the audience applauded

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

The fourth entry in the official French movie series of "OSS 117" movies, while a notch better than the previous entry ("OSS 117: Mission for a Killer"), still fails to engage viewers as much as even a second rate James Bond movie. There are a few things along the way to catch the eyes or ears of viewers momentarily. The location shooting in Tokyo, combined with an adequate budget, do provide a lot of pleasant eye candy. The musical score is also pleasant, sounding very much like the music found in a James Bond movie of the same era. And the action sequences are pretty well done. That is, when there IS action. There simply isn't enough action to be found in the 100 minute running time, which will leave viewers impatient for the movie to get down to business like James Bond. I think the lack of action can be blamed for a very slow-moving script. Surprisingly, James Bond veteran Terence Young had a hand with this movie's story, but you wouldn't know it. The story unfolds at a snail's pace, and another unfortunate consequence of this is that there is no feeling of tension, no feeling that people's lives are on the line. It doesn't take long for the movie to become quite frankly dull. "James Bland" is more like it.

French thriller writer Jean Bruce was the creator of secret agent OSS 117 - real name Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath - who appeared in a string of bestselling books in the Fifties, and landed his own movie franchise seven years before James Bond. There has been renewed interest in him lately due to a pair of well received spoofs - 'OSS 117 - Cairo Nest Of Spies' and 'OSS 117 - Lost In Rio', starring Jean Dujardin. The original series, however, took itself a bit more seriously.'Terror In Tokyo For OSS 117' ( known in some quarters as 'From Tokyo With Love' ) was the second to star American actor Frederick Stafford ( the first being 'OSS 117 Mission For A Killer' ). It opens with a nifty Bond-type pre-credit sequence, with Hubert involved in a car chase, gun battle and helicopter escape. Back in Washington, he learns that an American air force base in the Pacific has been destroyed with a new type of missile, one so small it can not be detected by radar. The organisation behind the attack want a king's ransom to stop them doing the same thing again. The one lead is Eva Wilson ( Marina Vlady ), a cypher girl in the American embassy, who is being blackmailed to pass secrets to the enemy. Posing as her husband John, Hubert returns with her to Tokyo. Installing a bugging device in her clothing, he waits for the blackmailer to make the next move...It is interesting to compare this to 'You Only Live Twice', released the following year. 'Tokyo' is more slowly paced, not so gadget heavy, with fewer action scenes, yet works well enough on its own terms. Hubert trapped in a moving vehicle with a bomb aboard ( which will go off if he tries to stop ) is particularly thrilling, as is his later fight with a Sumo wrestler. Stafford ( best known for starring in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Topaz' ) was by far and away the best 'OSS 117' - cool, handsome, and charismatic ( he gives a better performance here than Sean Connery managed in 'Twice' ) - and Marina Vlady is so beautiful you want to pull her out of the screen. The last twenty minutes or so are dynamite - Hubert parachutes out of a plane, uses a harpoon to secure a hold on the yacht the villains are using as a base, gets aboard, and saves the day. Some stunning looking interiors. The yacht is capable of opening up and swallowing smaller vessels, a bit like the Liparus supertanker in 'The Spy Who Loved Me' ( 1977 ).One of the writers was Terence Young, director of the Bond films 'Dr.No', 'From Russia With Love', and 'Thunderball'. The only let down is the music which is on a par with Michel Legrand's infamous score for 'Never Say Never Again' ( 1983 ). The next film in the series was 'OSS 117 - Murder For Sale' - also known as 'OSS 117 - Double Agent', and had John Gavin ( of 'Psycho' ) replacing Stafford. It proved to be the writing on the wall.

The French answer to James Bond is back. And this time he travels to Tokyo and battles international terrorists. This film does have some things going for it: Frederick Stafford is a good enough spy lead (I'll take his OSS 117 over Timothy Dalton's 007 any day!), the cast includes a French mega-babe (Marina Vlady) and a Japanese super-cutie (Jitsuko Yoshimura), there are some enjoyable fight scenes, and the Oriental setting actually predates Connery's "You Only Live Twice" by one year! Despite all that, however, the film is a bit of a bore. It is VERY slow-moving and lacks a strong central villain. The filmmakers probably stretched the budget as far as it could go, but in comparison to the Bond pictures of the time, they still came up short. They just about beat "Diamonds Are Forever", though. (**)

Frederick Stafford's second and last adventure as Hubert Bonniseur de la Bath a.k.a. OSS 117 is a well made but ultimately disappointing feature. The film starts out with a nifty car chase but unfortunately that level of excitement is never regained and the result is a rather dull film. The self-assured Stafford is never allowed to showcase the talents he displayed in OSS 117 Mission For a Killer and even the lovely Marina Vlady isn't enough to perk things up.Director Michel Boisrond does what he can with the material but the lack of a good story dooms this from the start. Michel Magne's score is appropriately flavored with Asian spice but is otherwise forgettable. You can skip this one as an also ran that doesn't measure up.