James Bond number 5! No one can stop us now!
An American space shuttle gets swallowed by a mysterious other space thing. Tensions rise between the US and the USSR. Bond is sent to Japan to follow a lead and investigate further.
Oddly enough I reviewed this just over a year ago. It’s worth a read since I will be trying not to repeat myself here.
This was supposed to be Connery’s last film as Bond. He was allegedly tiring of the role and it shows. Not a surprise that he didn’t return for the next film.
In fact, everything about You Only Live Twice indicates that the franchise is beginning to show signs of fatigue. Yes, it’s a ‘bigger’ film but it pushes the boundaries of plausibility too far. There are so many gadgets and crazy things happening. It feels stupid rather than cool or entertaining.
Roald Dahl penned the script and was unable to base it on the book, because the book doesn’t actually contain much material! Instead, panicking about what to do, he wrote what can only be described as a Dr. No remake. The problem is, Dr. No wasn’t that long ago.
Ironically enough the film starts with MI6 faking Bond’s death so that he can fool SPECTRE, yet this doesn’t affect the plot at all. The worst we get is mild surprise from SPECTRE; hardly enough to warrant naming the whole thing You Only Live Twice.
There are a few memorable elements to the film though, notably the appearance of ‘Little Nellie’, Bond’s tiny gyrocopter he uses to recon the volcano. It’s also the first time we see SPECTRE-chief Blofeld, but this is a bit of a wasted opportunity as it turns out to be an anti-climax. I’m not sure it was a good idea ever showing his face.
The set design, although again reminiscent of Dr. No, is big and brash. Apparently the hollowed out volcano set at Pinewood could be seen for miles around. It’s also a little flimsy and lacking in depth. Looks great from afar, but when we get closer things are wobbly and bit rough around the edges. Some of the vehicles are clearly just painted tractors.
You Only Live Twice shows us that Bond films require a surprising amount of talent and care to do well. It tries to fly on a big budget and lots of explosions, yet ultimately fails to make an impact.
From my site http://benoliver999.com/film/2015/05/16/youonlylivetwice.html
I absolutely loved this one. It's so much fun (James Bond teaming up with ninjas!) that you can't help but smile throughout the film. Little Nellie and Tiger's reaction to it ("It's a children's toy!") is priceless, and Blofeld is easily one of the greatest movie villains of all time.
It also helps that it's written by a writing genius in Roald Dahl, who with the likes of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and James And The GIANT Peach wrote some of the best stories ever told.
These old Bond films just do not hold up well. Sean Connery's one-liners never get old, but good god the pacing is horrendously slow and action is repetitive. The Connery Bond films are just, SET PIECES: THE MOVIE. If have to watch one more blast door or rocket silo open, I'm gonna Xenia an Onatopp.
Sean Connery's James Bond battles the sinister Blofeld, who's trying to initiate World War III by stealing spacecrafts of both the US and the USSR.
This is certainly one of the craziest Bond flicks. There's lots of action and everything's done on a grand scale. Highlights are Bond's dogfight using "Little Nellie"; a helicopter assembled from four suitcases and Blofeld's spectacular hollowed-out volcano lair; set design courtesy of Ken Adam.
The best Bond, Connery, fighting with Spectra in Japan, has everything to like
The James Bond Films
1 Eon films
1.1 Dr. No (1962) https://trakt.tv/movies/dr-no-1962
1.2 From Russia with Love (1963) https://trakt.tv/movies/from-russia-with-love-1963
1.3 Goldfinger (1964) https://trakt.tv/movies/goldfinger-1964
1.4 Thunderball (1965) https://trakt.tv/movies/thunderball-1965
1.5 You Only Live Twice (1967) https://trakt.tv/movies/you-only-live-twice-1967
1.6 On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) https://trakt.tv/movies/on-her-majesty-s-secret-service-1969
1.7 Diamonds Are Forever (1971) https://trakt.tv/movies/diamonds-are-forever-1971
1.8 Live and Let Die (1973) https://trakt.tv/movies/live-and-let-die-1973
1.9 The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-man-with-the-golden-gun-1974
1.10 The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-spy-who-loved-me-1977
1.11 Moonraker (1979) https://trakt.tv/movies/moonraker-1979
1.12 For Your Eyes Only (1981) https://trakt.tv/movies/for-your-eyes-only-1981
1.13 Octopussy (1983) https://trakt.tv/movies/octopussy-1983
1.14 A View to a Kill (1985) https://trakt.tv/movies/a-view-to-a-kill-1985
1.15 The Living Daylights (1987) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-living-daylights-1987
1.16 Licence to Kill (1989) https://trakt.tv/movies/licence-to-kill-1989
1.17 GoldenEye (1995) https://trakt.tv/movies/goldeneye-1995
1.18 Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) https://trakt.tv/movies/tomorrow-never-dies-1997
1.19 The World Is Not Enough (1999) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-world-is-not-enough-1999
1.20 Die Another Day (2002) https://trakt.tv/movies/die-another-day-2002
1.21 Casino Royale (2006) https://trakt.tv/movies/casino-royale-2006
1.22 Quantum of Solace (2008) https://trakt.tv/movies/quantum-of-solace-2008
1.23 Skyfall (2012) https://trakt.tv/movies/skyfall-2012
1.24 Spectre (2015) https://trakt.tv/movies/spectre-2015
1.25 No Time to Die (2021) https://trakt.tv/movies/no-time-to-die-2021
2 Non-Eon films
2.1 Casino Royale (1967) https://trakt.tv/movies/casino-royale-1967
2.2 Never Say Never Again (1983) https://trakt.tv/movies/never-say-never-again-1983
The funniest 007 movie ever!
It was fine.
At times, the pacing seemed to halt for some filler, but that doesn't really matter.
But the 3rd act kinda carried the rest of the film as it was entertaining enough to earn a 6 out of 10
Connery is really phoning it in by this point, but it is still enjoyable. Cheesier than ever, which is not necessarily bad. I like it marginally more than Thunderball before it. Still not the James Bond films I would recommend to non-fans.
Rating: 2.5/5 - 70% - Worth Watching
It has all the ingredients of a Bond movie, the good and the bad. Although one has to take into account that this is an old movie from a different time.
I like the space scenes and they already had a re-usable spacecraft. That's futuristic at that point. They take a very long time to show Japan and part of the culture. I like it when the location becomes almost a character. Tropical islands all look alike. And the sets are once more absolutely great. The finale was explosive to say the least.
My one big beef with the story: why did they kill Karin Dor ? She was much more interesting than the Japanese girl.
I’m trying to watch all the James Bond movies while they’re available. The older ones are sometimes hard to get through and You Only Live Twice was no exception. Very cheesy, very dated and very outlandish. The storyline was too far fetched to be believable and the effects were horrendous. On the plus side, it was interesting to see Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s grandfather, Peter Maivia, playing a role here (albeit a bit part); also fun to see Burt Kwouk (aka Kato from the Peter Sellers’ Pink Panther movies) and I had no idea Donald Pleasance was old enough to have played the villain in a James Bond movie from the ‘60s! Those were the few redeeming qualities in this one…and I swear that redhead “executive secretary” has to be the ugliest female I’ve ever seen. I (honestly!) kept waiting on her to ditch the wig and reveal a man in drag. Man, she was homely! :joy:
Thankfully a huge improvement over Thunderball but nowhere near the quality of FRWL or Goldfinger. The action, cinematography, and editing have thankfully gone back to being good after the pathetic attempt by Thunderball. The roof chase/fight and the big fight in SPECTRE's bunker are both scenes that need to be commended. Unfortunately you can tell Sean Connery does not want to be in this movie. Even scenes with him and Moneypenny have the chemistry of a couple... discussing divorce settlements. And for once Bond seems more fed up and annoyed with Q then Q is to Bond. If that idea was a supposed to be a subversion (which I doubt), it's not a good one. Not to mention, there are a few plot points that goes nowhere. For one, there's a point where Bond disguises himself as a Japanese man and... does he really? The only he really does is phone in a unenthused "Ohayo Gozaimasu" (c'mon movie, be racist! I need my monthly allowance of virtue signal points!). Also the fake death side plot is swiftly forgotten. While not as good as most prior films, do I still recommend this film? Yeah I would.
Minuses first... Connery is aging rapidly.
The quite horrendous 'Japenese-ing' looks more like Dumb And Dumber: The Prequel.
The now-usual sexual assault has now graduated to pimping by the Japanese agency.
The same problems we had with the underwater scenes in Thunderball are evident in the space scenes here - though thankfully they're a bit shorter.
On the pluses... The gyrocopter scene is still pretty cool - and the instrumental of the theme song is fantastic.
Oh and book me on that 3-day Ninja course. Seems nice and easy!
7/10
"Oh the things I do for England."
007: the James Bond Rewatch-a-thon.
Let's start off with the fun thing: The opening with Bond faking his death, the pace, the scene with Q, Little Nellie, the Volcano Base, the shoot-out in the end, the making Bond a bit more silly phase, Donald Pleasence as the inspiration of Dr. Evil, evil cat, piranhas and the "Oh the things I do for England" one-liner.
You Only Live Twice for me is a step up from Thunderball. I enjoy it, the silliness is something that is rather entertaining for me. I like my serious Bond and I like my wacky Bond. Even though Sean Connery is phoning it in, it doesn't really matter. You Only Live Twice is a perfectly fine entry in the Bond franchise.
With four successful pictures already behind it, the 007 franchise was beginning to branch out in new, surprising directions by the time this one landed. As a sort of middle ground between the action-suspense romanticism of Goldfinger and the cheesy, over-the-top camp of the Roger Moore era, You Only Live Twice often seems conflicted and goofy, uncertain of its own identity like an adolescent whose voice is changing.
Sean Connery remains convincing as the suave ladies' man with a cool head under pressure, but it's hard not to snicker a little when he climbs aboard a tiny yellow toy helicopter and mows down a fleet of full-sized enemy choppers with ease. Our hero is also beginning to show his advanced age during the infrequent fight scenes around the middle of the picture, with nameless henchmen constantly going out of their way to stand in the way of his slow, looping haymakers.
Bearing an armload of blush-inducing racial stereotypes, a cast so one-dimensional it might envy the depth offered by a sheet of plywood and an endgame that would rival any Saturday morning cartoon, it should come as no surprise that this episode provides more fuel for the Austin Powers parodies than any of its brothers. That doesn't mean it's a dull ride, but while this is hardly the character's darkest hour it's also a far cry from his finest.
James Bond comes face-to-face with his ultimate nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, in You Only Live Twice. The US and Soviet Union are being pushed towards war by SPECTRE, and it's up to James Bond to stop them. The series once again goes big, with space shuttles, secret volcano lairs, and ninja armies. And the plot holes are equally as big, highlighting the poor writing of the film. Yet the action is as good as ever, delivering some spectacular fight sequences. With You Only Live Twice, Sean Connery leaves the series with a bang.
Despite being one of the silliest in the franchise, You Only Live Twice is entertaining enough, but fails to reach the height of the earliest entries.
It seems Roald Dahl might have run out of material for the script because You Only Live Twice has a lot in common with Dr. No, and it's filled to the brim with silliness such as Ninjas and an underwater MI6. Combine this with a star actor that seems a little disinterested, and you have a movie that does not live up to its potential.
There are, however, a redeeming factor to be found. The action is rather good. Everything is very professionally choreographed and culminates in a very "epic" fight at the end.
You Only Live Twice is not my first choice to pull off the shelf, but it was fun watching it again.
The whole volcano lair is really cool. Blofeld is a good villain. The samurai stuff wasn't the best but Japan is an interesting setting.
Most things were squeezed into this film. Fight scenes, car chases, rockets, space, mountains, sea's
Love Blofeld, great character but my goodness that poor cat did not like that explosion; he must have been scratched to pieces!!
Old school Bond, but still one of the most fun Bond movies.
Well, that was a very Bad,Bad,Bad ,Bad and Bad Bond Film.
James Bond in Japan: funny and witty, although nowadays a little outdated because of the whole "Russian VS American space crafts" (who get captured by S.P.E.C.T.R.E in space!!!) story.
Shout by saundrewBlockedParent2015-09-05T14:42:03Z
Ahh, here's the serious Bond film. I mean, at least compared to the 1967 version of Casino Royale (out months before) this is as realistic as possible. Honestly, I was a little surprised with how into the movie I was this time. I feel like this has always been one that I don't have many serious problems with, but at the same time it isn't something I feel the need to catch all the time. But this viewing was different, I was into it all. I wish Connery was happier to be in this, but otherwise I don't have major complaints. The helicopter fights, the ninja fights, the space scenes, the sumo fights... all pretty damn entertaining.