Thunderball Blu-ray Review

Thunderball

Blu-ray Review
MGM Home Entertainment
Released: October 21, 2008

Thunderball has been released on the Blu-ray format just a few weeks prior to the launch of the new Bond film Quantum of Solace, does it impress?

Thunderball is a very entertaining Bond film which opens up with Bond going after a SPECTRE operative and taking him out.

Bond gets himself in a very risky situation in this film thougha s he ends up getting right in the middle of a huge plot to try and steal two atomic bombs.  Bond ends up in the Bahamas and finds Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi) and Domino (Claudine Auger).

Thunderball marked the first Bond film for me anyway to really try and go for the glitz of big special effects, and really paved the way for what we know Bond as today.

This Bond film looks absolutely phenomenal on the Blu-ray format in full high-definition.  The film has been completely re-done and I cannot praise it enough as it really has the colors and such just popping off of the screen left and right.  There is very little grain and this high-quality transfer is consistent throughout the entire film.

The audio is presented in a DTS HD 5.1 Master Lossless Audio mix and does a nice job of really trying to engross you in the action.  Things are still a bit too front-heavy for my liking, but the fantastic musical score of John Barry makes up for it.

Thunderball has a very impressive set of extras on the Blu-ray release starting with The Thunderball Phenomenon, which is the first documentary to be featured on the release.  You get to learn a lot about the film, its production, marketing, and more.

Also included are two audio commentaries which have come over from the older LaserDisc release.

The Making of Thunderball focuses on more of the cast and crew here, talking about how the Bond movie was put together.  A lot of great stories here are very intriguing that are presented.

The Secret History of Thunderball is a short feature which tells of some of the changes that were made after the film was originally shot.  Very unique stuff, and you also get stills from a deleted scene.

The Incredible World of James Bond is a 50-minute feature which focuses on Thunderball, a feature which aired back on NBC.  The feature has a lot of little things carried along from earlier Bond films and much more, great stuff.

A Child’s Guide to Blowing Up a Motor Car actually packed a lot more behind-the-scenes stuff than I expected, and was fun to watch.

The extras are rounded out by more features including On Location with Ken Adam, Bill Suitor: The Rock Man Movies, Thunderball Boat Show Reel, Photo Galleries, and Ministry of Propaganda.

Also included is e-movie cash to go and see Quantum of Solace to get a free ticket up to $10.50.

Thunderball is a great release on the Blu-ray format which is clearly stacked with an amazing amount of extras.  Well worth the purchase for Bond fans!

Film: 8.7 A very good Bond film with plenty of action and excitement.

Video: 9.0 The video transfer flawless, very impressive.

Audio: 8.7 Audio mix gets a big boost from the great musical score.

Extras: 9.5 Tons and tons of stuff here!

Final Score: 9.0

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