007: Sólo se vive dos veces

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE is, without a doubt, my favorite 007 film with Sean Connery in the lead role. I know that alone is enough for some to immediately disregard my views on the franchise, but I can't help it. Maybe it's because I was younger when I first saw it and the goofier elements appealed to me, but this movie is a guilty pleasure that I proudly embrace. The movie was produced at a time when Sean Connery was growing tired of the role and the world was still in the midst of a massive 007 frenzy. The four previous movies had become box office gold, and this gave the filmmakers and studio the confidence to throw even more insanity into the mix. There's a good deal of WTF in the fifth Bond movie but it's still a fun adventure with my favorite secret agent. In YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, the entire world is on edge when an American space capsule goes missing while in orbit. The Americans immediately assume the Russians were responsible. Soon, a Russian space capsule disappears and the Americans are blamed. The British, the only rational minded nation in the movie, decide to actually investigate the events and place their most effective man on the mission: James Bond. The search for answers begins in Japan where Bond finds a connection between the missing space capsules and a Japanese chemical corporation. After faking his death to get his enemies off his trail, Bond explodes onto a mission that will bring him face- to-face with the man behind the space capsule thefts and, in fact, the mastermind behind most of his previous missions.

The fifth 007 movie is where the series started to go off the rails. With each adventure, the James Bond franchise was put in a position of out-doing themselves with each successive film. Or, at least, that's what they appear to have believed. In YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, the action is amped up to all new levels when Bond joins forces with the Japanese secret service and, since this is a 007 adventure in Japan at a time when cultural stereotypes were still a fad, ninjas! YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE has Bond immersing himself in Japanese culture to fade into the background as he quietly moves from one clue to the next in locating the missing space capsules and their astronauts. This involves a bit of ninja training in a ninja school and an operation to help Bond appear more Japanese which involves shaving his chest hair, pinning his eyes back, and giving him a wig. In retrospect, I'm pretty sure the whole thing comes across as a tad racist but it's absurd in its execution. The ninjas join 007 in a massive final battle in the most iconic of super-villain lairs: a hollowed-out volcano. The production design on the villain lair here is some of the best. You can tell the Bond movies where raking in some nice box office totals because the producers went all out for the finale. The volcano lair looks great and serves as a perfect setting for dozens ninjas to repel down from the ceiling for battle while the villain's color-coded henchmen rain gunfire down on them. There's one thing you definitely can't deny about this movie: it's ambitious.

But THUNDERBALL had a jetpack! How do you beat a jetpack? With a militarized gyrocopter, of course. Little Nellie is probably the most memorable aspect of the movie for me. Looking back on YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, it's the first thing that comes to mind. The 007 theme kicking in as Bond engages in battle over a volcano with four full-sized helicopters from the tiny cockpit of Little Nellie, and schooling them with his over-zealous array of weapons, ranging from flamethrowers to heat-seeking missiles. Did I mention this movie was sort of over-the-top? It's just so much fun though, and that's what I love about it. Sure, the first two movies were bona fide spy films and GOLDFINGER was iconic…but this remains my favorite Connery/Bond film for just how out-there it gets. As an added bonus, this movie features what I believe to be the greatest on-screen depiction of 007's original nemesis: Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Blofeld, seen for the first time without obstruction, is portrayed by Donald Pleasence and it's the most recognizable version of the character in the series. Blofeld would go on to be played by other actors in later films (including Charles Gray, who plays MI6 operative/007 contact Henderson in this film) but it's Pleasence's calm demeanor, scarred visage, and pet cat that would be forever remembered and eventually parodied in the form of Mike Myers' Dr. Evil.

My love for YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE probably isn't the popular opinion, but for anyone who dares claim it was the worst of the Connery films, I have three words for you: DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. Regardless, I love it. The Japanese culture (and the ninjas), the epic volcano battle, the humor, and Sean Connery pretending to fly a tiny gyrocopter against a projected screen… it all comes together for the most fun of all Connery's adventures as secret agent 007.

You Only Live Twice is pure Comic Book entertaiment. James Bond is very much the superhero character he was in Goldfinger, and every scene is like a panel in a Comic Book and filled with entertaining excitement. In truth, it is though the feel and style that was vibrant throughout Goldfinger [1964] leapfrogged the dull Thunderball [1965] and found it's way to Japan. Twice is a beautiful looking and sounding addition to the Bond movies, and one is glad Sean Connery didn't really resign from the role of Bond and did indeed Live Twice.

By jettisoning most of Ian Flemmings original story You Only Live Twice, in wich an amnesiac Bond Hunts down Blofeld in Japanese castles, Broccoli and Saltzman have ridden themselves of the same problem evident in Thunderball : Slow Movement, Uninterested Audiences. Thunderball may have been a success, but this was probably due to the Bondmania wich raged through the mid sixties like a giant inferno. Luckily for the fans of the eye popping spectacles the Bond series is famous for, You Only Live Twice contains no such problems of dreary moments of boardom. In its place we have a Space Age actioneer written by childrens author Roald Dahl, and an entertaining and swift director in Lewis Gilbert, who seems more suited to Bond than any director yet.

It has been said before, but the real star of the show is Ken Adams sets. His wondefull Volcano set wich Blofeld uses is one of the most memorable in Cinema history. Add to this the Japanese sets, the Submarines [M's Offices], Tanaka's Lair, and the real sense of Japanese authenticy. Adam deserves an Oscar for this movie alone. For his total contributions to Bond and other movies, there is no Award yet created.

Donald Pleasence makes a very creepy Blofeld. He is perhaps the ultimate Blofeld. His scenes with the other cast members show the complete acting skills of a fine actor. Twice also contains one of Desmonde Lywellyn's funniest performances as Q,and one of Q's finest creations, the Little Nellie Helicopter. Little Nellie is every Bond fans dreams, personally i think it would be lovely to soar above rural England in Nellie, let alone Japan! Some guys have all the luck! Twice also has one of John Barry's most beautiful themes,and songs sung by Nancie Sinatra.

The only real let down this time is Sean Connery. He makes any Bond film look good, but this time doesn't look as though he is enjoying himself all that much. This is a petty bacause Twice itself is a very impressive and enjoyable Bond movie, with some of the best sets, Action sequences and Acting in the entire series.

An American spacecraft in outer space has been swallowed up by an unidentified flying object. The Americans blame the Soviets. The Soviets deny the allegation. In the meantime, "James Bond" (Sean Connery) is set up by an attractive Chinese woman named "Ling" (Tsai Chin) and is murdered. Or at least that's what MI5 wants the world to think. From the information they have been able to gather the unidentified flying object has touched down somewhere near Japan and that is where James Bond is sent to investigate. But he only has a short time because the Americans are planning on launching another rocket and have warned the Soviets that they will declare war if anything happens to this one. At any rate, rather than go into great detail on what happens next and risk spoiling the film for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that this film probably doesn't receive as much attention as some of the others in the James Bond series. Personally, I enjoyed the location, the music and the way Mie Hama ("Kissy") looked in her white swimsuit. Be that as it may, while it may not be the best James Bond film ever produced, it manages to entertain fairly well and I have rated it accordingly.

My Take: Another fun Bond entry. Great Bond, fun villains, neat gadgets, and enjoyable action.

"You Only Live Twice" is business as usual for Bond. Not much new, and Connery seemed bored playing his role (explaining his disappearance in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"). There is a lot to like in this film. Connery in "You Only Live Twice" is easily comparable to FROM Russia WITH LOVE and GOLDFINGER, but as Bond, he already has established that he is the best in the business and YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE does give him much to do.

This film does carry the original tradition of Bond. This time around, Bond is sent to Japan to investigate the disappearances of American space shuttles. While the United States suspect it's Russian interference and threaten to retaliate, the Brits faked 007's assassination, in order to clear the way for Bond to investigate what really is going on.

Some areas of YOLT are pretty campy (some of the patterns for the AUSTIN POWERS parodies are pretty evident), but the camp is part of the fun. It's a throwback to the good ol' not-to-be-taken-seriously adventure espionage fun. This is formula Bond, but loaded with great action, neat gadgetry ("Little Nellie" is one of the most beloved Q gadgets) and the glorious sets by the one-and-only Bond veteran Ken Adam make it another high-flying, if not exactly groundbreaking, Bond adventure and one of he series' more fun entries.

Rating: **** out of 5.

This was the fifth in the Bond series, released in 1967. Producer Albert `Cubby' Broccoli had quite a challenge on his hands outdoing the runaway success of `Thunderball'. He undertook to surpass it by increasing the budget, trying more elaborate gadgets and stunts (an ultralight heavily armed one man helicopter being chased by 4 other helicopters), gargantuan sets (a launch pad inside a volcano) and exotic locations (Japan). At almost $10 million (that's about $50 million in today's dollars), this was one of the highest budgeted films at that time. The launch pad set alone cost over $1 million to build. Despite great box office results, ($110 Million worldwide in 1967 dollars) it fell short of Cubby's ambitions to exceed `Thunderball' financially ($140 Million worldwide) and it proved to be lackluster among the early Bond films.

Although having established himself as a pop icon in his 007 roles, Sean Connery was tired of being James Bond. Before the release of this film, he announced his intention to retire from the role. His lack of enthusiasm was evident throughout the film and his onscreen demeanor lacked verve. He didn't even show much interest in the love scenes, looking more bored than passionate. The critics declared that this would be the end of his career and the end of James Bond films, probably the worst twin predictions in the history of film. As it turns out, Connery returned to the role twice more in 1971 (Diamonds Are Forever) and 1983 (Never Say Never Again).

I have a great deal of respect for Sean Connery, indeed he is one of my favorite actors. His Bond films set a standard that was never equaled by any of the actors that followed. However, his performance in this film displayed so much ennui that it bordered on unprofessional.

This film had all the elements necessary to make it one of the better Bond films. It finally gave a face to Blofeld, and though the choice of Donald Pleasence was roundly criticized, I liked him in the role. The story was intriguing. Astronauts and their spacecraft were being abducted by a rogue predator ship that was gobbling them up whole. Bond was dispatched to find out who was behind the plot. The screenplay written by Roald Dahl was full of clever double entendres like Aki's (Akiko Wakabayashi) great line just as Bond swept her into his arms, `I think I will enjoy very much serving under you.' It had majestic locations and great photography. However, the elements didn't gel, mostly because of Connery's Bond fatigue.

Overall, this was a good Bond film, although it could have been much better but for Connery's malaise. Still, the story was stronger than contemporary Bond films, which have resorted to nonstop action and visual effects with flimsy scripts. I rated it a 7/10. If you want to see Connery at his best, see `Goldfinger' or `From Russia With Love'.