Thursday, January 28, 2021

You Only Live Twice Movie Review

The fifth Bond movie, and the last Connery movie for now, is You Only Live Twice (1967):


Dave's review: You Only Live Twice is a great film. It has the highest stakes of any Bond film thus far in the series. 007 really is out to save the world. Finally you get to see the man behind the cat and Donald Pleasance pulls off Blofield with a sinister ease. The setting, Japan, is marvelous. The film showcases the country quite handsomely and John Barry serves up one of his all time best scores, with elements reflecting the host country as well as an ominous overtone that suits the climax of the film perfectly. Connery is fine in his fifth outing, although perhaps a bit too dour. The highlight of You Only Live Twice has to be the villain's lair, a state of the art enemy stronghold disguised as a volcano!  Finally, the film offers the first semi cliffhanger of the Bond era. No one, though, would be able to imagine what happens next.

TT's review: You Only Live Twice is not good. I took a racism in film class in college and this was one of the movies we were required to watch. Instead of going through the list of offensive content, I'll mention what entertained me.
1. Connery's progressively worse hairpieces.
2. Seeing 1960s Japan (rickshaws in Tokyo!).
3. Rockets that can land back on Earth, which may have inspired SpaceX.

Dave's response: Come to think of it, there were some parts that were somewhat racist and in general, Connery's Bond seemed to possess a disdain for Japanese culture whereas everyone there viewed him as some great hero. 

TT's response: I did like the volcano lair.

Dave's grade: A-

TT's grade: C


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