Moonraker THX Edition

I watched this again after 40 years. I remember it being cheesy but fun, and over-the-top but still good Bond film. Well, it's not as good as I remember, and it's even more cheesy. The story is standard Bond fare, but the sequence of scenes makes no sense, with Bond bouncing from one nonsensical action scene to another. Literally the only reason Bond makes any progress is that he goes somewhere, goons try to kill him, and that clues him in that he is in the right place. If Drax just left him alone in the first place, Bond would have got nowhere. Sigh. I want to like it, it's just so for-laughs (apart from the weirdly out of place horrific dog chase). What saves this film are the two French actors, Michael Lonsdale (Drax) and Blanch Ravalec (Dolly). Drax is one of the best Bond villains because he gets some of the best ever Bond villain lines. And Dolly was so hot they wouldn't give her any dialogue because her French accent would result in the film having an R rating. Unlike many, I did not experience the Mandela effect of believing Dolly had braces, but I was sure the Brazilian girl was killed by Jaws. Anyway, one of my least favorite Bond films, although I still like it more than most of the Daniel Craig stuff.

"Moonraker" for me has always been the best of the Roger Moore Bond outings. For years the single DVD was hard to find, at least at a price beneath $25 or so. I was thrilled when, last fall, apparently as part of the Bond movies 50th anniversary,  Moonraker  appeared. Bond movies are like "Godfather" movies, every year or so they come out in repackaged box sets, New! Improved! Whiter! and Brighter! than ever before, hoping to get fans to shell out even more money for movies they've already purchased countless times in countless formats. This edition of "Moonraker", I'm happy to report, offers high quality sight and sound, and features several bonus features, including commentary from cast and crew. Note , however, the picture of the front that appears on Amazon differs from the actual DVD package.I know that my preference for "Moonraker" over "Spy Who Loved Me" puts me in a minority of 007 fans (one that doesn't include Roger Moore). While "Spy" has several first-rate set pieces and arguably the best pre-title sequence of all Bond movies, for me "Spy" suffers from draggy pacing, usually by the time Bond is rescuing the sailors from Karl Stromberg's underwater fortress I find myself nodding off.In "Moonraker," on the other hand, director Lewis Gilbert keeps the story moving at a crisp pace, and the actors, for the most part, play their roles relatively straight. Moore has yet to descend into his cynical, play-Bond-for-laughs acting method. Richard Kiel as "Jaws" steals every scene he's in. Michael Lonsdale, as the villain Hugo Drax, displays a dry wit and quiet intensity that hints at the volcanic inner life of a mega maniac ready to annihilate the world's population and start a new master race. Bernard Lee, in his final appearance, as M, and the rest of the Bond regulars appear. The only real weak link is Lois Chiles as CIA agent/NASA scientist Lois Chiles delivers line readings for the most part in a sleepwalking monotone."Moonraker" opens with a familiar 007 plot device, the theft of a major piece of military industrial hardware, in this case, a space shuttle. Bond is dispatched to get it back, and the story takes him from southern California to Venice to Rio and the Amazon jungle, before climaxing in Drax's space station. Highlights include Bond trapped in a G-force training vehicle, a motorized gondola chase through the canals of Venice, a knock-down brawl with a Ninja assassin in a glass museum, a chase and fight with "Jaws" on a cable car, a boat chase on the Amazon, and the final battle in outer space. The film's strengths include an imaginative pre-title sequence in which Bond is tossed out of a plane without a parachute (featuring stunt work that has come to be widely imitated in action movies), a snazzy John Barry score, with Shirley Bassey performing the title song (A Shirley Bassey vocal is always a sign you're in for a treat), and a gag involving a secret gas warfare lab that delivers one of the biggest laughs in any Bond film (I can still recall the roar of laughter in the theater I saw it in originally)."Moonraker" has received a great deal of criticism over the years, especially for its outer space sequence. Many see it as a rip-off of "Star Wars." Yes, the producers were trying to cash in on the "Star Wars" craze, just as they cashed in on the "blaxplotation" and martial arts film crazes of the 1970s with "Live and Let Die" and "The Man With the Golden Gun." And let's face it, by 1979 the stories had pretty much exhausted the impregnable fortress ideas, having placed them everywhere from under the ocean to the top of the Swiss Alps. After "Spy" they literally had nowhere else to go but up.Of course, once you've sent your hero into space it can be hard to top, and after "Moonraker" the Bond movies really didn't try. The filmmakers dialed the stakes and special effects back considerably in "For Your Eyes Only," but only proved that, for Bond, there was no going back. The Bond films deteriorated into dispiriting exercises in the mechanics of franchise moviemaking. With the Pierce Brosnan films the franchise regained some creative and commercial vitality, but it's only been in the past six years, with the "rebooted" Bond played by Daniel Craig, that the Bond filmmakers have been able to recapture the original magic of Bond as more of a flesh and blood character than larger-than-life cartoon, in stories that push the boundaries of plausibility without falling over into being utterly preposterous.The 1970s 007 films, long derided by fans and critics alike, may be in line for a critical re-appraisal. Sam Mendes and Craig have remarked how one of their biggest inspirations for "Skyfall," the most commercially and critically successful Bond movie of them all, was the Bond films they saw in their movie-going youth in the 70s, such as "Live and Let Die." That marriage of 70s-pop culture sensibility and 21st century film technology, along with a world view shaped by the tumultuous events of the past 12 years, should help insure Bond is around for the next 50 years. "Moonraker" is no great work of art, but it is first-rate escapist entertainment and futuristic, in more ways than one.

The 11th James Bond film was supposed to be For Yours Eyes Only but with the news of the Americans launching their first space shuttle, Albert Broccoli (now the single film producer) and his team decided to make Moonraker their next Bond film. With science fiction all the rage, the producer and screenwriters gleaned a story from Ian Fleming's novel of the same name. The villain remained but the story changed with the introduction of an outer space threat agaiist the earth.The film, Moonraker opens with the midair heist of a shuttle, the moonraker from the back of a jumbo jet and an inventive and unnerving sequence featuring Bond being pushed out of a plane by Jaws. He saves himself by stealing the parachute from the pilot. The film itself featured more 'in-house' jokes, more camera smirks by Roger Moore, and the use of musical themes from other movies (Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Magnificent Seven) - a ploy not appreciated by many traditional Bond fans. In this film, James Bond (Roger Moore) is called in by M and is issued a wrist mounted dart gun/watch by Q and is assigned to clear the British of the shame for losing the loaned moonraker. He begins his search at the Drax corporation HQ in California, where the shuttle is made. While there, he meets Dr. Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles), surely possessing the most sexually explicit name; a pilot, Corinne Dufour (Corinne Clery)" Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale); Chang (Toshiro Suga) - a real life black-belt judo master (a nod to Henry Sakata/Mr. Oddjob); and the first of several pairs of beauties who are part of Drax's plan. Bond romances the doomed Ms. Dufour into helping him uncover some of Drax' secrets - she meets her end at the jaws of hunting dogs. Bond survives the first assassination attempt by a hidden gunman. Convinced that Drax is up to something, Bond follows a lead based on some blueprints of a glass container to Venice, Italy, the site of one of Drax's many companies. In Venice, he discovers one of Drax secret labs where nerve gas is being developed and encased in glass tubes and a mechanical carrier. He steals one vile and causes the death of several scientists. Trying to leave, Bond battles Chang before throwing him to his death. Drax calls in Jaws (who was saved by producers due to his huge popularity and request to soften his character). Bond and Goodhead run into each other and unite their investigation once Bond figures out that she is a CIA plant by pointing out her CIA-issue equipment - this scene is silly. The two separately head off to Brazil where many of the crates from Drax' glass company. The two survive an eye-popping murder attempt by Jaws on cable-cars suspended 2,000 feet above the ground - which Jaws survives and is rescued by Dolly, a tiny, freckled pig-tailed blonde. Escaping this and another death attempt, Bond ends up riding a horse across the pampas to the Monastery of San Nicolo the location of another MI-6 HQ and another Q laboratory. Bond meets Q who tells him that the poison from the stolen vile comes from - an orchid that grows in a desolate area of the jungle river basin. Bond is also issued a speed boat equipped with a built-in glider. Of course, while cruising the Amazon, he is pursued by several speedboats and Jaws but escapes over the falls by way of his glider. Bond lands and finds Drax's hidden hideout and HQ. Drax unveils his plan to destroy all humanity by way of the re-engineered and now-fatal nerve toxin and then re-populate it with his hand-picked and perfect specimens whom Bond has met. Drax and his crews take off on board six moonrakers to his cloaked space station without realizing that Bond and Good head have snuck on board. The two foil Drax plans with the help of Jaws once he realizes that he and Dolly have no place in Drax perfect specimen world. The end battle in space between American soldiers and Drax' army is very well-made. Of course, Drax space station is destroyed and Bond saves the day and the earth. the film ends with another patented sex-themed scene (with Holly Goodhead).The film proved to be the most successful Bond at that point but was not on par with The Spy Who Loved Me. The Ken Adam sets and stunts stole the movie and Roger Moore brought his own style to the role which was now firmly his.Side note: The Drax lab seen in this film follows in the tradition of many other labs featured in many Bond films (Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, Live And Let Die, and Man With the Golden Gun). Drax jungle hideout is in the South American jungle but the producers used Mayan ruins (which are in southern Mexico and Central America) - a BIG error. The Pampas which Bond rides through are not in Brazil - they are in Argentina.

Watched Moonraker again after 40 years. Yes a bit cheesy but pure entertainment. The only Bond to venture into space however I'm sure another Bond will do so... soon

I DVD

I'm watching all the Bond films through in chronological order. I've not seen them properly just catching bits on Xmas or bank holidays.The journey starts with 'Dr No'. And here I am all the way up to 'Moonraker'.I have to say there are better Bond films amongst the ones I've watched so far. 'Moonraker' disappoints. All the usual razzamatazz is present. But I think perhaps overdone.Shame really because Roger Moore's first outing in 'Live and let die' was a great watch. Then he did 'The man with the golden gun' again a good watch. Then came 'The spy who loved me' which was not so good and now 'Moonraker' which just doesn't do it for me.I'm awaiting 'For your eyes only' and can only hope things get better.That said it is what it is and I guess a lot of people will enjoy it, just for me not so good.

Frequently referred to as a weak Bond film, I now see what people mean. I would have seen this originally, when it first came out. What a long time ago that was! Sadly, with hindsight this proved disappointing. The stunts have been to a much higher standard in other Bond films, ie the speed boat chase in the Amazon. Bond himself delivered lines and arched his eyebrow with zeal, qualifying only as a rather repellent sex pest. The best lines were delivered by Hugo Drax with laconic ennui that suggests he was extraordinarily bored by Bond and really did wish him dead. At that point so did I. A rousing cheer for Jaws (Richard Kiel) and his girlfriend, somewhat wooden but likeable. I blame the script writer.

James Bond investigates when a space shuttle disappears and discovers a man named Hugo Drax may be behind it."James Bond goes into space" so the ads proclaimed in 1979, and boy does he ever, in possibly Roger's weakest 007 outing. Firstly the negatives, the story itself starts off very well and is very entertaining but as it goes along it becomes more & more silly culminating in the space adventure. Lois Chiles who plays Bond girl "Dr Goodhead" isn't a particularly warm character as she comes across quite cold and as a viewer I didn't really like her all that much and I would also say that the Shirley Bassey theme song is one of the weaker efforts. There is plenty to enjoy about the film however, the action is superb, the gondola through Venice is excellent as is the pre credits sequence and there are many others (Bond & Chang's fight, Bond's gravity experience, etc) plus John Barry's operatic score fits in perfectly with the grand scale of the film. Roger Moore's fourth turn as 007is another strength, the film suits his style very well and he delivers his (many) one liners brilliantly, Michael Lonsdale as "Drax" is a very good villain and Corinne Clery as one of Drax's assistants is excellent and her exit is memorable. The special effects are (for 1979 anyway) actually very good, in fact the whole production design by Ken Adam is excellent, Lewis Gilbert (directing his last James Bond movie) does a stellar job keeping the pace and action moving, that is probably the best thing about the film is never gets boring or uninteresting. There are two small things, Jaws getting a girlfriend and that final line by Q "I think he's attempting re-entry Sir" both add so much charm to the overall feel of the film meaning repeated viewings are always a pleasure.Overall I would say that although it does have a couple of issues this a easy to enjoy, stunningly produced & well made Bond adventure, Roger's weakest but still a lot of fun. 4/5

The five star rating is for the product, not necessarily for the film. The remastered DVD is first class. And the extras included in the Ultimate Collection (2 disks) are plentiful.If you like the film or not is a matter of personal preference and probably even depends on your mood on the day. This is Bond at its campiest. It is actually great fun to watch, and Jaws' romance is almost touching and utterly un-Bondian. Moonraker is a product of its time. A Star Wars it is not, but hey, the next year gave us that campiest space opera of all time: Flash Gordon.I loved this film when it first came out (at a time when the dark and intense Bond of Dalton and Craig was still in the distant future), then over the years more or less forgot about it. When I watched it again lately in the course of a Bond marathon I was aware of the very low regard for the film these days. Thus it came as a pleasant surprise that I found myself hugely entertained. Just as long as you don't expect anything other than silly laughs with high production values you may enjoy this one more than you'd like to admit.

Moonraker has all the things James Bond and general action film fans expect. Not only does it have the boldest bad guy plot of genocide and involve outer space, but it is one of the most beautifully shot, superbly scored, and technically impressive in terms of special effects... and full of humor too! A real treat for families to show their kids :)