Good afternoon everyone! First off, I hope you all had a fun 4th of July yesterday. Second, today, we continue on the 007 train (or at least what are called the Eon films of the 007 film franchise), with reviewing the 1967 James Bond movie, 007: You Only Live Twice. As far as the Eon films go, it is said that this film was Sean Connery’s last time to play the role of James Bond (Connery apparently starred as Bond again in one or two of the “non-eon” 007 films). Anyway, let’s begin the review now!
Plot: After an unidentified spacecraft hijacks an NASA Spacecraft Jupiter 16, and then lands in the Sea Of Japan, James Bond (Sean Connery) is sent by MI6 to go investigate any strange activities that might be coming from the government of Japan. Can Bond find the source of what’s going on, and bring those people to justice?
Now, there’s no doubt that this 007 film seems to be better at least then Dr. No (which, that one was of course the first one to start the 007 legacy). However, while that may be the case, it’s most likely not quite as good as some of the other films like Thunderball, and films like those. To begin, there’s the whole deal about how the movie version of this story seemed to supposedly diverge from the original plot of the novel. Now, if that was the case, let me just say this! It’s not a bad thing to take liberties when basing a film on a story. In fact, if you can still make the film good, then why not do so? However, in this case, it was almost like this film made some changes that weren’t exactly the best. For one thing, it was almost like some things were crammed into this film just for the sake of being there. Sure, those didn’t make the film bad by any means. In fact, some of the good elements, which we will get to momentarily, helped make up for those disappointments. Still, you might find yourself wondering as whether or not some of those times were even necessary in the end. There also may have been a tiny bit too many characters added in as well. Also, there were some points in time in this film where this 007 movie could have possibly had the potential to make certain moments more than they were in the end. I know it may sound hard to explain now, but I think you might know what I mean if you see the film sometime after reading this review.
Alright, alright! So, thus far, I may be making it sound like this is probably one of the worst in the James Bond franchise, right? Well, like was mentioned earlier, there are still plenty of things that make up for the flaws in this film. First of all, despite the few negative points of this film, 007: You Only Live Twice still does an excellent job of engaging the viewers into the story. This proves especially true when the film takes us to Japan, and we get to learn about how the Japanese culture. Now, I’m not sure how much things such as traditional values, or other things have changed since around the time that this movie was released in 1967, and now. Still, at least it ends up being educational nonetheless. In addition to this, some of the action is phenomenal. In fact, there are times when 007: You Only Live Twice could most likely have a bit of a Star Wars feel mixed with James Bond, Mission Impossible, or action films like that. Which, that may sound interesting, considering the Star Wars films didn’t even get made, and/or released until a decade later, and onward after that. Additionally, how about the fact that when movies like this were released, we didn’t have to worry about inappropriate moments coming up? Okay, as I’m sure many of us know, back when movies like this, and others were made, it can implied that there were nude moments, or other things like that. However, compared to movies nowadays, back then, it wasn’t thrown in your face that say a person was naked, or other things like that. I mean in today’s films, we have movies that are say Rated R for example because of say cuss words like the F-bomb being a frequent word in the script, people’s whole naked bodies being shown, and things like that. Now, compare that to say if it was implied that certain people were naked in this film, IT WAS IMPLIED, AND NOT THROWN IN YOUR FACE CONSTANTLY. Because of that, it’s great to know that due to this film being rated PG, this is an example of an action film that both kids, and adults can probably enjoy equally. Honestly, it just comes to show that in today’s day and age, the quality of films has seemed to decrease as far as morals go. Oh yes, there are still some films that have morals in them. However, it’s not quite as up there as it seemed to be back in the 50s, 60s, and/or maybe even 70s. Finally, how could one not like the song that plays at the beginning of this film? It’s quite possible that some people might have it stuck in their heads.
Well, that concludes my review for 007: You Only Live Twice. Despite some of the flaws that this film had, the story is very engaging, the action is out of this world, and people can learn some very educational things in this film. I would say that if you haven’t seen this, or any of the other James Bond movies, definitely make it a point if you want either decent, or good, if not quite great action movies. There is still plenty to recommend for this film.
Final Grade: B+
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