007 – You Only Live Twice Review

Welcome, Honorable 007. He's the one and only

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to one, but they don't stand a chance. Get down!

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Shaken not stirred Hello and welcome to shaken

not stirred and wire spotlight on bond films

Which is brought to you by the geek cast radio

network and audible comm I am one of your host

TFG Mike and joining me as always is we're old

Dan. Hello. Hello How are you? I am good. How

are you? I'm pretty good. So last week we talked

about one of the Best at least in my opinion

one of the best bond films in Goldfinger And

now this week James Bond is dead, the film is

over, podcast over, franchise done. See you next

year, folks. Today we're going to be talking

about You Only Live Twice. To get things kicked

off, we're going to head over to JT from Saskatoon

who has just the facts for us. Upon arriving

in Tokyo, Bond goes to meet Deco Henderson, a

local MI6 operative, who claims to have evidence

about the missing craft. But Deco is killed before

he can debuff Bond, and 007 quickly kills the

assassin, disguises himself as the assassin,

and speeds away in the assassin's getaway car.

Upon arriving at a company called Asado Chemicals,

Bond disables the driver of the car and breaks

into the office of the company president, Mr.

Asado. There, he pilfered some documents out

of a safe, but is discovered as he tries to make

his escape. He is picked up by Aki, a member

of the Japanese Secret Service, and she takes

in the leader boss, Tiger Tanaka, whose HQ is

located underneath a local subway station. The

documents 007 stole include a picture of a cargo

ship called the Ning Po and a micro -dot message

saying the man who took the photo was killed

by the ship's security as a precaution. Bond

returns to Asado Chemicals, this time posing

as a new buyer, in order to meet Mr. Asado, who

sees right through Bond's ploy. After the meeting,

Asado orders Helga Brandt, his secretary slash

henchwoman, to kill him, revealing himself to

be allied with the evil Spectre organization.

Some henchmen open fire on Bond, who is once

again rescued by Aki. They then travel to Kobe,

Japan, the Ning Po's next port of call. The pair

are discovered when reconnoitering the ship and

are chased by some spectre goons. Bond leads

them away from Aki, resulting in his being captured.

He awakes in a cabin on the Ning Po, with Helga

waiting to interrogate him. Bon seemingly bribes

his way out of capture, but while being taken

back to Tokyo by plane, Brant reveals that she

never fell for it, setting off a flare inside

the plane before escaping. Bon survives the crash

and heads back to the shipyard and discovers

the ship was actually carrying components for

rocket fuel. Meanwhile, we are introduced to

the villainous mastermind behind Spectre, Ernst

Stavro Blofeld. Blofeld seems to forgive Brant's

failure to eliminate Bond, but as she's sent

away, he opens a trap door and she slides into

a pool of bloodthirsty piranha. Blofeld then

orders Asado to kill Bond once and for all. Bond

goes to investigate an island near where the

Ning Po is traveling, and there he finds that

now a Russian space shuttle has gone missing,

raising the tensions between the two superpowers.

While preparing to infiltrate the island with

Tanaka and his ninja forces, Bond is almost killed

by a specter agent, but he is saved when Aki

takes the bullet instead. Following a lead from

Kissy Suzuki, another one of Tanaka's students,

Bond goes to investigate a cave on the island

and discovers it's a disguised hatch to a secret

rocket base. Bond then sends Kissy back for Tanaka

and the rest while he investigates the cave.

Disguising himself once again, Bond frees the

captured astronauts and tries to infiltrate Bird

1, the Spectre spacecraft, but Blofeld sees him

and launches the craft. As Bird 1 approaches

another US space pod and the US readies a nuke,

Tanaka and his ninja arrive. Bond distracts Blofeld

and opens a hatch for the ninja to enter, and

as the intensive battle between Spectre and the

ninja rages, Bond fights his way to Blofeld's

office, where he activates Bird 1's self -destruct,

preventing nuclear war between Russia and the

US. However, Blofeld activates the island's self

-destruct and escapes to threaten Bond another

day. Bond, Kanaka, and the rest escape into the

ocean just before the island explodes, and Bond

even ends up in a life raft with Kissy Suzuki.

As Bond is about to get his Mac on and kiss the

young Japanese woman, a submarine rises up from

underneath, rescuing them and ending the film.

Opening in the summer of 1967, which was a first

for the Bond film series, You Only Live Twice

would be the last Connery starring Bond film

until 1971's Diamonds Are Forever. The cast of

the film included Tetsuro Tamba as Tiger Tanaka,

Karen Dohr as Helga Brand, Akiko Wakabayashi

as the film's Bond Girl Aki, and Halloween's

own Dr. Loomis Donald Pleasance as the megalomaniacal

Blofeld. Response for the movie is mostly favorable

amongst Bond fans. Sorry, I can't really give

you any reviews from the time it came out, as

they're really not available online. But many

critics today love the film. Scott Weinberg of

e -filmcritic .com said the movie wasn't Goldfinger,

but it's old -school Bond, so of course it's

fun. And Nick Rogers of sweet101 .com said the

movie righted the series, as well as introduces

the hallmark of spectacular stunt work of the

Bond films. Now, you may not be aware of this,

but You Only Live Twice is actually based on

the 12th book of the Bond novel series created

by Ian Fleming, which was the last installment

released before his death in 1964. Also, this

was the first on -screen appearance of Ernst

Blofeld, leader of Spectre, the character having

been previously seen only in Shadow in the first

few films. And did you know that this is the

only Bond film where 007 doesn't drive a vehicle?

I know, right? The film even has a unique connection

to the 2006 Casino Royale film. Sai Chen, the

actress who portrays one of Bond's conquests

early in the film, would return almost 40 years

later to the franchise to play one of the participants

in Lesheev's big poker game in the latter half

of the 2006 film. You Only Live Twice, while

not without its flaws, is still one hell of a

great ride from start to finish. It has all of

the trademark Bond film style and swagger that

you could hope for. And while this is not my

first Bond film, this is one of the first Connery

Bond films I ever saw, and it's always been one

of my faves. Plus, now I know how Mike Myers

got the inspiration for Dr. Evil. This has been

Just the Facts You Only Live Twice. I'm JT from

Saskatoon. Back to you, Mike. Thank you once

again, JT, for providing Just the Facts. You

always do an amazing job. Again, for me, up until

before we recorded this episode, this is one

of the ones that I had never seen before. I'm

actually right there with you. This is when I

for whatever reason it just missed my radar.

I didn't watch it There's a few moments that

I kind of remember but before this year I don't

think I've ever watched you only live twice and

and I've heard about it, but most of this most

of this movie I think it's rather forgotten in

the in the Bond films looking at like people

and what they think of it I see that the overall

opinion is rather split But yeah, this is one

I completely miss and so I kind of revisited

that all the movies this year Well, you know

as JT said at least we know where Mike Myers

got the inspiration for Dr. Evil Very much and

a lot of actually like a lot of awesome powers

is in this movie and we can maybe go over that

but you see You see a lot of the parodies that

we know come from this movie, you know I Just

as far as the cast goes, okay Connery's back.

That's great The bond girls in this did not interest

me whatsoever Yeah, well, they're so they were

literally interchangeable. They kept changing

every 20 30 minutes. We talked about I talked

how in Goldfinger how those bond girls besides

pussy galore there were just too many and this

one there wasn't anyone stood above the rest

they kind of Were kind of caught cast by the

wayside every so often and then anyone came in

and none of them None of them are really all

that memorable. So yeah Yeah, it kind of sucks.

I do like that we finally see the head of Spectre.

I thought that was interesting. But again, the

same thing, you could, okay, Dr. No is great.

Don't get me wrong. We both love, well, I love

Dr. No. You found it, you know, you respect its

history and everything else, but it's one of

those things where I love Dr. No, and that was

a great film for me. These two films, as far

as the overall plot, you can essentially flip

-flop them and it'd be the same damn movie. Yeah,

it is. Nuclear War. Seriously? That's the plot

of this fucking movie? Really? Yeah, I mean that's

with specter that's kind of been there their

mo where they're kind of trying to find a way

to get Russia and America to kind of Go after

one another and they're gonna come in and kind

of you know, pick up the pick up the pieces We

didn't cover Thunderball. Honestly, I don't think

it's either maybe that either one of us really

have a huge Interest in I've watched it, but

I kind of find it. It's rather forgettable. Don't

kill me bond fans But yeah, it is very similar

to doctor. No, it is almost like a loose remake

of that movie Yeah, I and you know JT said in

just the facts that you know, pretty much all

the Connery's are Mi6 versus specter and I'm

like really seriously Okay, well not Not all

the Conrys, but a good majority of them. Well,

I think Goldfinger is obviously an exception,

but it's one of those things where I just don't

get it. I don't know. I think we're probably

gonna fall on opposite ends of this movie, but

with with Donald Donald Pleasance as low felt

I love his performance I love him as that character

I mean it's been building up for how many movies

now where we don't see him So I think a lot of

pressure was on like let's get a character that

works and I thought Pleasance was fantastic I

think he looks apart. He's menacing. I found

I think he's one of the he's the best blow felt

in bond Oh, no. Yeah, I I agree with that I agree

with that. The main problem I have with this

movie is the overall plot and the fact that you

could essentially switch it with any other nuclear

deterrent movie. And essentially, later on down

the line, you'd get another just like, oh my

god, just like last week with Goldfinger that

Goldeneye took homages to. This week... Tomorrow

never dies. We'll take homage just to this because

if you look at this movie you look at the specter

You know head of specter wants to get Russia

and America to fight each other. What did Carver

do? Got the Chinese and the British to fight

each other so he could get global meteorite.

It's Wow Yeah, there are a lot of similarities

I never honestly made that connection with Samara

never dies. I only made it just now when you

mentioned about or when JT mentioned about, you

know, Brit America versus Russia. So I don't

know. I will say that overall, I love the I love

the stunts in this film. It's the really good

stunt work. The song is OK. It's not my favorite,

but it's it's a really good Bond song. I liked

I did like the. The visuals for the intro scene

for the title sequence. I thought that was pretty

cool. Yeah, it definitely fits the theme of you

know Japan and it kind of goes in the setting

a lot and I really like when bomb movies do that

when they really When they tie in this the title

sequence with the locations of the bond movies

so Yeah What would you think of the song I thought

it was okay, it's It's the middle of the road

for me with bond songs. I thought it was it was

kind of like lightweight We last week we did

Goldfinger, which I felt was very edgy and very

grandiose and this one is kind of smaller It's

you know Goldfinger is like that Late evening

jazz club and this is more of a like, you know,

like brunch song you would hear like, you know

Dinner or something like that. It's just it's

okay. It's just it's not something that really

stuck with me honestly when I had to go back

and re -listen to it because I almost forgot

about it but it's not a bad song it's just it's

just kind of it's just kind of there it doesn't

really strike a chord yeah as far as some highlights

I only have three things that I wrote down I

just can't get into this movie I didn't know

bullets open that way I thought that was pretty

cool because that whole spacecraft it's meant

to look like a bullet I thought that was damn

cool. James Bond will never say he loves anyone

because of the code. I find it interesting that

as the films progress, we're only four films

or five films in because we didn't do Thunderball,

Bond seems to be trained in all kinds of skills.

Oriental languages indeed. I find that really

interesting that as these films go on we find

that James Bond has all kinds of different skills

and he is made out to be the super spy, every

man as far as super spy, super soldier, whatever,

the guy can do anything. Yeah, he's a man of

many talents. What did you have for highlights

for this one? For highlights, I think the biggest

highlight I have with this movie is why I agree

the plot is kind of a mess and kind of Incoherent

at times. I honestly have a lot of fun with this

movie It has some of the most the best action

sequences Like I love the little little Nellie

action sequence with that like mini helicopter

that he flies around. I love that Yeah, I thought

that was cool. Yeah. I love the fact that it's

actually a real thing. It's the thing that actually

works it like I don't know if you know the story

about it, but the I forget, I think it was the

director, I'm not sure, but they heard about

it in like a radio ad or something like that.

So they ended up getting the person who invented

it or who could fly it to go into the movie.

And actually he's a dude who's actually flying

it, obviously Sean Connery isn't. You have those

insert shots where we can see that Sean Connery

is behind a green screen or rear projection.

But overall, compared to like other action sequences

we've seen previously, I think they kind of handle

that transition a little bit better. But I love

all the different gadgets it has, the flame thrower.

The bombs I find that really fun. It's one of

my favorite action sequences at all Bond movies

And I think it has a lot of really big action

moments and little a lot of smaller action moments

and handles each as effectively like there's

the moment where he Invade he kind of sneaks

into the chemical plant and he has to fight with

all those guards. I kind of I like that I found

that was very very cool And then there was that

one sequence where he's like on top of a roof

and they have that Like helicopter shot where

they're pulled way out and you just see him like

on top of the roof Just running around trying

to get away of all these henchmen and jumping

off. I love that shot It's one we don't see very

often Ninjas, how can you not love a ninja army?

I thought that that was that was pretty awesome

Yeah, yeah, that was awesome It's one of the

first American or neck is not American but one

of the first Western movies to use ninjas It's

they kind of take a long time explaining what

ninjas are and I think a big reason why is because

most Americans weren't really Familiar with them

up to this point What also loved the the layer

I think it's the best layer ever period of yeah,

we talked about how we saw where Austin Powers

got his influence for Dr. Evil we see where he

gets his influence for the layer because you

know in a freaking volcano With the monorail

it looks awesome They spent 1 million dollars

on that set. It's a working set. It really works

It's not obviously in a volcano, but that monorail

is really there. There's a helicopter pad That's

that works. It's it's crazy They spent as much

money on that set as they did for all of dr.

No, which is really mind -bending when you think

of it, so That's nuts. Yeah, and I think it's

money well spent because I think it's the best

layer and all it's awesome I really love that

moment and that final climax where you have the

ninja army going into it and you know And it's

kind of its craziness. I love that action moment

again another great action scene in this movie

And we talked about how the Bond girls were kind

of forgettable, but the one moment I did like

with the Bond girls was the assassination attempt

using on Bond when they use like the poison down

the rope and they're going up the bond, but they

ended up killing the person next to him. I thought

that was a cool kind of way of trying to kill

Bond. It obviously wasn't very effective as most

as most of them aren't. But I love that moment.

That's so funny, because when I was watching

this and I saw that, I'm like, hey. James Bond

is Martin blank James Bond is is is John Cusack

because the first time I ever saw that kind of

assassination with the poison down the rope was

in gross point blank Yeah, it's it's it's interesting

is one It's obviously not that effective and

I think one of the interesting things about it

is how Bon is so indifferent over the fact that

the person next to him kind of is dead. He seems

to have no care in the world. He just kind of

wants to go on to the next thing. I mean, that's

Bon, but you think he would have a little bit

of remorse, but he kind of is just like, ah,

you know, it happens. I'm used to it by now.

Yeah. Yeah. I, you know. Don't know kind of moving

into the lowlights I don't know if this plays

into the whole fan theory of their different

bonds for 007 But you know You know, I said earlier

that oh James Bond is dead the franchise is done,

you know That whole scene of the being in the

movie. I was like wait first of all Mr. Super

spy would never be in a situation like that where

he got would get tree even even if he was thinking

with his dick There's no way he would ever Fall

into a situation like that. Yeah, it was it wasn't

really clear if the people who shot him were

in on it or What the situation like if he knew

it was gonna happen it they didn't really make

it that clear or not at all or they didn't really

explain like why he was even They did but it

was very it was kind of poor explanation of why

he had to pretend he was dead in the first place

It's like oh they he has too much heat on him

He needs to pretend that he's dead But that didn't

stop heat from being on him because he gets trying

people keep killing him trying to kill him over

and over again So yeah, it was it was kind of

like it felt like a gimmick in a way that didn't

really pay off to anything And so did not pay

off at all I don't know. Did you have any of

the low -light stuff you didn't like about it

or stuff you want to analyze about it? Sure.

We talked about the overall plot, how it's really

muddled. You have the situation going on where

Spectre is trying to take all these space satellites

and whatnot and make America think it's Russia.

Yeah, and make Russia think yeah, they can America

so they'll you know, go to war with one another

but then that's like only one small piece of

it and then Really? Blofeld's not is doing it

because China is paying him like a million dollars

or a hundred million dollars in bowling gold

It's just it just seems like is it seems a little

unnecessary just have one person There are so

many different people trying to kill him at different

times the fact that they turned James Bond Asian

rather shocking and Kind of offensive in a way

that For the one he doesn't look Asian at all.

It's like I will just give him this fake tan

He looked like he was from Jersey. He didn't

look like he was from That and it didn't even

work because he would turn Asian He's at ninja

school and then someone else tries to kill him.

So it was kind of pointless It's just like if

this is the reason why it's not even working

So yeah, there was a lot of those things where

it kind of the plot and what was happening and

didn't always coexist with one another Yeah,

and I think someone meant I heard this show before

but I think this is where that song secret Asian

man comes in as a with this movie And we talked

about the bomb girls are rather forgettable.

But yeah, if you look at the plot This movie

is completely ridiculous. It doesn't really hold

up up that all that well But personally I was

able to forgive it because I had so much other

fun with with the action sequences and everything

that was going on I kind of just went along with

the ride Yeah, I mean the action sequences are

great. They're all you know very very well done

action sequences It's very amazing and that's

you know as JT said that's kind of where we get

The standard bond action sequence and in this

film I would kind of argue that a little bit

saying that you know We had a couple of good

standard bond action sequences in Goldfinger

But you know that that plane scene was just amazing

yeah, what did what did you think about Connery's

performance this movie? Liked it I I liked it

better. I liked him better in Goldfinger. Um,

I I don't know. I just Yeah, he I don't know.

He definitely seems older and less interested

at times Yeah, this was around the time where

he kind of was he was kind of Being done with

it. Yeah, he was done with it. I mean, there's

warmers that Japan was being crazy with him regarding

lot of fans always pestering him and never giving

him a moment's peace and you kind of see like

it just seems aggravated at times I mean it's

not the James Bond we remember I think he peeked

at Goldfinger and after Goldfinger he kind of

goes downhill after this I think we completely

it makes sense that this is his last Bond film

and till till more but why he takes a little

bit of a break yeah I honestly think he should

have just Gone out with Goldfinger You know,

can you imagine if Lays and B was in Thunderball

God Oh my god But no, yeah, I I just felt that

Like okay in Goldfinger last week. I didn't bring

this up last week, but I'm gonna bring it up

here in Goldfinger I felt that oh, hey, this

is the Sean Connery. I know from like 1989 like

his voice from i don't know why from the time

of from russia would love to to or from docker

to from russia would love to goldfinger you know

three years it's like he aged so damn fast and

he sounds like he would sound like as you know

we called the dog indiana You know, I mean his

voice had had matured that so much in three just

like two years from from dr No to Goldfinger

and this one I just felt he was kind of phoning

it in a bit like he didn't care to be there at

all Yeah at times. He definitely saw that he

seems kind of he was going through the motions

I think at this time he he knew the character.

So I think he kind of he he knew he could pull

it off he Get half effort and still be effective

But yeah, it's he does seem disinterested and

kind of done with it at times and I agree I think

if he left us left at gold finger It's better

to leave us wanting more than kind of giving

us too much and I think he he did that We're

not covering diamonds are forever, but that movie

is rather forgettable. It's probably one on the

bottom of the bond films, but uh, yeah Alright,

we're gonna go to a quick commercial break and

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to audibletrial .com slash Keycast Radio. Final

thoughts on Yolt. Well, I I know people who think

this is one of the worst Bond movies ever I know

people who put it near the the top and I probably

lean I wouldn't say it's one of the best but

I definitely think it's it's up there. I agree

There's so many issues with it, but I can forgive

it I guess maybe I just the moments the highs

are so high For me that the lows don't bother

me that much and I can kind of forget them But

it's it's I'm more mixed on it than it was Goldfinger.

But yeah, that's kind of where I stand with this

movie For me on You Only Live Twice I pretty

much stand on the point of it's a It's not the

worst Bond movie, but it's like three rungs above

the war, you know, it's you know, like you have

positive, you know Nether region or whatever,

you know middle and then you have like shittiest

Bond movie ever George Lazenby You know and it

was like, you know that That's the way that I

view this. It's on the edge of being a bad Bond

movie simply for the whole thing of, oh, it's

just a cliched plot for me. But it's not the

worst Bond movie ever. It's probably not one

I'll ever see again. Where is Goldfinger? I could

probably watch Goldfinger at least once a year.

Maybe twice a year. This one... Not, not so much.

And what I find interesting so far in our, uh,

in our Shaken on Sturge series here is, uh, every

other film I've liked. So at least every, every

other film that we've covered. So Dr. No, I liked,

uh, Russia's, yeah, Goldfinger was good and this

is, yeah, so. Do you know the, we talked about

the Bond 3 a few episodes ago, but do you know

the other Bond 3 thing? It kind of starts with

Roger Moore, which we'll be getting into shortly.

The idea is when Bond is in America, it tends

to be one of the worst Bond movies, but when

he's in other countries, it's known to be one

of the better. I'm not sure if you're aware of

that theory. It's kind of like the same thing

with Star Trek, how they say the odds and the

evens, the ones are better than the others, the

even movies tend to be better than the odd movies.

It's kind of similar with the Bond films. I can

go with that to a certain point, and that point

stops in 95. That point stops in 95, and then

it picks back up in 2006. It's actually a theory

I don't go with. There's a lot a lot of bond

movies. I think i'd like that maybe some people

don't and vice versa But it'll be interesting

because we're going to get into as we're ending

this is our last connery movie and we're kind

of seeing where it goes from here and it it tends

to kind of go the way of this movie it go the

way of the ridiculousness of You only love twice

and it doesn't really ever return to well except

for maybe the next movie it Once you get to the

Roger Moore era, it completely changes from Sean

Connery, and I'm kind of interested in seeing

how we think those movies are compared to these.

Yeah, I know three of the Roger Moore movies

that we'll cover. I really do enjoy them, all

three of them, which is, or at least I have in

the past. Again, I'm kind of using this. the

spotlight to go back and like really sit here

and watch them and really analyze them whereas

like I've seen the man with the golden gun enough

times to know that I really really enjoy that

movie for everything that you know you know for

everything that I enjoy it for view to a kill

you know same thing live and let die same thing

kinda so it's gonna be interesting for me going

back with my critical eyes and and looking at

it and saying is this really a good film uh...

but those three that are listed are pretty much

the only roger more movies i think i've actually

seen before i don't think i've seen some of the

other ones uh... so going back in a while left

to wait and see We hope you enjoyed the Bond

film review here in my are shaking that stirred

series and wish you'll join us next week We'll

be talking about on her majesty circuit service

Kill me now damn it. Well, I'm looking forward

to that discussion because I think I might I

might be on the opposite end of you I might I

might I might agree with you. So it'll be interesting

discussion in either way For now, I am DF doing

Mike with movie revolt in Thank you for listening.

Until next time. We're too late. Well, at least

he died on the job. He'd have wanted it this

way.