Customer Reviews

You Only Live Twice (Special Edition)

5 star:		(71)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I love this picture. The previous reviewers had problems with it. It has everything a Bond picture should have. The scenery is magnificent, the gadgets are up to standard, the production quality is as good as the previous Bond efforts, the villain is a typical jerk, and the title song sung by Nancy Sinatra is the best I've ever heard in a Bond picture.

I believe after watching almost all the Bond films, this is the one masterpiece from beginning to end in this genre. There were no mistakes, no farcical annoyances like you find in Roger Moore's or modern Bond films. No mistakes, this film does not play in anyway, perfect from beginning to end--- as a 007 movie should be. This in fact should be what every Bond movie strives for, alas they all fall short. Perfect like well-cut diamond this is the real McCoy.

This film is best appreciated if you put yourself in the seat of a viewer at the time the film was released. At that time, the film (1) featured an original spy plot (confused antagonists threaten each other on basis of acts of interloper -- a space craft-eating space craft,) and (2) introduced the idea that Japan is technologically advanced and has some cultural personality that is distinct from the U.S. I can't remember an earlier mainstream U.S. film that had ninjas or suggested that Japan could potentially launch a space craft. There is plenty of action, including an interesting if somewhat low budget looking helicopter dog fight. Finally, the sound track is excellent. The film was original and entertaining when released. You can't beat that.

After four excellent Bond films comes Connery's 5th effort You Only Live Twice. Twice is possibly Connery's worst Bond film, yet it contains things previous OO7 films or Diamonds Are Forever lacked or had less of. YOLT has spectacular Oriental sets by Ken Adam, the most action of any Connery film (dock gunfight, space capsule hijack, car chase, helicopter battle, building fight, gunfight in Blofeld's crater), an ingenious idea for SPECTRE's headquarters (an inactive volcano crater), great costumes, the first appearance of SPECTRE No.1, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (played fairly well by Donald Pleasence), stunning cinematography, and an excellent pre-title (our hero faking his own death) However, this is not the best Connery pre-title it is edged out by two other pre-titles in Diamonds Are Forever and the best, Thunderball. Though Twice has some good things, it has some nagging faults, one of which is Connery's slightly wooden performance. The others are lack of good crisis situations, the script by Roald Dahl, and the killing of Aki. However, the worst thing is that Twice has so much potential with things like the Oriental setting, Sean Connery, Ernst Stavro Blofeld and SPECTRE, great girls, beautiful cinmatography and costumes, lots of good action, a good pre-title, and a bit weak yet original plot. But for some odd reason, Twice is considered by some to be the worst official Connery film, including myself.

Yes, it's the one with the hollowed out volcano and what a fun ride it is too. It should come as no surprise to anyone that for me (who ranks the earily similar plot-wise TSWLM at #2 of Bond movies and is a fan of Roger Moore's portrayal) that "You Only Live Twice" is high on my list of favorite Connery movies.
It's fun and zany and like a Godzilla movie on steroids Bond is plunged into a kinetic, energized Japan. A country that is reeling from an identity crisis following a humiliating defeat in WWII for the traditional nation and the onslaught of 1960s pop culture of which the Bond phenomenon was a major part.
Connery for his part looks bored and tired with the role and so the film makers understandably have loaded this movie with special effects, martial arts fighting, gimmicks and yes, a hollowed out volcano. All in the hopes that Connery will get lost in the mix and his lack of enthusiasm for the part less evident as the viewers senses are assaulted by a vibrant concoction composed of all the spectacle and wonder that screenwriter Dahl and director Lewis Gilbert could conceive.
The mission seems ripped from the headlines to use an old cliché. The time is the late 1960s and with the US and USSR locked in a race for the dominance of space, the two nations are both having capsules hijacked by some unknown power. Of course in the hyperactive paranoia of the Cold War - each blames the other. But Britain, in its infinite wisdom, stands by their claim that their tracking placed the object (that seized an American rocket) land somewhere in the sea of Japan.
The movie begins with one of my all-time favorite pre-credits sequences. Bond is in bed with an attractive Chinese girl. In what appears to be a double-cross however she pushes a button that sends the bed into the wall before letting a couple of assassins in who pepper the bed with bullet holes. Having the hero "killed off" at the beginning of the movie is a gimmick that has been copied often (and in fact first echos the opening of "From Russia With Love." But Gilbert crafts it expertly.
A solid entry in the Bond series - too light for some, but certainly a lot of fun throughout.

After James Bond (Sean Connery) has participated in faking his own murder in Hong Kong, to give him "more elbow room" in the words of his superior, M (Bernard Lee), he is dispatched to Japan to investigate the mysterious disappearance of both American and Soviet space crafts which threatens to spark World War III.

Working together with Japanese secret service leader Tiger Tanaka (Tetsuro Tamba), he meets beautiful Japanese agent Aki (Akiko Wakabayashi), who helps Bond through several close shaves.
Working with a Japanese Secret Service Ninja force, he locates the sabotage to the shadowy organization SPECTRE, led by the sinister Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Donald Pleasence).
After Aki is murdered by SPECTRE agents (She dies after ingesting poison dropped into the bed she shares with Bond), Bond teams up, in a faked marriage with the attractive Kissy Suzuki Mie Hama).
Together with the Ninja force they penetrate Blofeld's massive headquarters, hidden in a volcano, where the final battle ensues.
Before Blofeld tries to kill Bond, he reminds him "You Only Live Twice", referring to his earlier faked death.
The chemistry between Bond and the exquisite Aki is perfect, and in the scene where a marriage is proposed and Bond thinks it is Aki, Aki's face lights up.
No less stunning is Mie Hama as Kissy Suzuki, an expert swimmer and fighter, and one of the sexiest Bond girl ever.

Sean Connery's second to last performance as the legendary spy in which there was an intermission starring George Lazenby in 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' before he returned for the final 'Diamonds are Forever.' With a script by Roald Dahl (Willy Wonka; James and the Giant Peach) and under the direction of Lewis Gilbert, Bond is once again face to face with the sinister forces of SPECTER. A fun Bond with the most expensive set design for 1967. A lot of thrills and laughs to make this a pleasant viewing experience.

In this film Bond is out to stop the forces of SPECTER from starting World War III. Space capsules mysteriously disappear and both the US and the Soviets blame each other. Bond goes to Asia to find out the fate of the capsules and their astro/cosmonauts. Bond soon uncovers a sinister plot involving SPECTER and goes undercover to sneak into their mountain base. Will Bond make it in time against the evil Blofeld (Donald Pleasance) and his minions?

True, this Bond doesn't have the best script but the action sequences are fun: especially the grand finale. Donald Pleasance is excellent as the mannered but sociopathic Blofeld. The assassins in this film aren't terribly memorable nor are the Bond girls. Still, Connery's performance as Bond is consistent with the other Connery Bond films.

Other than the title and Japanese locale, Roald Dahl's screenplay for "You Only Live Twice" completely disregards the novel, surprising since it was Ian Fleming's second to last effort and a best-seller only two years before. Everything about the film is big, from the huge set constructed for the volcano that is the setting for a memorable climax, to the plot which finds James Bond in Japan where SPECTRE is slyly attempting to incite the major world powers to declare war on each other by kidnapping their spacecraft.

The film, directed by Lewis Gilbert of "Alfie" fame, is a delight to the eyes and ears, with Ken Adam's sets among the most amazing yet constructed, and John Barry's haunting score, topped by Nancy Sinatra's rendition of the bittersweet title song, tied with his work for "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" as the best of the series.

Unfortunately, the celebrated Dahl lets us down with a script lacking the imagination to which we have become accustomed. 007 relies on pure luck one time too many when finding himself in a bind, and the most publicized aspect of the film, the first appearance of arch-nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld, is anti-climactic thanks to the miscasting of Donald Pleasance (a last minute substitute for an ailing actor).

But "You Only Live Twice" is still fun. Sean Connery, in what was supposed to be his last go-round as Bond, still looks engaged by the character, and since this film entered release only two months after the disastrous "Casino Royale," the black sheep Bond film made from the one title not owned by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman's EON productions, in which everyone but Connery played 007, that was enough to make "You Only Live Twice" the second biggest hit of 1967 (trailing "The Dirty Dozen" by a half million or so).

One of the quirkier James Bond films, which causes me to love and loathe it in equal measure, You Only Live Twice was Sean Connery's fifth and penultimate go-round as James Bond ( I don't count Never Say Never Again, and neither should you). The plot deals with Bond's efforts to figure out who is capturing American and Soviet rockets. I love it because like all the great Bond movies, it feels like a travelogue - you get to see a lot of Japan, where most of the movie takes place; a change in director to Lewis Gilbert makes the whole movie feel more epic; the volcano set, where the villain hides out, is a classic; and "Little Nellie", the little helicopter, is a great gadget that we should all be using by now. Why aren't we?!!

What DON'T I like? First off, our man JB doesn't really do a whole lot. He mainly gets carried along by the plot as needed - he doesn't even drive a car at all in this movie (it's the only one where that happens). Also, the whole thing feels strangely half-formed. There are parts where you might think your DVD player has skipped a chapter - I mean, you don't even learn the Bond girl's name until the credits! The whole thing is just a little too far over the top- giant sets, giant plot. The plots got this big when Roger Moore took over, but he was more capable of handling it by treating the whole thing with a tongue-in-cheek attitude. Sean Connery was just too much of a man's man to deal with hollowed-out volcanoes.

Check it out, though - you may disagree. It's still mindlessly enjoyable if you don't think about it too much. The score and title song are great, and it's fun seeing where Mike Myers came up with virtually every joke in the Austin Powers movies.

Synopsis(novel): After the murder of his wife, James Bond suffers a breakdown and becomes a security risk. Giving him one final chance, M sends him on a vital diplomatic assignment to the Japanese Secret Service. There, he must go to impossible lengths to complete his mission.

Synopsis(movie): American and Russian shuttles are being hijacked in space by an unknown group. Both countries suspect the other of sabotage. Behind it all is SPECTRE, being paid by another foreign power to cause a war.