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Most people are familiar with the films of James bond, agent 007, licensed to kill, but the novels written by Ian Fleming can be very different from the books that provide their names. Certainly this is the case in "You only Live Twice." Both the film and the book are set in Japan but beyond that they part ways quickly.
In the book James Bond is nearly finished. 8 months after the murder of his wife Tracy at the end of "On Her Majesties Secret Service" he has gone from M's best man to the dregs of the service. M, considering his dismissal is prevailed upon to give Bond one last chance.
Bond is promoted out of his beloved 00 section and transferred to the diplomatic branch with the code number 7777, and given a near impossible mission. He is go to Japan and convince the head of the Japanese Secret Service to share with Great Britain their decrypts of top secret Soviet messages. The problem is that post WW2 the United States views Japan as its private preserve and does not like poachers.
The rather more serious problem is that Bond does not have much to bargain with and when it is quickly revealed that the Japanese are not interested in his one bargaining chip he is left with very little to go on.What he has is his own life and skills, and in return for these magic decrypts, Japan requires Bond to kill a Swiss botanist named Dr. Shatterhand, a man of evil intent and deed who, for political reasons the Japanese police cannot move against but a gaijan whose arrest if he fails cannot be tied to the government? This is acceptable.
This is actually one of Fleming's weaker outings for Bond. Although he is in full force in his pacing and plotting and character development, part of what is missing is the setting. During the Second World War was deeply involved in the planning and control of British and American espionage units and his writing carries the flavor of how things really work, a far cry form the gadgets and gizmos of the films,
However part of the charm of the books is his descriptions of the places where Bond's missions take him. Fleming knew France, Jamaica and the United States well and this carries over in his descriptions of the places. The reader truly gets a feel of the casinos, the beaches, the hotels and the streets. But Fleming did not know Japan and this is reflected in his writing, details that are common in other books are lacking here.
If this is the first Bond book you've read, it is highly enjoyable but if you are well familiar with the books by Fleming, this will be a little disappointing. James bond is still in effect with all his prowess but the world he is moving in, compared with earlier books, is empty and unfulfilling.
Rating:  -
It is very fun to watch the Bond film in which some of the beautiful locations of my country were shown. Particularly the idea that the secret specter base is located under the crater pond of an active volcano SHINMOEDAKE part of KIRISHIMA volcanic range in KYUSHU was fascinating. And views of major volcanoes in Kyushu including Aso and Sakurajima. When HIMEJI castle popped up from screen I could not contain my chuckles. It is indeed a fitting place for modern ninjas... As Japanese samurai movie fans know well, HIMEJI castle is often used in samurai dramas as a substitute of Edo castle which had had similar strucrure.
I suspect Bond strictly followed a Japanese agent Tanaka's advice to become a real Japanese though. Could have used more subtitles for local language and let Bond show his achievement of language skill courses in Cambridge.
On the whole really enjoyable both in plot and actions.
Verdict: Neatly describing good old Japan with the exception of Ninja.
Rating: 90 out of 100. James Bond being a Japanese not that convincing enough.
Recommended for Ninja movies and action movies fans as well as Bond movie fans.
Rating:  -
I was refunded my money because the Third party seller did not have it in stock.
Rating: -
I believe after watching almost all the Bond films, this is the one masterpiece from beginning to end in this genre. There were no mistakes, no farcical annoyances like you find in Roger Moore's or modern Bond films. No mistakes, this film does not play in anyway, perfect from beginning to end--- as a 007 movie should be. This in fact should be what every Bond movie strives for, alas they all fall short. Perfect like well-cut diamond this is the real McCoy.
Rating: -
You Only Live Twice is a Bond film only Connery could have pulled off without the film falling into the lowest pits of camp. In a movie that includes spaceship eating spaceships, a miniature attack helicopter, a man-eating piranha tank, rocket-bullet firing guns, and pistol toting ninjas; this is a case where only Sean Connery's charm could save a film from being dominated by its cheese...Even when he's wearing poor make-up to make him "Japanese."
The film begins with James Bond's untimely death, but don't fall for that trap! That clever Agent 007 has faked his own death and funeral at sea so as to pull away from the evil SPECTRE organization, which is now operating out of Japan. What could they do in Japan? How about attack American and Soviet spacecrafts and send to Cold War in to an all out nuclear war between The United States and Soviet Union? That sounds evil enough for one movie!
Since they now believe Bond to be dead he is able to infiltrate their infrastructure and discover their plans for World War III. With the help of Tiger Tanaka (head of Japanese Special Forces), his army of modern ninjas, and the beautiful Aki, Bond is set to take down this sinister plot.
Of course this time SPECTRE isn't holding any punches, for their faceless leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, is in Japan personally overseeing this operation (a great performance by Donald Pleasance). The criminal mastermind is determined to eliminate his pesky foe once and for all. Whether it be by submerging the smooth talking agent in a manmade lake filled with flesh-eating piranhas, poison taken in through the mouth, or a simple shot to the head.
This entire film is built on a series of elaborate actions sequences, including two stand-out scenes in which Bond engages multiple SPECTRE helicopters with "Little Nellie" (the newest gift from Q) and a massive firefight between Tiger Tonaka's modern ninjas and the forces of SPECTRE in their hollowed out volcano lair.
If you haven't noticed by this brief summary You Only Live Twice could very well could have been the one to set the foundation for the camp-filled Bond films of the 1970s. The exotic locations and over the top ideas are things that would be exaggerated and expanded upon in Diamonds Are Forever (Connery's last film) and all throughout the Roger Moore era of the character.
So for these reasons You Only Live Twice is probably Sean Connery's most enjoyably fun entry in his run as the character.
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