Thunderball: Warhead Edition

Overview - Thunderball was a fine followup to Goldfinger. The style and tone of the film were peerless, and it was the last Bond in which Connery seemed committed. Over the years, there were complaints of sluggish pacing. In Thunderball Warhead, Rangerkris cut the reruns and the redundant, and jolted the tempo. The result is a brisk moving spy op.

Video - Nice editing here, and good flow from scene to scene. Noticed noise or artifacts in background sky while Emilio Largo and Fiona Volpe were skeet shooting (58.47). No idea. Checked in my DVD, not there. Did not catch anything else like that.

Audio - More quality work here. No rapid crossfades, no hard cuts. Sound was good quality, two channel stereo. The stereo seemed non-existent except during action and climaxes, then the range was loud and wide. So dynamic, in fact, that headphones came out to spare non audience members of the room. The mix was so boisterous at times that I wondered if it was LPCM, but no, just a rousing AAC.

Narrative - As designed, Thunderball Warhead propels ahead like Fiona’s blue Mustang. Plot held together, but first time viewers might have assumed there were goofs. When Domino first calls 007, James Bond, there was no introduction before that. Later, Felix and Bond took barely one minute of screen time to locate the missing Vulcan bomber. The climactic underwater battle was wisely trimmed, while staying coherent.

Enjoyment - A bit uneasy here. Thunderball is easily one of my favorite Bond movies. I saw it at the theater when it was released, owned it on VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD. Connery was superb in this. The pacing was lethargic at times, which I chalked up to rush release and padded script. Rangerkris’s removals of spa scenes, the Nassau hotel, and the hunt for the Vulcan definitely accelerated the story, but also cast a movie-of-the-week feel.
Not to confuse anyone, I did enjoy this edit, and it was well crafted. Easily recommended to action fans, Bond buffs, especially to those who normally punch the fast-forward button. You won’t do that it this one.

Ok, so this is a tricky one for me to review.

I own the entire Bond Collection, some I have watched more than others, but Thunderball I have never taken the time to pop the dvd into the old player. Why? I dunno. Maybe because I have heard too many poor reviews or watched Never Say Never too many times and assumed (wrongly, it turns out) that it would the same movie. So my review is basically on the fan edit itself, and not as a comparison to the original.

Firstly, is a beautiful looking movie. The video quality was excellent and the audio was crisp and clear. The only scene that looked odd to me was when Bond was sneaking in to the beach house at night. According to RangerKiss's cutlist, this was originally a daytime scene he converted to night! Very cool idea. But to me, it looked a bit too nighttime dark blue? The scene is brief, but when compared to the brilliant video quality of the rest of the movie, it stood out to me.

This may be the fastest paced Bond movie I have watched and for the most part it works really well and my understanding of the original, one of the biggest complaints is its plodding pace. So there is definitely no plodding in this version, though occasionally the pacing felt a bit too modern to me. One of charming aspects of the original Bond movies was the travelogue elements... in this cut, I never really got a true feel of where I was... the movie never really takes a moment to breath... it is pure rollercoaster from start to finish. And this is not entirely a negative thing, as I riveted throughout, but at the same time it did not quite feel like a classic Bond film to me and some of the characters felts either underdeveloped or not introduced properly.

The narrative works, though there are many plot holes, but based upon what I read I am assuming these are issues of the original that can not be corrected. As Anarchemist pointed out, why bring the dead guy back to the spa? And hey, what happened to Domino's rescuer after jumping off the boat? Did he drown? LOL! But the most noticeable thing to me (and I don't know if this a continuity error from the original or if the editor rearranged the scenes) is the intro of Felix. You see him twice before in the background, once directly beside Bond, but they don't actually meet til Bond's hotel room but it does not sound like a first time meeting. Also Bond is wearing the same outfit from the previous day scene. I dunno, it just did not play right for me.

All in all, a fun, fast paced, action filled fan edit. Very entertaining and well worth watching. I think it could have been slightly slower paced and wish some of the narrative had been a bit more polished but it is a solid piece of editing.

Thumbs Up. :)