Rating: 
Summary: It is better to travel hopefully, than to arrive
Review: Synopsis: 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. Critique:- 'It is better to travel hopefully...' Bond is going through the worst patch of his life, and to put it simply, he's going to pieces. This is Bond as we've never seen him before. Likewise, his mission is like no other, with a temporary promotion to the diplomatic section, and a new number: 7777. Bond is sent to Japan, where he discovers a completely alien culture, still steeped in Samurai disciplines. Much of the book's charm lies in the way Fleming immerses us in this culture and brings it to life. However, it is perhaps a minor fault that there is little in the way of action for the first half of the story. '...than to arrive' This is made up for as the mission draws towards its conclusion. Bond discovers a new lease of life and is back on his old form, now acting as an assassin for the Japanese Secret Service. Here, the book becomes a much more traditional Bond story with the introduction of a new Bond girl, a familiar villain, and all of Bond's attention focused on the mission ahead. To sum up, You Only Live Twice sees Bond at his usual best, and at the same time develops his character beyond the scope of most Bond books. A fitting continuation of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".
Rating: 
Summary: One of the most underrated Bond movies
Review: Many times this movie has been criticized for carrying the reliance on gadgetry to the extreme. It does have many gadgets such as the safe decoder, Little Nellie, the lipstick bomb, and some of the ninja weapons. This time,though, the producers had every right make this another gadget-laden movie because of the huge success of Thunderball. I've read many of the Ian Fleming Bond books and this was the first movie that did not follow the book at all. There are only two things that remain constant between the book and the movie: the Japenese location and the characters. This is understandable because in the series of novels, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is before YOLT. In the book YOLT, Bond is a wreck because of his wife's death in OHMSS and M even considers firing him. In the movie series, Bond hadn't been married or widowed. For the screenplay, producers bring in the noted writer Roald Dahl to create a film with expensive special effects and large-scale sets. The film is director Lewis Gilbert's Bond debut and the first time Peter Hunt does the second unit directing instead of the editing. During the end of production, Sean Connery announced his retirement from the series but would later come back for Diamonds Are Forever. Connery said that he was sick of Bondmania and all of the reporters looking for interwiews. THE ASSIGNMENT After American and a Soviet spacecrafts vanish, M assigns James Bond to Japan, where he suspects that another party might be fabricating the conflict. After faking his own death, Bond connects with the Japanese Secret Service. He is then trained as a ninja, 'married' to another agent, Kissy Suzuki( whose name isn't even mentioned in the film) and disguised as a worker on a Japanese island. Bond and Kissy discover that SPECTRE is launching rockets that can capture other spacecrafts and return them to Blofeld's magnificent lair inside a volcano. The end of the movie is very exciting when many ninjas attack the volcano lair and destroy it. Blofeld escapes and Bond and Kissy are left in a raft. This film contains the best music and some of the best editing in the series. I own every Bond movie and with me this one ranks as one of the top 6. From Russia, With Love; On Her Majesty's Secret Service; Goldfinger; Tomorrow Never Dies; You Only Live Twice; GoldenEye Rent or buy it.
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.
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