If you can imagine the James Bond movie series as giant hot-air balloon, then You Only Live Twice was the first pin prick that would let a little bit of the air out so as to not let it fly so high. While by no means the worst entry in the series, You Only Live Twice was one of the more unfocused Bond films and, as with the weak points of Thunderball, is just a bit too big for its britches. This IS simultaneously one of those massive science/space movie that took audience by awe before mainstream sci fi STAR WARS of 1977. There’s something between Bond and space - Moonraker and Die Another Day.
You Only Live Twice finds James Bond(Sean Connery) killed before the main title sequence by a pair of gunmen. Well, not really: it’s all a ruse to get some of the heat off of Bond’s tail after rubbing the crime organization SPECTRE the wrong way too many times. With his newfound "after-life", M(Bernard Lee) dispatches him to Japan to investigate a possible launching site for a unknown rocket ship that is capturing American and Russian space launches in orbit. In Japan, Bond meets up with Tanaka(Tetsuro Tamba), the head of the Japanese secret service, and his associate, Aki(Akiko Wakabayashi), and begins investigating a large Japanese corporation, headed by Mr. Osato(Teru Shimada) that is transporting liquid oxygen, used to make rocket fuel. Bond eventually discovers that Mr. Osato is merely a front for SPECTRE and they are the ones behind the rocket kidnappings.
You Only Live Twice took Bond to a new, somewhat exotic locale, Japan, and the film’s focus on this aspect of the plot seems to be something of its undoing. You Only Live Twice spends a rather extensive amount of screen time going through the motions of James Bond being in Japan: here he is at a Sumo wrestling event, here he is at a Japanese bath, here he is at a Japanese training camp for ninjas, etc. Some of these scenes are not bad in and of themselves, but don’t add up to the most satisfying whole. As with Thunderball, You Only Live Twice is a film that feels just a bit too long, and you find yourself wondering if some of it could have been clipped here and there. Lots of little plot developments feel superfluous to the film as a whole and just seem like padding to make it an "epic" sized film.
However, while You Only Live Twice has some elements that seem a bit underwhelming, there is plenty of good stuff here. Connery is again in good form as Bond, there are some nice action sequences throughout, and this film really shows off Ken Adam’s amazing production design. You Only Live Twice is something of a benchmark for the elaborate villain’s hideout, and the staple by which most Bond films of the future would be graded against in this element.
On the Bond girl front, You Only Live Twice is a mixed bag. Aki is a decent foil for Bond, and at times their relationship is actually touching. However, the introduction of a female character for the second half of the film, Kissy(though not as good as Pusssy, Mie Hamma), proves to be a bit counter-productive and Bond and her never connect in quite the same way as Bond and Aki. There were also gadgets a plenty in You Only Live Twice after they were toned back a bit in Thunderball, most memorable being a small helicopter flown by Bond midway through the film.
You Only Live Twice was the filmmaker’s attempt to have Bond explore a locale as part of the film, not just use it for a backdrop to the action, and this was not quite the right move to make. You Only Live Twice is a decent Bond adventure, but the first one where some of Bond’s luster was tarnished a bit. The title Song by Sinatra is a good on not to be compared with others.
*Conclusion**: A movie worth watching atleast for Connery though not on par with Goldfinger or Spy Who Loved Me.