Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
"You Only Live Twice Mr Bond", 26 Aug 2006
For the first time in a Bond film nearly every element of a Fleming novel was ignored in place of an original screenplay written by Roald Dahl. The script retained only two aspects of Fleming's novel, the Japanese location and the Bond and Blofeld conflict. Sean Connery was now becoming tired of playing James Bond and you can see it a little on the screen but he still plays the part excellently. American and Soviet space craft are mysteriously vanishing and both nations are blaming each other. Aware that the next incident will cause a nuclear war, M assigns Bond to Japan, where he suspects a third party might be involved. Whilst in Japan Bond uncovers evidence that SPECTRE is causing the friction between the East and the West and sets out along with the head of the Japanese Secret Service Tiger Tanaka to save the world from a nuclear war. The pre credits sequence is excellent and keeps the audience guessing untill the title song is over. The films location of Japan was never one of my favourite locations for a Bond film to go but it was new to Bond and it keeps the film original. Again like Goldfinger and Thunderball gadgets were riding high litrally in You Only Live Twice in the shape of Little Nelie, the mini helicopter with an array of machine guns, rocket launchers, heat seeking air missiles, flame guns, smoke ejectors and ariel mines. Little Nelie is a timeless Bond vechicle along with the Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger, the Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me and BMW 750iL from Tomorrow Never Dies. This was the first Bond film where not only the audience heard SPECTRE chief Blofeld's voice but you actually saw him as well. Blofeld was featured visually in three Bond films by three different actors. Donald Pleaseance played Blofeld in You Only Live Twice and is clearly more believeable in the role than Telly Savalas or Charles Gray would be in later editions to the series. The camera work on this film and in particuler a lot of the James Bond movies is excellent, the birdseye view we get of Bond in the fight scene at the shiping yard is excellently directed and very original. Blofelds HQ in the volcano cost a whopping $400,000 back in 1967. visually it is very impressive. Overall You Only Live Twice is a great Bond film. I had'nt seen this film for a while when i bought it and it was extremly enjoyable.The special features disc is also excellent. You get the same documentries as you did with the 2003 special edition release plus a whole lot more so I would recommend this dvd for any Bond fan or film lover!
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Welcome to Japan, Mr Bond..., 22 Aug 2007
Ah, it is a tough call, trying to rate a movie as fun as this. Holding such an iconic status as it does, how do you keep your bias in check and look at the movie without those nostalgic rose coloured specs?
As witness for the defence, I would like to call Ken Adams - creator of the 1 million dollar volcano set, this action sequence at the end of the movie set a standard for Bond movies for a very long time... so much so that it is recreated in different guises in `The Spy who loved me', and `Moonraker'. It is certainly the most spectacular set and largest scale action sequence in a Bond movie yet.
Next witness - Sean Connery - yes, he seems a little more weary in the role than he did in Thunderball, but while not at his peak, he is still fit and charming enough to be the definitive James Bond (at least when not wearing insanely unconvincing Japanese prosthetics).
John Barry - who produces another great and imaginative score here, one of the last to sound truly original.
And then I call Little Nellie - the signature gadget for the film, a weapon loaded gyrocopter, is a great success, not just for the aerial action sequence, but also for getting `Q' out of the office and into the field for a change!
But then comes the witnesses for the prosecution... If I call Blofeld to the stand, then you will find what at first appears to be brilliant casting, turns out to be too little too late in the movie. Donald Pleasance as just the right creepiness for the role, but never truly brings the character to life, and demasking Blofeld only seems to tarnish some of the mythos that had been built up around him.
The same holds true if I call Bond's ladies to the stand. Helga Brandt may have a healthy chest, but is a pale pale imitation of the evil Fiona Volpe from Thunderball. And the Japanese ladies have a novelty value, but never appear to truly have an impact on Bond.
Then there is the screenplay. Roald Dahl is a genius, but somewhere between the story, the screenplay of the story and the screen, some magic has been left out. When I watched this with an audience, a third of them were sleeping through the middle sagging part of the movie.
Part of the joy, and also part of the problem is that some of the international flair has been left out of this movie to concentrate on one location - Japan. The location is therefore well explored in both culture and geography, but a certain variety and roving nature to Bond's exploits is missing.
I call the effects to the stand... Bond always worked best when the stories were timeless. By using a space age plot, the plot device, effects, and concept are all immediately dated. Bear in mind this movie was conceived long before man walked on the moon.
And then I'd like to call Little Nellie. Yes, the same Little Nellie called by the defence. Is it used craftily integrated into the plot? No, we see a scene where he is attacked predictably by helicopters, and goes through the gadgets one by one until they are all used and he goes home. It's just not as clever as say, the tear gas in the case from `From Russia with Love'.
Critically, there is the myth of Bond himself. Where in previous Bond movies he was a spy who through tradecraft and hard work (and occasionally seducing beautiful women) would find his way to the evil masterminds lair, here it is as if the character stumbles from one situation to the next, rather than driving events. This was to hold true for Bond for many years to come, with the exception of `On Her Majesty's Secret Service'.
The verdict? A hung jury... It is a movie that perhaps tries too hard to go bigger and better in many respects. And so we have a movie with two hats - It introduces some fun ideas, such as M and Moneypenny having a mobile office in a submarine - the first of many mobile offices for M, and seeing Bond in naval uniform for the first time. But it also fails to achieve the characterisation that had gone before and relies on the goodwill from previous movies a little too hard. Thus, we all love You Only Live Twice, but have to be honest, it is harmless fun, but not a classic. Majority verdict in favour of the defence.
What does the Ultimate Edition have to offer to persuade you to part with your cash? Truth be told, this is where it gets interesting. The picture is flawless, yes, but it is the sound that really becomes 3 dimensional in the dts mix, giving the rockets shooting into space much more realism and depth than the on screen effects do. Even background noises are clearer and dialogue sparkling, thanks to some nifty digital remastering.
All the extras from the Special Edition are present and correct, and everyone should watch the superb (as usual) half hour documentary `Inside You Only Live Twice'. Also included for the first time though are three items. Firstly, some of Ken Adams home video footage of location scouting and then shooting of the movie, which is great fun to watch to see both the construction of the set and Sean Connery clowning around at every opportunity. Then there is a short segment from Whickers World, which is an entertaining period fluff piece promoting the movie - while still acknowledging its campness and humour make it an antidote for the times. Finally an oddity, a one hour special `Welcome to Japan, Mr Bond' which uses MoneyPenny and Q in specially shot scenes to frame a selection of clips from the movies to this point. Interesting for fans of Q especially, this purports to be Moneypenny musing over who it can be that James Bond will marry.
All in all, I can only recommend this DVD as a worthwhile watch, while acknowledging it is just not as finely crafted as its predecessors. This Ultimate Edition series once again proves to be the best and most comprehensive way to see the movie.
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