Moonraker (1979)

Simply Perfect

Memorable, crazy movie

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Moonraker (1979) is criminally underrated and bashed by Bond fans and I know everyone is going to disagree with me. This is my second favorite James Bond 007 film and in my opinion not yours Roger Moore's best film. This is the eleventh spy film in the James Bond series to be produced by Eon Productions, and the fourth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The third and final film in the series to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, it co-stars Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Corinne Cléry, and Richard Kiel. This film has so much action, action, action, action all the time. It has beautiful girls, climatic battle fights with laser guns in outer space, Bond jumps off the plane without parachute. Climatic fight between Bond, Holly Goodhead and Jaws on the Cable Car in Sugarloaf Mountain, Rio de Janeiro. I love this film to death I grew up with this film and it is my favorite. I'm a hard-core James Bond fan. I make no apologies for believing that even the late Roger Moore is the closest thing we've seen to IAN FLEMING's James Bond.Since I was a kid I have really enjoyed this film, I have enjoy it in high school and I still do till it's day. I know a lot of people's is at least favorite Bond film because it is science fiction film it is set in space. James Bond 007 in outer space is a bad idea because in 1977 Star Wars come out and they were so popular that they decide to make this film, I don't mind it.James Bond investigates the mid-air theft of a space shuttle, and discovers a plot to commit global genocide. Roger Moore in my opinion is the most underrated James Bond 007 ever and I have more respect then i would have a respect to a morons like Daniel Craig I hate the new James Bond! Roger Moore R.I.P. I really miss you I am long time loving fan of you. Thank you for your visiting Slovenia in 2000 I have so much respect for you. My condolences to his family.Star Trek was so popular even the movies and the show and I don't like em I hated the reboot they made and I still hate Star Trek movies but I love this movie so much it is in space like only 45 minutes and even that wasn't that bad.This is the sequel to The Spy Who Loved Me Richard Kiel reprise his role as Jaws from the film The Spy Who Loved Me and it was the last film Lewis Gilbert directed. Jaws returns in "Moonraker" and adds some tension to the film… Richard Kiel has become something of a cult figure since his appearance in 'The Spy Who Loved Me'. He reappears as indestructible as ever. His performance was beautiful and wonderful even for the comedic effect than in The Spy Who Loved Me.Why is my favorite and why I love it so much: I love the filming locations the film was set from California to Venice, Italy to Brazil Rio de Janeiro to Amazon River to Drax base in Iguazu Falls I love this film. This movie has so much beautiful girls you see so many blond girls in this film I feel like this movie set Supergirl. You have a great boat chase on the Amazon River it is fantastic Bond blows up the assassins with a mine. Bond fights with a python in the river Drax's base. Honesty I think Conan The Barbarian copied from this movie the scene about Python fight. Bond fights off Drax henchman Chang (Toshiro Suga). Bond throws knife in the assassin in Venice river and flees with his own boat.Great direction from Lewis Gilbert I am so proud on the director that he filmed this film in Venice, Italy in the city in which my mom visited. Great music score from Shirley Bassey - Moonraker and John Barry did a wonderful score for the James Bond film.Michael Lonsdale's performance is astonishingly controlled and precise as Hugo Drax... There's something really scary about his true personality and character... He gives sarcastic remarks about 007: 'You appear with the tedious inevitability of an unloved season.' 'At least I shall have the pleasure of putting you out of my misery!' 'Mr. Bond, you persist in defying my efforts to provide an amusing death for you.'Lois Chiles is a great and the finest Bond girl, the irresistible Holly Goodhead: A CIA agent and astronaut who joins Bond and flies with him to Drax's space station. She was really sexy and beautiful all tough I prefer Drax's astronaut girls way better cause they were so blond.10/10 Moonraker to me is way better then Skyfall, Spectre, Quantum of Solace, The World is not Enough, Die Another Day, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and even more Bond films I dislike. This is the most underrated film I have ever seen.10/10 Grade: Bad-Ass Seal Of Approval Studio: Eon Productions, MGM/UA Communications Company Starring: Roger Moore, Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Richard Kiel, Corinne Cléry, Toshiro Suga Director: Lewis Gilbert Screenplay: Christopher Wood Producer: Albert R. Broccoli Based on Moonraker by Ian Fleming Rated: PG Running Time: 2 Hrs. 06 Mins. Budget: $34.000.000 Box Office: $210,308,099

It's probably a bit controversial to claim that Roger Moore is the best Bond. It's probably even more controversial to say that 'Moonraker' is the best Bond film ever. I know. I've read other reviews. I know it had its faults. I guess, for me and my love of Star Wars, there was just something uber cool about seeing James Bond in space fighting with laser guns (and, yes, I know that they only made a 'James-Bond-in-space' film to cash in on George Lucas' game-changing masterpiece, but I didn't care about that, either!).This time round, the UK government is charged with the task of transporting (and therefore safe-guarding) a couple of American-built space shuttles. However, things do not go according to plan for her majesty's minions when both shuttles disappear in mysterious circumstances. Enter one 007 to get to the bottom of this.Now, as I've mentioned, I do love this film. Maybe because I grew up with it and it's totally tainted with nostalgic memories of watching it round friends' houses on Sunday afternoons. So, rather than saying what's so great about it, I will acknowledge other people's criticisms of what I consider 'Bond's finest hour.' Firstly, people (even more cynical than I am) were taken up with the Star Wars cash-in I've already mentioned. Secondly, there was too much humour. Gone are the days of Sean Connery's dry wit and darker take on Bond and they're all replaced with a lot of tongue-in-cheek silliness involving pet dogs doing comedy double-takes when Bond drives a boat through a crowded market square. The last two major complaints about the film revolve around the casting of the villain 'Drax' and the latest Bond girl – Dr Goodhead (seriously – that's her name!). Now, due to my love of this film as a child, I was more interested in armies of laser-wielding astronauts spinning off into the blackness of space than acting abilities. However, over thirty years later, I do tend to cringe a little when either character opens their mouth. Yes, they really are a little bit wooden. Perhaps I'm being unfair as I guess they do their best with the lines that are given to them. But, for every cloud there's a silver lining – and that silver lining comes in the form of a giant with metal teeth. Yes, 'Jaws' is another baddie hell bent on creasing Bond's tuxedo – and he is as awesome as ever.I know I'm not alone in my appreciation for Moonraker, but I think most people who enjoy it as much as me are my age. I guess it might not hold up too well with the modern audience – it's not the special effects which are the problem (correct me if I'm wrong, but a laser battle in zero-gravity space has never been attempted before on screen!). It's the tone that may not sit well with today's Bond fans. Currently, we have a much darker Daniel Craig Bond who rarely smiles or makes a witty (borderline innuendo) quip. However, if you can appreciate a Bond with a much lighter feel to it (and I know there are people out there who do – otherwise 'Kingsman: The Secret Service' wouldn't be so successful!) then you could do worse than relaxing your brain for a couple of hours and letting it drift into deep space. If nothing else, the final line about 'attempting re-entry' is worth watching the whole film for. RIP Roger – you were always the best Bond (my opinion only!).

This is easily the worst of the Moore James Bond films.The plot this time is that Bond is investigating the disappearance of "Moonraker" ships constructed by Drax Industries with the help of Dr. Holly Goodhead (*shudder*), and uncovers a plan by Hugo Drax to destroy all human life on Earth except those individuals he sees as most fit, and create a new space civilization. Sound familiar? Well, that's because the plot is so similar to the previous film, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), which was about the main villain, Karl Stromberg, wanting to destroy all human life on ground level and create a civilization beneath the sea. Different element, but both civilizations are in places supposedly uninhabitable by humans. I get that a lot of the Bond films copy plot elements from each other, but copying almost the exact plot from its immediate predecessor is just desperate. Even The Spy Who Loved Me is said to have taken numerous plot elements from a Sean Connery Bond film, You Only Live Twice (1967), but the former turned out to be a better film. Moore, as usual, is trying his darndest, and he can't really be blamed for the crappy material he has to work with. Lois Chiles as Goodhead (*shudder*) has one of the stupidest names for a Bond girl, and although she can fight o.k., she's just terribly dull. Richard Kiel returns from the previous film as Jaws, but here he is more of an annoyance, like many other henchmen from inferior Bond films, showing up all the time and not going away. Not only that, but he is turned into a complete joke, being a good guy, falling in love with a dorky girl, and speaking...Why is he speaking now when he showed no previous indication that he was capable of it? Michael Lonsdale's Drax is completely uninteresting as a villain because of how ripped-off he is from Stromberg and he doesn't seem to be making much of an effort to kill Bond properly (sure, that's a thing with many Bond villains, but he doesn't even try here; also, who's he trying to be, Hitler, with his talk of a master race?) A lot of things seem to happen conveniently for both Bond and his enemies. They all have gadgets (some quite stupid) for any situation. Bond himself seems to piece together clues much too easily, and that's partly due to Drax's poor efforts to kill him. There are also so many terrible jokes and puns not just by Bond this time, but other characters as well. When everyone watches Bond and Goodhead (*shudder*) have sex at the end, Q (Desmond Llewelyn) says that Bond is "attempting re-entry." Hmm.... A lot of the in-jokes are unwelcome and completely random. For instance, Before Bond goes to meet Q in an old Western-looking town, he is wearing Clint Eastwood's outfit from his Spaghetti westerns.True, there is a lot of spectacle, especially with the final battle in space, and others do commend the film for that, but to be honest, I really don't care. No amount of spectacle or incredible effects work will grab me if a film has no integrity to it, and this film has none. Even film series like Bond and Friday the 13th have standards, guys. By trying to take advantage of the Star Wars madness that originated two years earlier, what we get here is a stupid, ridiculous, lazy, and calculated film with nothing to show except spectacle, and to be honest, even the spectacle's overblown.I'm not going to knock Bond fans for liking this film, because with six actors and 24 films with the character, so many different versions of him and his adventures have been shown to the world, and it's a constantly-changing franchise, so what's the point?

What is hard to believe is that when Moonraker came out in 1979, it was a hit, and has since grossed a third of a billion dollars. What a complete joke. This whole movie is a joke and comes off like a comedy. Ridiculous, horribly staged fight scenes (especially the one in the glass shop), the Venice water chase, everything about this movie comes off as a pompous, slapstick joke. It's so bad, it's fun to watch. The absolutely absurd premise of killing off humanity with a plant extract that dissolves in space, yet can survive in a glass vial during a fistfight add to the comedy of errors. Bond only fires a weapon one time in the entire film, and even then it was unintentional (when Bond was "hunting" with Drax and "killed" the sniper in the trees)--an inexcusable shortcoming in any spy flick, and seems devoid of his usual toys or weapons, other than conveniently placed wrist dart launcher at the beginning. Topped off with the absolutely hilarious bond between Jaws and the teeny, tiny Swedish girl in pigtails, Bond's most deadly weapons in Moonraker are a slew of ghastly one-liners, and easily qualfies as the best of the worst Bond movies, just ahead of View to a Kill. Bad acting by Moore, comically arranged choreography and ridiculous "kill" elements (the scene in the tunnel designed to kill Bond and Dr. Goodhead by jet blast that only goes 20 feet, for example), rescue shuttles that are ready to go on a moment's notice (instead of the usual two years' of planning), lasers that make squish sounds in space make this parody of the space race beyond any credible recognition, other than slapstick humor which is just too dumb to even laugh at.