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James McMahon --
Exotic, but far too big for it's own good. Connery at the core keeps it great. Terrific Japanese supporting cast. The Toyota 2000 is my second favorite Bond car (though Bond never drives it). Ken Adam's amazing sets look right at home in Japan (Tiger's office and Osato's office are standouts). Top notch score. Shows all the signs of the problems that would plague the series later, but they're still mostly nascent. Though the volcano is absurd along with too much else, this film marks the last time we would see Sean Connery, slim and fit, on screen as James Bond, and that alone would make it a treasure to be prized.
Robert Cotton --
Connery doesn't give a damn. First film to leave Fleming out entirely. Tanaka/Bond byplay works fairly well, but there's nothing to hang their relationship on except an overblown volcano set. Death of Aki is the stylistic high point. Bond's orientalization is the low. Donald Pleasance is the least threatening villain in history.
Paul Baack --
Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. Whether through hubris or a genuine desire to top Thunderball, the filmmakers decided to toss Fleming out the window and concoct their own sci-fi scenario. Throw in lots of noise and general arm-waving-about to distract the audience from the lack of a coherent story, add a visibly bored Sean Connery, lackluster Bond girls and a wimpy villain, and you get a major misstep in the series while it's still young. Amateurish special effects wipe out the grandeur of Ken Adam's amazing hollowed-out volcano set, but John Barry raises the level of the whole show with his majestic score.
Bill Koenig --
First film to throw out Fleming plot, essentially remakes Thunderball. Connery is unenthusiastic and shows it over and over again. Still, his professionalism keeps from making things too light. Donald Pleaseance probably wasn't the best choice as Blofeld, but given the last-minute casting, one can't complain too much. By now, production designer Ken Adam and composer John Barry are the real stars of the Bond series. While they are great professionals, that's not a good thing overall.
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Ed Werner --
A guilty pleasure for me. When picked apart, this film should probably rate lower, but there are
some really great parts to this film as well.Bond's resurrection from his watery grave, Little Nellie
and the Volcano itself come immediately to mind. The photography is at times breathtaking.
John Barry's soundtrack is once again so insinc with what is going on screen that it is hard to
imaginge anyone else even doing it. On the negative side, Karin Dor as Helga is not even close
to being in the same league as the femme fatale Paluzzi/Fiona, Mie Hama and Akiko
Wakabayashi can't hold a candle to Auger/Domino or Peters/Pat from Thunderball. Connery
seems to be sleep walking through parts of the film, at this point, he's pretty much tired of the role
but it's still Connery! After so many viewings of this film, it's getting a little easier for me to accept
Donald Pleasance in the role of Blofeld, but he still seems an uninspired choice for the role. With
his completely shaved head and that hidious scar down his forehead and across his eyes, he looks
more like a cracked egg than what I envision Blofeld to look like. The rear projection as well as
the special effects in the space scenes are unforgivable, especially considering what Kubrick was
able to do in 2001: A Space Odyssey just a year later. Overall, probably the worst of the 60's
Bond films, but a far cry better than what we had in store for us further down the road.
...and don't forget to look for the palm trees in the foreground of the Russian's blast-off sequences.
Michael Reed --
A plot with holes like swiss cheese and a barely interested Bond but a great soundtrack and lot of chutzpah prevent this from being a disaster. People new to Bond tend to love this film until it is compared to the rest.
Tom Zielinski --
The first misstep of the series. What led the producers to discard the Fleming trilogy (the biggest single gaffe in the series´ history) is inexplicable. Perhaps it was the misplaced desire to again top themselves (Thunderball had sold more tickets than any film in cinema history), maybe it was the threat of Connery leaving, or perhaps the looming release of Feldman´s renegade Casino Royale gave the producers cold feet. Whatever the reason, there was a tangible lack of confidence with this film. Throwing out virtually all source material and entrusting Roald Dahl to write a rocket ship/outer-space screenplay was unforgivable, and worse, set the tone for some of the later outrageous and certainly less Bondian films of the series. The presence of the obviously bored but still cool Sean Connery, and John Barry´s beautiful score saved the film from being a complete disaster. You Only Live Twice is great entertainment, it´s just not a great James Bond film.
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