By YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, James Bond no longer resembled the Ian Fleming character at all and of all the movies based on the Fleming novels, this one is the least like the book. In fact, other than being set in Japan and the title, the stories are nothing alike. The film is not at all realistic like the books and is a loud proclamation that that Bond is dead as it ushers in a "comic book" Bond who is all gadgets and plot holes. While I grudgingly will admit that the Roald Dahl (yes, THAT Dahl--the "Willie Wonka" guy) script is very exciting and high on the "cool factor", it is also silly and ridiculous throughout.
Some of the cool gadgets are the helicopter with an electro-magnet to pick up the baddies in their car as well Bond's own mini-copter. Really exciting stuff--but also the stuff of serials and comics--as was the volcano lair of Blofeld. In fact, for the first time, a Bond villain more resembles Dr. Evil from AUSTIN POWERS than anything else!! While there were too many dumb gadgets and silliness to talk about them all, I'll mention a few that DIDN'T work and were just dumb. First, the death scene and Bond's subsequent launching out of a submarine was so dumb--way too dumb. But worst was towards the middle when the Japanese secret service had the "brilliant" idea of disguising Bond as a Japanese man!!! With Connery's nose, height and Scottish accent, this was about as believable as trying to convince everyone that Bill Cosby was Japanese!!! This idiocy sinks to a new low in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE--unfortunately, it only got worse in later films.
Despite these many complaints, I still give the film a 7 because it's super-entertaining--more so than the previous film (THUNDERBALL). There are more thrills in this film than two Bond films--too bad the silly plot points weren't worked out--making the film seem like it could have used a good edit.
Some of the cool gadgets are the helicopter with an electro-magnet to pick up the baddies in their car as well Bond's own mini-copter. Really exciting stuff--but also the stuff of serials and comics--as was the volcano lair of Blofeld. In fact, for the first time, a Bond villain more resembles Dr. Evil from AUSTIN POWERS than anything else!! While there were too many dumb gadgets and silliness to talk about them all, I'll mention a few that DIDN'T work and were just dumb. First, the death scene and Bond's subsequent launching out of a submarine was so dumb--way too dumb. But worst was towards the middle when the Japanese secret service had the "brilliant" idea of disguising Bond as a Japanese man!!! With Connery's nose, height and Scottish accent, this was about as believable as trying to convince everyone that Bill Cosby was Japanese!!! This idiocy sinks to a new low in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE--unfortunately, it only got worse in later films.
Despite these many complaints, I still give the film a 7 because it's super-entertaining--more so than the previous film (THUNDERBALL). There are more thrills in this film than two Bond films--too bad the silly plot points weren't worked out--making the film seem like it could have used a good edit.