Fantastic!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Movie Review: "007: You Only Live Twice" (1967)This is "007" movie in states of decline, the fifth James Bond production delivers giant set designs again by production designer Ken Adam (1921-2016) as the vulcano lair of finally revealed head of underworld organization "Spectre" Ernst Stavro Blofeld, performed by insuspenseful delayed-actor appearance of Donald Pleasence (1919-1995), who takes on actor Sean Connery as somehow tireseome character of James Bond, missing the ease, splendors and elegance of former performances.Producers Albert R. Broccoli (1909-1996) and Harry Saltzman (1915-1994) grant the highest budget for a "007" movie of the 1960s to new-onboard director Lewis Gilbert, who makes use of a gadget- and special effects-focused script-adaptation by Roald Dahl (1916-1990), loosely based on author Ian Fleming's novel from 1964, where the most sophisticated character conflicts as the killing of Blofeld's wife Irma Bunt, a secretly hidden high advanced samurai amour against poisonous plants for showdown purposes and the character of James Bond in transition from mourning after a lost love into an action hero once again.It is no surprise that this fifth installment tends to disappoint, especially the lovers of "From Russia With Love" (1963) or "Goldfinger" (1964); too juvenile has become "007" action including minutes of assembling a compact helicopter before mid-air flight training delivered by the character of "Q" performed by actor Desmond Llewelyn (1914-1999) to an outside Tokyo, Japan location with slow received also newly recruited Academy-Award-Winning - for the participation in David Lean directed "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) - cinematographer Freddie Young (1902-1998). The worldwide box office of this first-time in a summer month released James Bond movie mirrored the state of decline in years of character values developed by 12% less attendency over "Thunderball".© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainment LLC)

This is the fifth of the James Bond series with Sean Connery as Agent 007. The progression continues with global travels and exotic locations. This time, much action takes place in Japan and its islands, after visits to Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Bermuda, Spain and Norway. And, for complimentary allies for the big battle scene that has become common in the Bond films, this one has Ninja warriors. "You Only Live Twice" has a nice, intriguing opening. And, it has more advanced technical weapons and toys for Bond to use – or play with, as he often seems to be doing. This film has him using Nelly, the super mini-helicopter assembled from a carton, and with super firepower. The film is also a good reminder about smoking being hazardous for one's health. The scenery in Japan is beautiful. For as tight and secretive as Tanaka's Japanese secret service was supposed to be, it was interesting that he should have two moles inside from the dastardly SPECTRE. The plot for this film was especially intriguing at the time of the film's release. In 1967, the U.S. and Soviet Union indeed were in the space race – as though one might dominate space. The use of film clips of the U.S. and Soviet launches of the orbiting space flights was very good. The artwork in special effects of the SPECTRE spacecraft gobbling up the American and Soviet space capsules is very good, and humorous. Each time it showed that, it looked as though the predator was an alligator swallowing a big bullet. This was a fun and very entertaining film in the James Bond series.

Typical but effective Bond adventure, this time set in Japan to distinguish it from all the others. The movie benefits from the bizarre imagination of Roald Dahl (!) who was commissioned to write the script and who injects some of his own wit, style, and an ounce of darkness into the story. Otherwise, it's business as usual, with a fun helicopter battle, some tense outer-space action (spoilt by some very cheesy model effects - the special effects in the Bond series don't seem to have progressed at all since DR. NO, except by becoming a little tighter) and a good finale, in which Bond infiltrates the enemy base (inside a volcano) and comes face-to-face with his arch enemy Blofeld for the first time.At this point the series was less occupied with screen realism than with out-and-out in-your-face bravado and scenes bordering on the incredible - take that whole "volcano base" thing. Other highlights include Bond narrowly escaping from a plane taking a dive and the elaborate ploy at the beginning of the film to convince the world of his death. Would he really go to all that trouble? This is a fast-paced movie with lots of action and near-death scrapes for Bond - love that scene where he is nearly killed by a hidden assassin pouring poison down a thread to his mouth.Sean Connery returns as Bond and is looking a little older this time - although nowhere near as aged as he appeared in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER and then NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN. The Japanese supporting cast is very good, especially the two love interests and Tetsuro Tamba as the secret agent "Tiger" Tanaka. Donald Pleasence appears briefly but memorably as the hideously scarred Blofeld, a role which was to be played by lots of people over the years. Series regulars Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, and Desmond Llewellyn also put in welcome appearances, along with Charles Gray as an ally. Gray returned as Blofeld in the next Connery Bond! Euro-starlet Karin Dor turns up briefly as a femme fatale. THE BRIDES OF FU MANCHU fans may note cast members Tsai Chin and Burt Kwouk as minor villains - I guess they had the advantage of being in Britain when this film was made and so were cast easily.Strangely enough my favourite scene in this movie is one of the least spectacular - namely, the dockyard scene where Connery and his girlfriend are stalked by a gang of thugs. There's a fantastic aerial shot of the bad guys closing in on Connery which I really liked, and the choreography is really good here. The one-liners are cheesier than ever, and among the many (unintentionally) funny scenes is one where Connery has to go "Japanese" in order to disguise his true identity - a less Japanese-looking person I can't imagine! In all, good clean fun and a solid addition to the series, unique in setting if nothing else.

Bond (Sean Connery) is needed when ships in space encounter problems.Donald Pleasence (Blofold) is one of the most memorable Bond film bad guys, his line in the film, "you only live twice, Mr Bond", has been forever locked in my memory for the last 40 years.Being a science fiction nut, I am very pleased to see all this outer space action here and the footage of a ship being sucked into another craft brings back memories of TV's Lost In Space (1965)...where this also happened once (episode: The Derelict).The lavish John Barry score, Bond's flying craft, the volcano, the massive sets...who could not like this movie?