Rating: Summary: Entertaining Connery Review: 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.
Rating: Summary: The best ever book Review: This is the best book I've ever read
Rating: Summary: BOND vs. BLOFELD: The Final Showdown Review: Japan has a problem. A certain Dr. Guntram Shatterhand and his wife has moved into a old castle on a remote Japanese island. The renown Swiss horticulturist was welcomed at first until he started planted deadly plants throughout the castle grounds and stocking the man-made lake with deadly Piranhas. The island has become a "garden of death" for those seeking to commit suicide. England has a problem. One of their top spies in the British Secret Service has become a serious liability. Despite his exemplary record, M is all set to fire James Bond, but instead 007 is sent to Japan to help solve their problem. In an adventure like no other, James Bond is given a suicide mission: eliminate Dr. Shatterhand. Bond prepares for his mission in a lackadaisical manner until he learns that Dr. & Mrs. Shatterhand are none other than Ernst Stavro Blofeld and Irma Bunt! (Fleming is very clever dropping hints about the doctor's true identity, especially the references to his ugly wife!) Bond is now faced with a moral dilemma. Does he reveal his discovery to Tiger Tanaka of the Japan Secret Service or does he go after Blofeld himself to satisy his revenge? Bond chooses the latter and who can blame him? This is Blofeld! The supreme leader of SPECTRE who attempted to blackmail the world with stolen nuclear missiles. Blofeld. The evil genius who attempted to unleash biological warfare on England from his Swiss Resort high in the Alps. Blofeld. The man who killed Bond's wife.... Blofeld has gone into a twisted sadistic retirement. Hiding out in an ancient castle, playing the role of Emporer strolling about his kingdom wearing Japanese battle armor and silk kimonos. Bond is going to take him down one way or another. The tension builds as Bond prepares to face his hated rival. The gardens are deadly, but so is 007! With the help of Kissy Suzuki, Bond penetrates the castle and faces Blofeld in what will be the ultimate showdown! A very exciting book! (Especially the final few chapters) Very fitting that the setting was Japan. YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE tells the story of a samurai who has lost his way, but in facing his fears and his enemy he regains his honor and suceeds where others would have failed. 5 STARS!
Rating: Summary: A very entertaining movie Review: You only live twice is in my opinion the 3rd best Bond movie ever. I think only Goldfinger and Thunderball are better. It has plenty of action and beautiful settings and a good plot. Connory may not have been his best in it, but he was still very good and created another Bond classic.
Rating: Summary: Sub-par Connery, but enjoyable Review: This is probably the weakest of the Sean Connery Bonds, but let's face it, whenever Connery is playing Bond- it's still good. The Japanese locale is filmed to great effect and the story moves along briskly, and Bond Girl Aki is one of the series' best. Now for the not so great parts: Bond being turned into a Japanese guy for a mission is both uninentionally hilarious and slightly racist. It's also hard to watch Donald Pleasance as bald headed villain Blofeldt without wanting to shout out Dr. Evil lines like "Onneeeeee Milllliooonn Dollllarssssss!"
Rating: Summary: Very good Review: Though some consider You Only Live Twice to be Connery's worst film, it is not. It is much better than Never Say Never Again and slightly edges out Diamonds are Forever and is almost as good as Thunderball but can't hold a candle to Dr.No, Goldfinger, or From Russia with Love, in my opinion his best. YOLT has some weaknessess but most of them are small. Some are the plot, the special effects, and the girls. Instead of having Aki getting killed and having Kissy as her replacement, (she never even had her name mentioned in the film!) they should have kept Aki alive and had her be the main girl the whole film. However, the biggest mistake was the villain. Donald Pleasance is a good actor and does a good job as Blofeld but is all wrong for the part. One of the best things in this film is the Oriental setting. The two things that make this film better than Diamonds are the title song by Nancy Sinatra and the action including an explosive climax in Blofeld's lair hidden in a volcano, an exciting air pursuit with helicopters and a great car chase. Overall, my #1O favourite Bond film, beaten by four of Connery's films, three Roger Moore films, and and two of Brosnan's and The Living Daylights.
Rating: Summary: Great Review: This is probably Connery's second best film following Goldfinger. connery's acting is good, the villain is menacing, and the girls are great. This is one tosee!
Rating: Summary: Is this Bond? Review: After such a great, strong story of OHMSS, it is hard to believe that Feming would write such a depressing novel like YOLT. However, it is very believible that Bond would be so upset after the death of his wife. The book is nothing like the movie and to tell you the truth, I enjoy the movie more than the book. The only things that remain constant between book and the movie are the Japanese setting and the characters. It is a good book, but lacks a good ending. No Bond book is without merit, however, and YOLT does provide good supporting characters. TOLT is still better than some of the other books in the series and I still would recomend reading it.
Rating: Summary: THE BEST BOND - PERIOD! Review: Simply the best Bond ever. Great plot, location, gadgets, twists and intrigue. The John Barry score is magnificant. Connery is at his best - "Permission to come aboard sir?" - dry wit and all. This film inspired a generation of spys & spooks.
Rating: Summary: A GODZILLA MOVIE WITHOUT GODZILLA Review: WEll, that is what You Only Live Twice came across. Leave it to one time Bond scriptwriter Roald Dahl to write a long drawn out story, and to make ill use of the women in the movie. Karin Dor's Helga Brandt was just a Fiona Volpe clone who failed to measure up to her predeccessor. As good as the two Japanese Bond girls are in this film, Aki and Kissy Suzuki, Aki was knocked off way too late in the film and Kissy, when she DID appeared, was given way too little to do. They should have change the script and just combined the Aki/Kissy character into one. You Only Live Twice emerged as the weakest of the Connery films that followed GOldfinger. Too bad, Akiko Wakabayashi and Mie Hama deserved better.
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