect improvements, others felt jumpy or more severe than needed. And one of my three major criticisms of the original, the rape, wasn't solved/improved at all. So here is my edit as an alternative to the theatrical and Warhead versions.
Welcome to the fanedit THUNDERBALL: THE KISS KISS BANG BANG CUT. No more aquatic slumber, this is solid James Bond! Thunderball has some of Connery's best acting. In this fourth Bond adventure he really owns the role. It has SPECTRE, beautiful Bond girls, gorgeous sets, and memorable gadgets. See for yourself! Password: fanedit.org
Thunderball has imperfections, but only a few that really hurt the film.
Primarily the film drags. Early on (the plane theft), in the middle (huh, wha..., how much did I sleep through?), and at the end (can someone please hurry up the final battle?). One cause is that the director shows us too much and implies too little. Usually that's a good thing but Terence Young takes it too far. Many logical moments to cut away to the next scene are wasted by staying with a scene for too long.
Second is the convoluted story. Its sum is not greater than its parts, perhaps because Thunderball had five writers. After the overwhelming success of the preceding three Bond films, the makers were determined to top all that came before. When they said Thunderball has it all, they weren't kidding! They just overdid it, throwing in everything they could think of. When Bond tells Leiter "even the kitchen sink" it could refer to the film itself. More Bond girls than ever. Fancier gadgets than before (jetpack!). Great one-liners. The evil Bond girl, Ms Volpe, refers to previous Bond girls (meta language!). But rather than advancing the story, it feels like a James Bond medley.
Third is the rape. Bond blackmails a spa employee into having sex with him. Fleming wrote Bond as a rough, over-sexed alcoholic. Those flaws make him more interesting than a boy-scout caricature. I get that. I enjoy that. But Bond is also a role-model to the movie-going audience, he fights for what's right. While seducing Bond girls is exciting, raping one is an offensive crime. The writers compound their misstep by showing it was "okay" because she liked it so much she slept with Bond some more afterwards.
Fortunately, these problems can be addressed without sacrificing too much of the film.
A technical shortcoming of the blu-ray is the 5.1 audio mix: dialogue is too quiet relative to the music and sound effects. I've boosted the dialogue so as to not have to adjust the volume so often while watching the film. (A very gentle Compression of the Center channel in Audacity. I was initially hopeful that adding the inverted L+R channels to the Center channel would yield the best result but it caused glitches and only addressed the music not the sound effects).
I enjoyed @Ranger613 's Thunderball Warhead Edition, but not all changes worked for me. Some cuts were perfect improvements, others felt jumpy or more severe than needed. And one of my three major criticisms of the original, the rape, wasn't solved/improved at all. So here is my edit as an alternative to the theatrical and Warhead versions.
