When people think of James Bond they usually think of one man playing him and that's Sir Sean Connery. However there was a time when he wasn't going to come back and had decided to leave the role with the film that i'm going to be talking to you all about today being one of his three final films as James Bond and so then join me as I review the film that has the loudest set of ninjas ever with the film in question being called simply just "You Only Live Twice" enjoy.
The plot of this film is when an American spacecraft goes missing and is last seen flying over Japan it's up James Bond to find out who took it and prevent an all out war between America and the Russians. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. The plot for this film is one that is was really fun to see as while its not the deepest James bond plot out there with it being a very by the numbers plot this is something that does work well enough in this films favor as it does oddly enough make the film to be alot more enjoyable. The downside to this is the fact that the plot of this film could have been alot more better as the film doesn't devote alot of time to its plot with the film instead giving us scenes with Bond going around Japan and running into bad guys alot of the time but when the film does give us scenes that do focus on the plot they are really good scenes and given the fact that this film was written by the great childrens author Roald Dahl this is something that isn't all that surprising as alot of his book plots are not only really good but also have a child like imagination to them and that is so0mething that is true for this films as it is a very imaginative and while the films plot doesn't speak to the heart of a child it is a plot that is still enjoyable regardless of if your an adult or a child with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Of course this film stars Sir Sean Connery as James Bond , Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny , Desmond Llewelyn as Q and Bernard Lee as M. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. Whilst Sean's acting in Thunderball wasn't that good as there was just something off about his performance in that film here he is back on top form which is no doubt due to the fact that he got a huge pay rise in order to agree to do the film in the first place, with him being just as charming and just as methodical in this film as he was back in Dr. No only now he has the added confidence of playing the character that got from Goldfinger with the rest of the acting from the MI6 regulars being just as good as they all got one or two scenes in the film to do there usual schtick and they do so with great gusto. With the best actor out of the MI6 regulars in this film being Sir Sean Connery himself as he really does carry the film on his back with it being painfully obvious why alot of people consider him to be THE James bond as he does fit the role well and while others have turned in better performances as the character in other films Sir Sean Connery had to invent the character for the screen with him being able to have chemistry with even a lamp as that's just how good that he really was as this truly iconic character in this film, with the film even giving him alot of scenes where he can show his range as an actor be there more comedic or more dramatic and yet he pulls them off beautifully.
Also starring in this film is Akiko Wakabayashi as Aki , Tetsurō Tamba as Tiger Tanaka and Robert Rietty as the voice of Tiger Tanaka. Also starring in this film is Mie Hama as Kissy Suzuki , Nikki Van Der Zyl as the voice of Kissy Suzuki , Teru Shimada as Mr. Osato , Karin Dor as Helga Brandt , Charles Gray as Dikko Henderson and Donald Pleasence as Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. All of the films guest actors really do hold there own when it comes to acting with the likes of Sir Sean Connery something which wouldn't have been easy given the fact that not only did alot of this films actors not speak English but also the fact that they are joining the franchise and he has been apart of it for some time and therefor he would have more expirence of how to portray his character but in all fairness to the films guest actors they do a really good job of portraying there respective characters in there own right. With the film best best actor being Donald Pleasence as Ernst Stavro Blofeld as while Sir Sean Connery is the films best actor when it comes to the MI6 regulars when it comes to both sets of characters there's no doubt that it has to be Donald Pleasence as the man is just so good and so creepy of Blofeld and while the character isn't on screen alot of the tike in this film Donald does make every single scene count with him acting circles around everyone in every single scene that he's in. With the acting that's in this very film really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
This film does technically have two bonds girls with the first one being Aki who is played by Akiko Wakabayashi and the other is Kissy Suzuki who is played by Mie Hama. Both characters are pretty decently done characters as they both do have a certain spunk and charm to them that does make them likable but due to when Kissy is introduced into the film and the fact that we do get to spend more time with Aki the better Bond girl of the two has to be Aki as she does get to do alot more in the film with her and Bond even forming kind of a close friendship which granted does make it all the sadder when she is killed off. However with Kissy we don't really get to find out all that much about her as a character with her and Bond quite literally bein forced to work with each other after Aki is killed off this isn't helped by the fact that by the time that Kissy is introduced into the film there's not really all that much left for her to do in the film with the only thing of note that she does is help Bond find Blofeld secret leir all while wearing what surely has to be the world's tiniest white bikini by 1960's standards and while that is great to the male audience interested in her character when you take into account that she doesn't do all that much in the film it does make you wonder why the makers of this film didn't just have Aki survive until the end as both she and Kissy pretty much fill in the exact same role so it would make sense and the producers of these films have been k own to make changes to the source material as a way to keep fans of the books guessing just what it is that will happen next and this would have been a great change to make as the audience would have been more attached to Aki and while it in that sense having her die does make sense also having her survive the film does also make alot of sense.
This film also borrow the best character from Thunderball as the character of Helga Brant is quite literally a copy and paste Fiona Volpe. With both characters not only being villainesses but also they both red heads and they are both quite flirtatious all of which does make it clear as day that the makers of this film were trying to recapture the magic that they had with that character however in doing so that did rob the chance of the stunning Karin Dor to really leave her stamp on the character as alot of the time it does feel like that she was told to copy what Luciana Paluzzi did in Thunderball which is something that does make it more obvious that the makers of this film didn't really have a clue as to what to do with Helga as a character. As they could have flipped what they did with Fiona on it's head and have turn to the side of right and good after and Bond do get together but still have her die at the hands of Blofeld only now it wouldn't be because of the fact that she failed to kill Bond but it would be because of the fact that she turned on Blofeld and heck they even could have gave Helga some one liners just to give her some personality and give her some wit that would be on par with Bonds but they don't instead the makers of this film just do a poor job of copying what they did with Fiona Volpe. When they could have done quite literally anything with this character and it would have worked as it would have set her apart from Fiona but due to the fact that Fiona not only was but still is the best character in Thunderball it does mean that this film had to do a carbon copy of her without realising that what helped to make that character work so well in the first place was Luciana Paluzzi herself, yet the makers of this film seem to treat both Karin Dor and Luciana Paluzzi as not only the same actor but the same character when they needed to be treated differently.
Doing this films production design was the great Sir Ken Adam with his work on this film being up to his usual high standard. He does create alot of truly stunning sets for this film all of which do feel right at home in the world of James Bond as they are all these truly massive sets that do quite honestly look like that they could all fit an entire football stadium inside of them and yet at the same time they aren't so big that they become like a cartoon rather they are just the right size for the world of James Bond so much so that it would be hard to picture any of this films sets working in quite literally any other film as alot of them are defined by the fact that they are a James Bond style of set. Even Blofelds leir which yes granted is the stereotypical volcano leir looks really good and given the fact that this film invented the idea of having the main villain by housed in a volcano they do make the most of it by showing us the hollowed out remains of the volcano itself, the base itself looking so on screen that it does make you wonder if it really was that big in real life with this set being a perfect example of h0ow massive sets do fit in with the world of James Bond as by having this set be massive it does mean that any of Blofelds henchmen could come out of anywhere and attack Bond during the third act and Bond wouldn't be able to do anything about it thus adding an extra layer of danger and given that it is a massive set that n doubt took weeks to work on there's not one square inch of that set that feels wasted as there's always something going on it be it people walking around or people doing things that set does feel lived in and real whereas today if this type of set was recreated firstly it would all be done in CGI and secondly there wouldn't be that much going on in the background but here as the makers of this film knew that they had to make this set feel like a character in its own right they did go the extra mile in making it feel thought out and lived in.
Whilst the character f Blofeld did appear mostly unseen in both From Russia With Love and Thunderball this film is the first time that we get to see his face. With his look for this film being so iconic and so engraved into popular culture that it is hard to picture this character looking any other way as when we think of Blofeld this is the version of the character that we all think of with the character being just as menacing and just as evil as he's always been with his main goal in this film essentially being to start world war 3 by having the Americans think that that Russians have taken one of there spacecrafts and play the two of them against each other this is actually a pretty good idea as then he gets to watch the world burn and profit off what's left of the world while these two countries are left being distracted with each other. The only thing tho that does let not only this film down from a personal point of view but also just in general is the fact that in the film during the films third act when all of the explosions are going off around the base you do see Blofelds cat actively looking stressed out and scared so much so that Donald Pleasence does have to actively restrain the cat mid scene and then after that the cat just runs away from him and that is something that should never have been the case as while yes the makers of this film were never to know just how the cat would react when these possibly powerful explosives were going off its trainer should have done some level of training with the cat before filming just to make sure that the cat was alright as while the cat was thankfully alive and well it could never go on another film set as it was that scared and yet if either the makers of the film or the cats trainer talked to each other about what would be going on in this third act then the cat would have been better prepared.
The title song for this film was "You Only Live Twice" which was sung rather beautifully by Nancy Sinatra. However this song much like it's opening titles aren't the best in this franchise as while yes this is a a beautiful James Bond song no one is going to ever deny that it's also something that you don't typically think of when you think of a sixties James Bond film as you do usually think of of songs by either Shirley Bassey or Tom Jones as they have these big loud voices that do help to make there respective films theme songs be all the more powerful where as here with this song because of the fact that Nancy Sinatra doesn't have this big and booming singing voice it does make the song feel all the more quite when it should be yelling that it's here and make you pay attention to it. As was said this isn't a bad theme song and the song is sung as well as could be expected but it's also a song that could have been alot more better as the themes of the song don't really match with the film as the song is basically a love song and while there are scenes like this in the film its never the main focus of the film with the films main theme being Bond trying to prevent a war and while it wouldn't make sense for them to have a more militaristic sounding song that would still be more true to the themes of the film, altho to give the song its flowers it does make great use of very Japanese sounding instruments that do get you ready for this more eastern set film and the fact that the song does include eastern sounding instruments does show you that the makers of this film did go to great lengths to get the song to sound as beautiful as they possibly could have done and while its not a bad song it is a song that is still on my Spotify playlist for Bond theme songs as it is still a really good song in it's own right.
Doing the opening titles for this film was regular James Bond titles creator Maurice Binder with his work on this film not being his best but also not being his worst work either. As while this films opening titles are still very visually pleasing to look at ad they do go with the song quite nicely it's just that there's nothing all that interesting about this films opening titles that makes them standout and feel unique from all of the other but credit where it due tho they do make good use of live action footage that do give us hints of what's to come in the main body of the film in really subtle ways something which none of the other James Bond films did do in there opening titles. However much like the rest of the film these opening titles are something that you could have on in the background and you'll still get all that you normally would do out of any James Bond opening titles as they are creative in there own way and they mesh well with the films opening song its just that it is clear by this point in these early James Bond films that they did need to do something different with its opening titles and while Maurice Binder is still a really good designer and he would go on to create some really good James Bond opening titles here it does feel like that he's being limited by his own imagination as he doesn't use the fact that this film is being set in Japan outside of the fact that he has an Asian girl appear in the opening titles and while it could be argued that this is certain romantic almost relaxing charm to these opening tiles as you do know just what it is that your going to be getting from them one could also argue that that's what holding them back as sometimes you do want to see something that you didn't know that you wanted to see and is very much the case with these opening titles as while there good there also really familiar.
Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and fifty six minuets and fifty eight seconds. Which to be fair to this film is pretty solid amount of running time for this film to have with alot of the other James Bond films also having very similar running times to them as well and to be frank this film really did need that amount of running time as the film does have alot of plot and characters to cover in the first place and to cover it all in anything shorter then that would be a huge disservice to this films plot and its characters with the film even having the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place. This film tho doesn't use its running time all that wisely as the film while the film does take the time to fully develop its plot as well as it possibly could have done as the films plot does mostly follow that of the book including having a really long wedding scene in it with all of these things making the films plot feel alot more well thought out as it would have been very easy for the makers of this film to just borrow the title , characters and a few scenes from the book but come up with a new story the fact that the film doesn't mainly do that does mean that the films plot does get to have alot of development in it with alot of the scenes that focus on the plot adding stuff to it that does come into play later on in the film. Sadly tho the same thing cannot be said for the films character development as while it is understandable as to why James Bond doesn't get any character development as he's a male power fantasy character and therefor we are meant to be see ourselfs as James Bond the same thing is not the case for any of the films other characters with it being them that should have gotten some small amount of character development even of its just something small but as it is we no just as much about all of this films characters coming out of the film then we did coming in to the film but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. To put it frank this films action is perhaps the best part of the film as while the action doesn't help the film to feel like a classic James Bond film it does give you exactly what you want to see in a James Bond action scene as we the audience have to see Bond try and work out how to get out of any situation using only his wits for alot of the film with this being something that does make the action in this film be all the more exciting and fun to watch. With the best action scene in the whole entire film being the third act fight scene in Blofeld volcano leir as we not only get to see Bond and Blofeld duking it out for the sake of the earth it also gets really nuts and crazy as Bond ninja school allies come in and help him out by taking all of Blofelds henchmen with Kissy doing her best in her small white bikini but then you add in the fact that there the typical explosions going off all over the place it is something that does combine to make that action scene really fun to watch with Blofeld himself even getting on the act by shooting some of the Ninjas, with the action scene itself really taking as full advantage of its massive volcano leir setting as it could do as there really is a piece of action going off in every single corner of the screen with this being something that does make that scene alot of fun to watch with the rest of the films action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this is the kind of Bond film that you could have on the background and still find it enjoyable as it does have that kind of lazy viewing value to it that does oddly work for the film and while yes it would have helped the film if the film was alot more better sometimes just being this kind of stereotypical Bond film is all you need a Bond film to be and that's that this film was in the best ways possible in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are un this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well them boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Tenor , Wikipedia , Blogger , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personal favorite website to use to get the images that I used in this very review being Google Images just simply due to the fact that pretty much all of the images that are featured / presented to us and are currently up and also on Google Images are all fairly high quality and as well as being fairly high definition and well then boys and girls just freaking like James Bond I will return.
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