You Only Live Twice

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 bein...

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 ...

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, an...

This time, "007" (Sean Connery) has to investigate some mysterious goings on in outer space as first an American, then a Soviet rocket disappear. Naturally, they blame one another but "M" (Bernard Lee) has an inkling that Japan might be the source of the mischief and so our suave and debonair "Mr. Bond" is duly despatched. Allied with their spy chief "Tiger" (Tetsurô Tanba) who has his own underground train - he is soon hot on the trail of the "Ning Po" berthed by a small island that might well provide some answers. It's got loads of action scenes - "Little Nelly" and her heavily armed aerobatic battles being one of the better ones. The beautifully delicate Akiko Wakabayashi provides the glamour - though little of substance and Donald Pleas...

An improvement over Thunderball but still not as good as the original 3 Connery films, it is still very iconic despite it only just having a reappraisal.