Moonraker

"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.

Much like Tomorrow Never Dies, this is a great Bond that somehow copped a lot of criticism.

The plot unfolds evenly and with a good dose of intrigue. The main villain, Drax, admittedly is intent on carrying out another "end of the world" plot, but he is more dark, disturbing and cunning than most villains. Superbly acted and the Noah's Ark style plan had a degree of disturbing intelligence, compared with the usual nuclear missile / bomb / satellite plans in other Bonds.

Roger Moore was fantastic. Well settled into the role, he is cheeky, womanising, humorous, yet tough and sharp. The one liners were fun, the girls were both sexy and not one-dimension, though Lois Chiles was a bit wooden.

Once in space, too many were quick to think "oh god, it's Bond meets Star Wars" , when it was nothing of the sort. Although the effects look dated, the space battle was good for its time and the enthralling climax extended right to the final minutes of the movie, and fantastically signed off with a bit of great double entendre.

One you can watch over again and doesn't date as badly as other Bonds from the same time. Sure it had its corny moments, especially with Jaws, but who said Bond can't be a bit of cheesy fun at times!

After "The spy who loved me" Bond producers wanted to do "For your eyes only". But the massive "Star Wars" success made them change their mind -sending 007 to space.

"Moonraker" (1979) is maybe too fanciful and slapstick, with too many special effects, stunts and gadgets. The film goes too far away also from the previous movie ("The spy"), which was perfect.

But "Moonraker" is very well done, from a technical point of view it's a masterpiece. It's surprising to see how everything was made with accuracy -for movies, in 1978-79, there were neither computers nor CGI effects.

The film is really funny and entertaining, with beautiful sceneries and sets. Venice, France, California, Brazil and Guatemala are the fantastic locations. Scenes in the space are only in the last 30 minutes of the movie -so it's not true that the film is entirely set in the space, as some detractors say.

The film contains also homages to "The magnificent seven", "Close encounters of the third kind" and "2001" -discover them! 7,5/10

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.

This James Bond adventure from 1979 takes our beloved agent 007 to outer space after he chases the crooks all over the world. He goes there with Dr. Holly Goodhead (Lois Chines) and after them is the steel teeth Jaws (Richard Kiel) so that life in space doesn't get too boring.

Roger Moore does his job well without taking it too seriously.Humor has a big part in this movie.Moonraker is an excellent Bond adventure which is a little underrated.It has some brilliant action scenes for you to enjoy.

I really envy James Bond because he gets all the ladies and he gets to travel all over the world and in outer space.Sure his life is in danger all the time but that's what it takes to be a super agent.

If you want to see James Bond going sci-fi then this is a movie for you to watch.