Moonraker (1979)

Moonraker is directed by Lewis Gilbert and adapted to screenplay by Christopher Wood from the novel written by Ian Fleming. It stars Roger Moore, Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Richard Kiel and Corinne Dufour. Music is scored by John Barry and cinematography by Jean Tournier.

Bond 11 and 007 is tasked with finding out what happened to the Moonraker space shuttle that mysteriously disappeared up in space. His investigation takes him to the billionaire builder of the craft, Hugo Drax, where Bond discovers a fiendish plot to start a new world of perfect human beings.

At the end of The Spy Who Loved Me we were told that James Bond would return in For Your Eyes Only, but the gargantuan success of Star Wars and a rekindling of all things sci-fi led Albert Broccoli to send 007 out into space! Armed with a $30 million budget and using only the core base plotting of Fleming's novel, the makers crafted what many feel is the runt of the James Bond litter. The money "is" up there on the screen, it's excess overdrive, outlandish from start to finish and actually is very very entertaining. The problem is that in James Bond terms it barely feels like a Bond movie, it actually could be any bloke propelling the story, this is a guy reliant on gadgets and not his brain or brawn, quipping away purely for the sake of a cheap laugh. Ultimately it's a cash in, both in terms of the sci-fi boom hitting the late 70s and of the James Bond name.

If judged away from the Bond universe on its own popcorn terms, film is a blast, literally. As a whole it's a bit choppy, but many of the parts desperately trying to make up a cohesive blockbuster are great entertainment. Mid air scrap for a parachute, a cable car sequence brilliantly realised, centrifuge chamber peril, boat chase, laser fight and much space age malarkey, the film is chocked full of crowd pleasing moments. In fact it's often mistaken as being a film set in space, when in fact the action doesn't move up there until the last half hour, the previous hour and a half is spread out over France, Italy, Brazil, USA, Gutemala and of course England. The score and the title song, however, are very much Bond. With Barry and Bassey back respectively, film is filled with appropriate atmospheric space strains and a hauntingly emotive theme song.

Charaterisations are a mixed bag. Lonsdale's Hugo Drax is one of the better Bond villains, dignified, well educated and wallowing in a life of luxury, he's perfectly understated in Lonsdale's hands and in fact steals every scene he shares with Moore's Bond. Holly Goodhead (Chiles) is a bold Bond girl with many skills, she's a scientist and an astronaut, attractive and decently played by Chiles, if a touch unmemorable in the Bond girl universe. Kiel is back as Jaws, with the makers choosing to make him some love sick puppy dog, where once was a unique villain, now is cypher for slapstick and a crappy flip-flop of plotting, while the "love interest" for Jaws, Dolly (Blanche Ravalec), is cringe worthy. Sadly this would be the last appearance of Bernard Lee as M, but he leaves a favourable mark, as does Desomond Llewelyn as Q, but once again Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) is all too brief, the flirt and banter she used to share with Bond now seems long gone.

With a committed Bond fan base trudging through the turnstiles to see the latest instalment, the sci-fi fans intrigued by the themes of the story, and the general blockbuster loving crowd, Moonraker made a colossal $203 mil

Fmovies: "Moonraker" was the most expensive Bond ever, but after the success of "The Spy Who Loved Me", the producers were confident enough to take a step into the top budgets, also contemplating that after the blockbuster hit "Star Wars", a technical show up in space would sell. The movie was an immediate success, but apparently didn't become one of the most popular for the fans in long term, admittedly it has a few ups and downs. A very silly bit is the gondola, driving on land in Venice. The centrifuge, on the other hand, was a terrific idea. The opening sequence is a classic again: Bond falls out of a plane without a parachute, so he has to get one on the way down! The duel between Bond and Jaws (returned from "The Spy Who Loved Me") in the dizzying height of the cable railway is breathtaking. So is the beauty of Corinne Clery; not easy for Lois Chiles afterwards to get Bond's attention, but "take me around the world one more time" is a beautiful line. We get a Goldfinger type of villain again, a more sophisticated person though: Drax meets Bond early on, we know he's the bad guy, but we don't know what his plan is. The musical score of "Moonraker" includes quite a few ironic comments, but the western reference was a bit too obvious. The set design for Drax' base is remarkably different from the rocket base in "You Only Live Twice". While the latter was covering a huge round crater, Drax' controls in "Moonraker" are crammed in a rather narrow triangle room, but with a hundred screens nonetheless.

"Moonraker" is the most unfairly criticised of all the Bond films. The 11th film in the series and the fourth starring Roger Moore, "Moonraker" works very well for a number of reasons. As Ian Fleming's original novel (written in 1955) had become too dated to translate to the screen, the producers decided to capitalise on the sci-fi craze started by Star Wars, and so created a spectacular space-age adventure where Bond himself journeys into outer space.

Whilst this film was certainly inspired by Star Wars, this is not meant to imply that "Moonraker" copies directly from the former. Don't forget that only the last 20-30 minutes of the film takes place in space. Although the laser battle looks dated by modern standards, it is still a classic slice of Bond action, that, as one reviewer has stated, compares with the underwater battle in "Thunderball". And on that level it works superbly.

What I especially like about "Moonraker" is the way it glides smoothly from one action sequence to another. This way, there's not only no shortage of thrills, but an overall level of consistency in the storyline is maintained, where Bond hops across the globe (to Venice and Rio, for example) uncovering clues as to the disappearance of the Moonraker space shuttle. On the way, he survives the customary assassination attempts by the bad guys (Drax and Jaws), and then at the end of the film all the clues piece together to complete the jigsaw. It's steady, consistent storylines like this that prove the key to a successful Bond film.

Purists often accuse "Moonraker" of being too stupid. Although there are some pretty outrageous sight gags, the film still retains its enormous appeal. Certainly, "Moonraker" is the most light-hearted Bond film, and it's quite clear that Roger Moore was enjoying himself tremendously here. His performance in this escapade certainly brought a smile to my lips.

There's also a wonderful cast. Drax is quite possibly the best Bond villain. His one-liners are great and he is certainly not short of ideas on how to dispose of Bond. The beautiful Lois Chiles proves to have the right qualities as an astronaut/CIA agent, and she is a worthy ally to 007. Bond's first romantic encounter Corinne Dufour (Corinne Clery) brings a lot to the film. Richard Kiel makes his encore performance as the steel-toothed giant Jaws. After his superhuman appearance in "The Spy Who Loved Me", Jaws plays more for laughs this time round, but his Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote-type battles with 007 are still entertaining. There's also another henchman, Chang (Toshiro Suga) who provides more credibility if somewhat less invincibility in a superbly staged duel with Bond in a glass factory.

"Moonraker" also sees John Barry at his composing best. He provides a number of rich, atmospheric tracks that perfectly reflect the film's outer space theme. Shirley Bassey's third title song isn't quite as good as "Goldfinger" but better than "Diamonds Are Forever", and is certainly as good as Carly Simon's song for TSWLM.

"Moonraker" has often been placed at the bottom of the Bond spectrum. It doesn't belong there. It has everything a successful Bond film needs: a great plot, superb villains, exotic locations, beautiful women, brilliant special effects (for which visual effects maestro Derek meddings received an Oscar nomination) and action by the bucketful. There

Moonraker fmovies. Considered almost unanimously as one of the worst films in James Bond series, it is time for Moonraker to have a defender. On my opinion, this is Moore's best fourth outing as 007(may be not saying too much, but there are three films left), and a very entertaining sci-fi film. Critics argue that humor plays a strong hand in this movie-strong to such a degree that Bond character loses all personality, becoming blurred in an impressive set of FX and stunt men. I reply: certainly there are flaws, some of them (particularly Jaws conversion towards the end) very ridiculous. But there are good points, too. Remember that pre-credit scene, which was ACTUALLY shot in the air, the motorboat chase or the final space battle, one of the most spectacular moments of the entire series, (yeah, it was unrealistic, OK, but tell me how much realism you can find watching other Bond movies which are frequently referred to as" the best". Think of Goldfinger or You only live twice)

However, Moonraker does not compare to Octopussy or TSWLM, because of a sometimes plodding pacing, due to the addition of unnecessary scenes, especially during the first half, when James is Drax's guest in California. The love story is a mere and inferior copy of TSWLM. And, while in other Moore's films the blend of humor and Bond's trademark coolness worked smoothly, here Bond is not given a scene to show, not necessarily ruthlessness, but a bit of harshness, as we could see in FYEO or Octopussy.

Following Moore's outings will feature Cold War elements which seem to fit more with the character, and better screenplays from Richard Maibaum,the series' screenwriter who was mysteriously absent here.

But action remains mostly exciting, sometimes brilliant, and highlights what could have been a mediocre entry.

My Take: The comedy is occasionally off, but the special effects and action sequences are terrific.

Why do some viewers think this entry in the series is by far the weakest of Bond. I beg to differ, I actually think this is one of the better Bonds with Roger Moore. Despite its occasional decline to over-silliness (even for Bond standards), I actually find it more entertaining than Roger Moore's early entry "The Man with the Golden Gun".

The plot, which is more like a variation of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (only a little sillier), involves the theft of the Moonraker space shuttles. 007 is sent to Drax Industries, the manufacturers or these shuttles. He soon discovers that the owner, Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale) uses this rockets to fulfill his dastardly plans to create another civilization.

One of the main reasons that critics mistreat this Bond entry is because it doesn't go with the trend of the other Bonds. MOONRAKER tries to be more faithful to the then-popular trend of science fiction movies (after the enduring success of such classic as STAR WARS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS). Another would be its occasion to go beyond the level of silliness and not knowing when to stop. A humorous moment where Bond drives a gondola with wheels is OK, but it's other scenes like Jaws (Richard Kiel) finding a girlfriend are just too silly. More extreme silliness ensues (there are moments of true high-camp standards here), but as long as the sharp wit, the panache and style made famous by many other Bond films are there, there's no real harm in trying something else to go along with it.

Rating: ***1/2 out of 5.

Please, don't judge me too harshly, but I love Moonraker, the peak of all things Roger Moore. Never again would the Bond films be this over the top or overtly silly, but the truth is that Moonraker does it right. It will never win awards for being the most subtle Bond film ever made, but it should not be trashed in the way that it usually is because deep down Moonraker is just great fun. Roger Moore's Bond is just fun to be with, the on going joke that everytime Jaws tries to kill Bond he almost gets killed himself, complete with close ups of his exasperated face are brilliant (not subtle, but guaranteed to get you chuckling) and one of the loveliest Bond girls, CIA agent Holly Goodhead.

The script here is definitely not in the same league as the likes of From Russia With Love, The World is Not Enough, Licence to Kill or For Your Eyes Only, but Bond films never set out to be thought provoking pieces of art, they are meant to be grandiose fun pieces of entertainment and if you take Bond films on those levels then Moonraker succeeds admirably. Sure none of the acting is award worthy, and its frequently over the top in every regard. Over the top humor, over the top action sequences (a fight scene in a glass shop sees every bit of glass get destroyed) while the space sequences features a gigantic space battle complete with laser beams.

However there is a lot to like here. The pre title sequence is superb, featuring some of the best stunt work you will ever see in a pre-Brosnan Bond, the special effects are magnificent and lastly John Barry's music is quite simply the best he has ever come up with. For a film so over the top his music is beautiful and would set the hallmarks for his future scores. The sweeping orchestra and beautiful theme song by Shirley Bassey are classics.

Once again I end my review with a note not to judge me, but Moonraker is simply wonderful entertainment and one of my favorite Bond film of all time.