diebitter
10-17-2005, 04:45 PM
You Only live twice was Connery's 5th adventure as Bond, and was particularly exotic, even for a Bond, being set in and around Japan. It has some spectacular sequences - including the hollowed out volcano with ninjas falling from the ceiling on ropes, space ships, the Little Nelly gyrocopter, and stuff like rocket-launching motorbikes and cars picked up by helicopters with electromagnets and dropped from great heights into the ocean.
It's a fun film, and is a definite swing from the serious Bond in Dr No and From Russia with Love, through the more energetic and less realistic films of the superb Goldfinger and Thunderball, to this, which was pretty much outright fantasy.
You Only Live Twice is a conundrum to me. I really like it, but it is probably the beginning of the overblown aspect of Bond that makes it campy. You can't watch Blofeld and the volcano now without thinking Dr.Evil, and stuff like piranha pools that consume meat in seconds are definitely campy.
However, there is more here than meets the eye. The music is truly beautiful, and probably the instrumental 'mountains and sunsets' (done as the song 'you only live twice' by Nancy Sinatra) is about the finest piece of music John Barry composed for this or any other films. There is spectacular camerawork, with one exceptional shot being an overhead of Bond running across the roof of a factory, being chased. The camera pulls up and away, further from the action, and the actors look smaller and smaller, and still we see Bond doing his stuff, and taking out the bad guys with fist and kick only. Also, the close in fighting scenes are hard and exciting, and all-in-all it's a kick-ass adventure. And it's got ninjas!
(Personal note: I saw this as a kid at the cinema in a double bill with Thunderball (one of many, many rereleases before Bond got to the TV), and when I got home, I demanded a haircut just like James Bond. And when I got it, I felt sooooooo cool!)
You Only Live Twice - the only way to live!
OVERALL: 3/5 (Definite watch if you get a chance)
plus I'd recommend at the cinema or big widescreen TV with a DVD version.
It's a fun film, and is a definite swing from the serious Bond in Dr No and From Russia with Love, through the more energetic and less realistic films of the superb Goldfinger and Thunderball, to this, which was pretty much outright fantasy.
You Only Live Twice is a conundrum to me. I really like it, but it is probably the beginning of the overblown aspect of Bond that makes it campy. You can't watch Blofeld and the volcano now without thinking Dr.Evil, and stuff like piranha pools that consume meat in seconds are definitely campy.
However, there is more here than meets the eye. The music is truly beautiful, and probably the instrumental 'mountains and sunsets' (done as the song 'you only live twice' by Nancy Sinatra) is about the finest piece of music John Barry composed for this or any other films. There is spectacular camerawork, with one exceptional shot being an overhead of Bond running across the roof of a factory, being chased. The camera pulls up and away, further from the action, and the actors look smaller and smaller, and still we see Bond doing his stuff, and taking out the bad guys with fist and kick only. Also, the close in fighting scenes are hard and exciting, and all-in-all it's a kick-ass adventure. And it's got ninjas!
(Personal note: I saw this as a kid at the cinema in a double bill with Thunderball (one of many, many rereleases before Bond got to the TV), and when I got home, I demanded a haircut just like James Bond. And when I got it, I felt sooooooo cool!)
You Only Live Twice - the only way to live!
OVERALL: 3/5 (Definite watch if you get a chance)
plus I'd recommend at the cinema or big widescreen TV with a DVD version.