Thunderball
United Artists | Release Date: December 22, 1965 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The New York TimesBosley Crowther
[Bond] also has a much better sense of humor than he has shown in his previous films. And this is the secret ingredient that makes Thunderball the best of the lot. Read full review
80
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Terence Young takes advantage of every situation in his direction to maintain action at fever-pitch. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonStaff (Not Credited)
Sleek and quite fun all the same, with SPECTRE holding the world to ransom after stealing a couple of nuclear bombs, Bond almost getting his in the villain's shark-infested swimming pool, and a cleverly choreographed underwater battle to provide the icing on the mix. Read full review
80
TimeStaff (Not Credited)
Though From Russia with Love remains the liveliest Bond opera to date, Thunderball is by all odds the most spectacular. Its script hasn't a morsel of genuine wit, but Bond fans, who are preconditioned to roll in the aisles when their hero merely asks a waiter to bring some beluga caviar and Dom Pérignon '55, will probably never notice. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The underwater sequences, which are choreographed and directed with great skill, are Thunderball's standout feature... Thunderball is classic 007 -- not the best picture in the long-running series, to be sure, but a more-than-worthwhile diversion for the action-loving escapist in us all. Read full review
60
EmpireKim Newman
Connery [is] cruising by this point and the movie doesn't quite match the swagger of Goldfinger, but still effortlessly plies the glory Bond years, concluding with a stunning underwater battle. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
The action is reasonably well-staged, but the film is overlong and occasionally draggy. Read full review
60
The New YorkerPauline Kael
Not bad, but not quite top-grade Bond. A little too much under-water war-ballet.
50
Chicago ReaderDave Kehr
Slightly bloated Bond, with too much technology and a climactic slaughter that's a little too mindless to be much fun. Still, Adolfo Celi—with his “heat and cold, applied scientifically”—makes a most memorable villain. Read full review
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