It's definitely not rock bottom for me! It isn't the worst Bond movie, hell, I think it isn't even the worst Roger Moore movie. (I like all seven of them to be honest) I think I enjoy Moonraker even slightly more then Live and Let Die and A View to a Kill. (Sorry Jarvio! :P )
I would also rank it above Diamonds are Forever, Die Another Day, Quantum of Solace and On Her Majesty's Secret Service...(The last one proberbly being very shocking to pretty much everyone on this forum, but I have motivated my reasons for that numerous times )
Reasons why MR is my least favourite:
- The jaws love scenes are the most terrible scenes ever and have no place in a bond movie
- James bond does not belong in space
- Laser guns
- Super race plot
Ok, that's 4 reasons. But they are 4 HUGE reasons. They all destroy the film as far as I'm concerned.
I have no qualms whatsoever with Bond in space, laser guns, and the super race plot. Although I will admit the Jaws love scenes were goofy. My only real complaint with Moonraker is Bond being a know-it-all about the rare orchids. However, that was really no worse than Lazenby spouting off latin names for butterflies.
My current 10 favorite:
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
I rate this film 22nd out of 23, with only Die Another Day below it. The relatively decent first half of the film and Shirley Bassey's song saved it from being ranked dead last.
It's a pity they did MR when Moore was Bond - had it been any of the other actors and had they made it a realistic updated version of the actual story, it would have probably had been one of the best films.
I agree. Moonraker the novel was brilliant, an absolute top notch thriller that I could recommend even to non-Bond fans. Moonraker the film, however, is best forgotten. I hope they'll remake it one day.
The often criticized laserfights look poorly by todays standards but look at the first Starwars movies to compare what was then state of the at.
It's not that the space sequence is outdated (I'm a big Star Trek fan and I also love Star Wars, so old sci-fi SFX is fine for me); it's the fact that there was a sequence in space in the first place.
Moonraker was going pretty good then James Bond going into outer space killed it for me. WTF were they thinking?!! Laser beams being shot around made me facepalm like you wouldn't believe.
Moonraker is one of my absolute favourites!
It's probably my most watched Bond film! It's fun, entertaining. Michael Lonsdale is superb!
MR is not a low point in Bonds history. It was the highest grossing film until Goldeneye!
DAF I'd by far the weakest 007 film.
Moonraker is one of my absolute favourites!
It's probably my most watched Bond film! It's fun, entertaining. Michael Lonsdale is superb!
MR is not a low point in Bonds history. It was the highest grossing film until Goldeneye!
DAF I'd by far the weakest 007 film.
Amen brother!
My current 10 favorite:
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
Silhouette ManThe last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,871MI6 Agent
Moonraker is one of my absolute favourites!
It's probably my most watched Bond film! It's fun, entertaining. Michael Lonsdale is superb!
MR is not a low point in Bonds history. It was the highest grossing film until Goldeneye!
DAF I'd by far the weakest 007 film.
Amen brother!
Here! Here! I second that!
Never understood all of the MR hate on here!
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
Silhouette ManThe last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,871MI6 Agent
For a long time I disliked Moonraker because of the space scenes - but I've gone back and watched it and it's not that bad. The first hour is actually good. Until Jaws meets his love - but that's at least an hour in to the film. The special effects for the time are decent unlike DAD which is full of ropey stuff.
MR also contains a couple of standout moments. Corrine's death is beautifully filmed - like a dream sequence from an European horror film. The fight in the glass factory is excellent, the g-force scene and bonds refusal of help from holly is unique. The opening fight for the parachute is great - admittedly tainted by jaws flapping his arms while circus music plays. But Moore is actually really good in the movie - his assassination of the sniper is classic Moore and Drax is one of the best villains in the Moore era.
So really the only parts that bother me are the gondola hovercraft - and that's only when it rises out of the water - the actual chase is fine. Jaws falling in love. The rubber python fight and the space station laser fight - again - its just the lifelessness of the astronauts fighting not so much bond going into space - that's not the stumbling block for me that it is for most others.
I'd rate MR above DAD and DAF. I also find MWTGG perhaps the most boring of the bond films. Except for Chrisopher Lee and the 360 car stunt - undermined by the slide whistle sound - I find MWTGG very flat.
Welcome JW_Pepper -{
Some good points, Corine's death was beautifully filmed and I too liked Drax as
a Villain. I still think Moonraker is a great Bond ( when you're in the mood ) just
as YOLT.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
I'll be a crusty, pejorative old codger by agreeing that Moonraker had me gagging into my popcorn bucket when it came out. Jaws love scenes, ray gun fights in space, Bond knows (?) how to fly a space shuttle,... I just don't think Bond films should ever be following fads (Star Wars and Star Trek inspired and otherwise), but set fads. Trend-setting, not trend-hopping.
One of the most infuriating things to me was the over-blatant product placements. I believe there's a 3 second freeze on a 7-UP billboard...? (groan).
I didn't like TSWLM (comedic moments making crude allusions to other films), but I don't think it's so bad that I wouldn't consider it in Moore's golden era. Brief reprieve in FYEO, but then downhill from there again. I thought QOS was the same pattern being replayed....
But ...! I cringe as much at YOLT. Chubby bubby Connery, gadgets being pulled out of Tardis style pockets, yukyuk jokes, a gruesome and pretty dweeby Blofeld.... Blech. Loved it as a kid, but as an adult, I can't watch it anymore. I guess a double-bill of YOLT and MOONRAKER would not be so bad. Both over the top, space-oriented Bonds.
Give me a Lektor device and silently brooding hitman any day....
I always felt there was too little music in Moonraker. The score is really good and I quite like the title song but on top of the fact that most of the action is goofy there isn't much atmosphere in the action scenes because its just silent. Specific examples especially are the cable car scene and the boat chase scene, for the most part these action scenes have no music at all (as far as I can remember i've not watched Moonraker in a while). I just remember it being really silent through out a lot of the action.
Nintendo's immensely popular Goldeneye 64 paid nice tribute to Moonraker by featuring the Aztec complex as a bonus level. Guards in yellow space suits, moonraker lasers, and a duel with Jaws. ahh what fun.
Moonraker, along with TSWLM, resurrected 007 from the campy, low budget drudgery of the early 70's and put 007 back on top where he belongs!
My current 10 favorite:
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
At the time, yeah, MR was absolutely the worst. It just kept topping itself in awfulness for me, and it was years before I even tried to see it again. But I found VIEW TO A KILL so blah it went into the running for worst, and since it didn't have Ken Adam and Derek Meddings eye candy, it took over for me as dead last (until TND, DAD, CR and SKYFALL came along, though in all honesty I don't consider SKYFALL to even be a Bond movie.)
"Achievement is it's own reward - pride obscures it."
Major Garland Briggs, in TWIN PEAKS
MR over the top? Check.
Silly moments? Sure.
Excessive? Guilty as charged.
My next question: so what?
MR is also a glorious piece of popcorn entertainment that is so large in scale, ambition and grandiosity that it puts to shame the relatively mundane attempts of recent Bond films that claim to be larger than life.
Don't get me wrong, I like my Bond to be ruthless with a Flemingesque mean streak.
But I also long for Bond to move through a Ken Adam universe.
Ken Adam. Remember him? Not only the most famous production designer in the history of movies (courtesy of 007) but a man whose influence on the series has NEVER been equalled.
And the series has never really recovered from his absence.
Why? Because Adam designed a Bond reality that is bigger, better and more bizarre than ours.
And so did Fleming. The sooner Fleming fans acknowledge that the books were larger than life and enamored with the bizarre the better a film like MR will look.
MR haters will always bemoan the fact that Bond goes into space.
OK...I get it. Some fans can never accept it. Lets agree to disagree.
But I've said it before. IF...if...Bond HAS to go into space then the plot of MR is as good as it gets.
When is Hugo Drax and his megamaniacal plot going to get the respect he richly deserves from Bond fans? I would argue that not only is he the last great supervillian of the series but his scheme needs to be reappraised by Bond historians as being the most chilling in the entire canon.
Chilling and then some, when you consider we live in a world where guys like Dick Cheney talk about ethno-bombs.
I kid you not, Bond fans. Drax's eugenics philosophy is the dark heart of a popcorn movie aimed for kids (how cool is that?) and as such it deserves a little more consideration than the same old lazy criticisms I've heard since 1979.
Lazy? Thats a fighting word and I'll stick by it. Because, quite frankly Im getting a tad bored with outright dismissals of Bond films.
Criticize? Of course.
Hate? Its your right.
Dismiss? Sorry. No Bond film can be dismissed. Period. Any arguments about this point will be settled Scaramanga style at 1O paces.
MR is flawed and overcooked. It is also, in its own way, magnificent and as impressive as any film in the series. Like wine, time will be its friend in the long run.
MR over the top? Check.
Silly moments? Sure.
Excessive? Guilty as charged.
My next question: so what?
MR is also a glorious piece of popcorn entertainment that is so large in scale, ambition and grandiosity that it puts to shame the relatively mundane attempts of recent Bond films that claim to be larger than life.
Don't get me wrong, I like my Bond to be ruthless with a Flemingesque mean streak.
But I also long for Bond to move through a Ken Adam universe.
Ken Adam. Remember him? Not only the most famous production designer in the history of movies (courtesy of 007) but a man whose influence on the series has NEVER been equalled.
And the series has never really recovered from his absence.
Why? Because Adam designed a Bond reality that is bigger, better and more bizarre than ours.
And so did Fleming. The sooner Fleming fans acknowledge that the books were larger than life and enamored with the bizarre the better a film like MR will age in the long run.
MR haters will always bemoan the fact that Bond goes into space.
OK...I get it. Some fans can never accept it. Lets agree to disagree.
But I've said it before. IF...if...Bond HAS to go into space then the plot of MR is as good as it gets.
When is Hugo Drax and his megamaniacal plot going to get the respect he richly deserves from Bond fans? I would argue that not only is he the last great supervillian of the series but his scheme needs to be reapraised by Bond historians as being the most chilling in the entire canon.
Chilling and then some, when you consider we live in a world where guys like Dick Cheney talk about ethno-bombs.
I kid you not, Bond fans. Drax's eugenics philosophy is the dark heart of a popcorn movie aimed for kids (how cool is that?)and as such it deserves a little more consideration than the same old lazy criticisms I've heard since 1979.
Lazy? Thats a fighting word and I'll stick by it. Because, quite frankly Im getting a tad bored with outright dismissals of Bond films.
Criticize? Of course.
Hate? Its your right.
Dismiss? Sorry. No Bond can be dismissed. Period Any arguments about this point will be settled Scaramanga style at 1O paces.
MR is flawed and overcooked. It is also, in its own way, as impressive as any film in the series. Like wine, time will be its friend in the long run.
"Is anything broken?"
"Only my tailor's heart."
I couldn't of put it better, expertly written
“The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. "
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
MR haters will always bemoan the fact that Bond goes into space.
OK...I get it. Some fans can never accept it. Lets agree to disagree.
There's that, but there's also the fact that Moonraker the novel was such an expertly written thriller that I'm left bewildered as to why the producers didn't simply follow the plot in the novel. It would've made for a much better film. As it stands, Moonraker the film is a massive disappointment.
Take For Your Eyes Only as an example, a film which has a plot line that amalgamates elements from two short stories in Fleming's For Your Eyes Only novel, and I found the film entertaining to watch and a refreshing change from Moonraker. In my view, For Your Eyes Only is easily the best Bond film starring Moore. If the producers had used a similar approach and used the Fleming source material for Moonraker, I have no doubt that the film would've been better.
MR haters will always bemoan the fact that Bond goes into space.
OK...I get it. Some fans can never accept it. Lets agree to disagree.
There's that, but there's also the fact that Moonraker the novel was such an expertly written thriller that I'm left bewildered as to why the producers didn't simply follow the plot in the novel. It would've made for a much better film. As it stands, Moonraker the film is a massive disappointment.
Take For Your Eyes Only as an example, a film which has a plot line that amalgamates elements from two short stories in Fleming's For Your Eyes Only novel, and I found the film entertaining to watch and a refreshing change from Moonraker. In my view, For Your Eyes Only is easily the best Bond film starring Moore. If the producers had used a similar approach and used the Fleming source material for Moonraker, I have no doubt that the film would've been better.
"Felix Leiter, a brother from Langley."
Silhouette ManThe last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,871MI6 Agent
MR haters will always bemoan the fact that Bond goes into space.
OK...I get it. Some fans can never accept it. Lets agree to disagree.
There's that, but there's also the fact that Moonraker the novel was such an expertly written thriller that I'm left bewildered as to why the producers didn't simply follow the plot in the novel. It would've made for a much better film. As it stands, Moonraker the film is a massive disappointment.
Take For Your Eyes Only as an example, a film which has a plot line that amalgamates elements from two short stories in Fleming's For Your Eyes Only novel, and I found the film entertaining to watch and a refreshing change from Moonraker. In my view, For Your Eyes Only is easily the best Bond film starring Moore. If the producers had used a similar approach and used the Fleming source material for Moonraker, I have no doubt that the film would've been better.
I agree - if Fleming had featured more heavily in Moore it would have been a great help instead of an abrupt slap in the face of literary Bond fans!
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
I think a lot of the MR fans like the movie due to some sort of sentimental attachment they have to it from their childhood. I remember in the MR making of documentary they mentioned that after TSWLM a lot of children wrote in saying that they liked Jaws, but wished that he wasn't a bad guy. So yeah MR was made for children, its a childrens movie. Thats why people have fond memories of it, they loved it as a child.
The reason I rank it as one of the worst isn't because Bond goes to space. No its because its a cheesy cartoon knock-off of TSWLM with elements of Star Wars sprinkled in to pander to the new space fad. Don't get me wrong I dont hate the film, I still enjoy it and its not my least favorite bond. But its easily RM worst.
I think a lot of the MR fans like the movie due to some sort of sentimental attachment they have to it from their childhood. I remember in the MR making of documentary they mentioned that after TSWLM a lot of children wrote in saying that they liked Jaws, but wished that he wasn't a bad guy. So yeah MR was made for children, its a childrens movie. Thats why people have fond memories of it, they loved it as a child.
The reason I rank it as one of the worst isn't because Bond goes to space. No its because its a cheesy cartoon knock-off of TSWLM with elements of Star Wars sprinkled in to pander to the new space fad. Don't get me wrong I dont hate the film, I still enjoy it and its not my least favorite bond. But its easily RM worst.
Agreed, couldn't have put it better.
“The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. "
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
which side are you on Suzuki? You also agreed with a different post on page 2 that defended Moonraker.
Good question, Firemass,I think that MR ispoorly done, made,almost for children, laughable in some parts and with bad acting (holly Goodhead) BUT, I have great memories of watching it with my father who loves it to pieces and I get alot of enjoyment out of it (It's still the worse Moore) so that's why I agreed with both. Answer your question?
“The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. "
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
YES - Moonraker is bottom of the barrel by a wide margin in my opinion. Also, being honest, I really thought Diamonds Are Forever, despite a few good parts, was highly disappointing, as well as Die Another Day.
Comments
I would also rank it above Diamonds are Forever, Die Another Day, Quantum of Solace and On Her Majesty's Secret Service...(The last one proberbly being very shocking to pretty much everyone on this forum, but I have motivated my reasons for that numerous times
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I have no qualms whatsoever with Bond in space, laser guns, and the super race plot. Although I will admit the Jaws love scenes were goofy. My only real complaint with Moonraker is Bond being a know-it-all about the rare orchids. However, that was really no worse than Lazenby spouting off latin names for butterflies.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
I agree. Moonraker the novel was brilliant, an absolute top notch thriller that I could recommend even to non-Bond fans. Moonraker the film, however, is best forgotten. I hope they'll remake it one day.
It's not that the space sequence is outdated (I'm a big Star Trek fan and I also love Star Wars, so old sci-fi SFX is fine for me); it's the fact that there was a sequence in space in the first place.
Agreed.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
It's probably my most watched Bond film! It's fun, entertaining. Michael Lonsdale is superb!
MR is not a low point in Bonds history. It was the highest grossing film until Goldeneye!
DAF I'd by far the weakest 007 film.
Amen brother!
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
Here! Here! I second that!
Never understood all of the MR hate on here!
Exactly. Plus, space featured as a plot device in DAF(T).
MR also contains a couple of standout moments. Corrine's death is beautifully filmed - like a dream sequence from an European horror film. The fight in the glass factory is excellent, the g-force scene and bonds refusal of help from holly is unique. The opening fight for the parachute is great - admittedly tainted by jaws flapping his arms while circus music plays. But Moore is actually really good in the movie - his assassination of the sniper is classic Moore and Drax is one of the best villains in the Moore era.
So really the only parts that bother me are the gondola hovercraft - and that's only when it rises out of the water - the actual chase is fine. Jaws falling in love. The rubber python fight and the space station laser fight - again - its just the lifelessness of the astronauts fighting not so much bond going into space - that's not the stumbling block for me that it is for most others.
I'd rate MR above DAD and DAF. I also find MWTGG perhaps the most boring of the bond films. Except for Chrisopher Lee and the 360 car stunt - undermined by the slide whistle sound - I find MWTGG very flat.
Some good points, Corine's death was beautifully filmed and I too liked Drax as
a Villain. I still think Moonraker is a great Bond ( when you're in the mood ) just
as YOLT.
One of the most infuriating things to me was the over-blatant product placements. I believe there's a 3 second freeze on a 7-UP billboard...? (groan).
I didn't like TSWLM (comedic moments making crude allusions to other films), but I don't think it's so bad that I wouldn't consider it in Moore's golden era. Brief reprieve in FYEO, but then downhill from there again. I thought QOS was the same pattern being replayed....
But ...! I cringe as much at YOLT. Chubby bubby Connery, gadgets being pulled out of Tardis style pockets, yukyuk jokes, a gruesome and pretty dweeby Blofeld.... Blech. Loved it as a kid, but as an adult, I can't watch it anymore. I guess a double-bill of YOLT and MOONRAKER would not be so bad. Both over the top, space-oriented Bonds.
Give me a Lektor device and silently brooding hitman any day....
“It reads better than it lives.” T. Case
Moonraker, along with TSWLM, resurrected 007 from the campy, low budget drudgery of the early 70's and put 007 back on top where he belongs!
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
Major Garland Briggs, in TWIN PEAKS
MR over the top? Check.
Silly moments? Sure.
Excessive? Guilty as charged.
My next question: so what?
MR is also a glorious piece of popcorn entertainment that is so large in scale, ambition and grandiosity that it puts to shame the relatively mundane attempts of recent Bond films that claim to be larger than life.
Don't get me wrong, I like my Bond to be ruthless with a Flemingesque mean streak.
But I also long for Bond to move through a Ken Adam universe.
Ken Adam. Remember him? Not only the most famous production designer in the history of movies (courtesy of 007) but a man whose influence on the series has NEVER been equalled.
And the series has never really recovered from his absence.
Why? Because Adam designed a Bond reality that is bigger, better and more bizarre than ours.
And so did Fleming. The sooner Fleming fans acknowledge that the books were larger than life and enamored with the bizarre the better a film like MR will look.
MR haters will always bemoan the fact that Bond goes into space.
OK...I get it. Some fans can never accept it. Lets agree to disagree.
But I've said it before. IF...if...Bond HAS to go into space then the plot of MR is as good as it gets.
When is Hugo Drax and his megamaniacal plot going to get the respect he richly deserves from Bond fans? I would argue that not only is he the last great supervillian of the series but his scheme needs to be reappraised by Bond historians as being the most chilling in the entire canon.
Chilling and then some, when you consider we live in a world where guys like Dick Cheney talk about ethno-bombs.
I kid you not, Bond fans. Drax's eugenics philosophy is the dark heart of a popcorn movie aimed for kids (how cool is that?) and as such it deserves a little more consideration than the same old lazy criticisms I've heard since 1979.
Lazy? Thats a fighting word and I'll stick by it. Because, quite frankly Im getting a tad bored with outright dismissals of Bond films.
Criticize? Of course.
Hate? Its your right.
Dismiss? Sorry. No Bond film can be dismissed. Period. Any arguments about this point will be settled Scaramanga style at 1O paces.
MR is flawed and overcooked. It is also, in its own way, magnificent and as impressive as any film in the series. Like wine, time will be its friend in the long run.
"Is anything broken?"
"Only my tailor's heart."
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
There's that, but there's also the fact that Moonraker the novel was such an expertly written thriller that I'm left bewildered as to why the producers didn't simply follow the plot in the novel. It would've made for a much better film. As it stands, Moonraker the film is a massive disappointment.
Take For Your Eyes Only as an example, a film which has a plot line that amalgamates elements from two short stories in Fleming's For Your Eyes Only novel, and I found the film entertaining to watch and a refreshing change from Moonraker. In my view, For Your Eyes Only is easily the best Bond film starring Moore. If the producers had used a similar approach and used the Fleming source material for Moonraker, I have no doubt that the film would've been better.
That said, could do a great update for the Craig years.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
What's wrong with that?
The second half of Skyfall is pretty much set entirely in the UK as well. That hasn't done it any harm.
I agree - if Fleming had featured more heavily in Moore it would have been a great help instead of an abrupt slap in the face of literary Bond fans!
The reason I rank it as one of the worst isn't because Bond goes to space. No its because its a cheesy cartoon knock-off of TSWLM with elements of Star Wars sprinkled in to pander to the new space fad. Don't get me wrong I dont hate the film, I still enjoy it and its not my least favorite bond. But its easily RM worst.
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
which side are you on Suzuki? You also agreed with a different post on page 2 that defended Moonraker.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
Moonraker is in my Top 5 with CR GE SF GF
“It reads better than it lives.” T. Case