Review of You Only Live Twice (1967) by Kai82 — 11 Dec 2020

The fifth movie in the franchise and it is one of my favorite Sean Connery James Bond movies. After a NASA spacecraft is hijacked the USA are suspecting the Soviets as culprits and a mayor conflict is on the horizon.

James Bond is tasked with an investigation in Japan as the MI6 had a clue pointing in this direction. Japan as setting is very nice especially for fans of Japanese culture like me (Yes this is also a bias warning).

The scenery is amazing as they filmed in Ginza (A district of Tokyo with lots of stores, restaurants and boutiques but also really expensive), used Himeji Castle and the Shinto Shrine in Nachi. As someone who visited Japan I must say it is a beautiful country full of nice people with great sights and so much great food (Less weird than expected however, even Tokyo;-).

But back to the movie. The story is immersive from the beginning to the end. You know that failing will lead to a disaster on a scale never seen before. I like the concepts and idea as they make a lot of the setting and have an epic climax.

Then there are the actors. Sean Connery has nailed his role a few movies ago and delivers the James Bond we know and cherish. I enjoyed Tiger Tanaka as head of the Japanese secret service. He is skilled, a clever schemer, capable and a man of many talents.

I don't know if the praise magnificent bastard for a badass you admire is an insult in some countries or else I would use this description. His special forces are remarkable effective (Bonus point for those who figure out what people in Japan used as elite spies since centuries were called;-).

Lets say that females are not well represented in James Bond movies in that time (Especially the names) but this does not mean that Aikko Wakabayashi and Mie Hama do not deliver a really good performance.

Again Q becomes my favorite reoccurring character (I like also the banter with Miss Moneypenny and M). This time we got new cool gadgets (Not all are from Q) like an interesting cigarette, a remarkable cracking machine and “Little Nellie”.

The “Little Nellie” really exist minus some upgrades in real live. For the soundtrack we have Nancy Sinatra who did a good performance. Overall this is an excellent movie in the franchise. Not as good as Goldfinger but good enough to get a 10/10 rating.

It succeed enough for me to justify this rating.