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

This is in the hay day of 007 films.
Made when 007 was exciting and entertaining.
That gets a lot of hate from people with Generation Xenophobe ideology.
But it's totally exciting.
Here, we get almost all the venues. We even get outer space. We get super beautiful scenery that pretty much make this one of the great Bond films, secure at number 5 in my opinion.
Most of this is set in Japan, and much of it is filmed there.
While Thunderball inspired the most in Austin Powers, this is probably second place in inspiration for Austin, and that's a good thing. Let us face the fact that the modern day 21st century Bond movies couldn't inspire Nolan Ryan to throw a baseball.
This was made in the era when piranha were considered dangerous, and that plays a big part in the film. "Blowhard" (my name for Number 1) likes to feed his piranha. And you can guess what he feeds them.
Lots of action, lots of scenery, lots of beautiful women, lots of wit, lots of gadgets. It has everything, which is probably why so many critics are so jealous of it.

_**James goes to Japan**_

"You Only Live Twice" (1967) takes agent 007 to Japan where he seeks the secret SPECTRE installation responsible for literally stealing space capsules and threatening war between the USA and USSR.

This 5th installment in the franchise upped the ante with the action & spy-stuff and is more dynamic than the previous ones. Speaking of the spy aspects, they're often over-the-top here to the point of being cartoonish. Another reviewer criticized the film in this regard -- pointing out that it was this film more than any other that gave the Austin Powers movies the most material to spoof -- and he was right. One scene, for instance, brought to memory that Gilligan's Island episode where Gilligan had a dream of being Agent 014 (remember the soup spoon?). No wonder the franchise got goofier in the 70s -- it was the next logical step.

Disregarding the "Yeah, right" spy shenanigans, "You Only Live Twice" has everything you'd want in a Bond picture -- the action, intrigue, gadgets, beautiful women, spectacular locations and larger-than-life villains. The story is interesting enough that it keeps you absorbed and even builds suspense as the film goes from one action scene to another, culminating in the explosive climax. It was understandably a huge hit in 1967.

The film runs 1 hour, 57 minutes, and was shot mostly in Japan, but also England, Spain and Gibraltar.

GRADE: A-

Yeah... forgotten isn't it?

Maybe it's forgotten because they try and turn Sean Connery into a Japanese man to hide him and he just ends up looking like a harry chested Leonard Nimoy.

Or maybe it's forgotten because little choppers are more Roger Moore than Sean Connery.

Whatever the case, it starts off pretty strong and then falls apart at the end. The first half of the movie is Connery Bond, and in places it's almost surreal in it's imagery.... but it ends up with 007 Leonard Nimoy, and that is just a shame.

I can't really hate on the movie, because parts of it are seriously good. I just can't get disguised as a Japanese man 007 Leonard Nimoy with a harry chest out of my head, and that is really the memory that stays with you decades after watching this film.

But, if you can get beyond that, it's still a pretty darn decent 007 film.

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.