Every James Bond Finale Ranked
12. Thunderball - Underwater Battle
Thunderball's finale is an extraordinary spectacle and the third A-tier climax the Bond series delivered in a row.
The underwater battle is a visually stunning, beautifully choreographed, consistently thrilling and, considering the film's PG rating, impressively violent joy that provided the kind of thrills that really couldn't be found elsewhere back in the early 60s. The following battle on-board main villain Emile Largo's (Adolfo Celi) boat does have some blatant sped-up footage but it is still largely awesome.
Given how hit-or-miss Thunderball's underwater action is throughout the film, this climax is even more satisfying as a pay-off and the film's ending also breaks Bond conventions in a particularly satisfying way.
Instead of being an eye-candy Bond Girl who ends the film in Bond's arms, Domino (Claudine Auger) is the one who kills Largo (getting revenge for the murder of her brother) and she has much more of a story going on, thus making Thunderball's conclusion even more refreshing.
The fact that a finale this fantastic has landed outside the top ten mustn't be misinterpreted as criticism; rather, it just shows how great many Bond finales really are.