Moonraker Movie Review
Q-Branch_2012
Posts: 80MI6 Agent
Well, this Bond is down at the bottom of the barrel as far as Bond movies go. It seems to lack keverything good about Bond, and tries, and failes miserably, to capitalise on the Star Wars craze at the time.
So the basic plot to this movie is that a spaceship (the Moonraker) is stolen while being piggy-backed on a regular 747 aeroplane. Bond needs to investigate what happened to it as its where abouts is currently unknown. He soon discovers hugo Drax and Drax industries, who developed the ship is behind it. This all leads to Drax having a secret space station and plans to live there with a select few people after he poisons the rest of the world.
The movie starts decent enough with the hijacking of the shuttle and then a nice sequence with Bond being thrown out of a plane by none other than Jaws, without a parachute, whcih he then steals from the pilot who he threw out earlier, and must evade the pursuing Jaws, which he manages, the only slight let down is Jaws tryingto fly like a bird after his parachute fails, although this is amusing.
We then get into the meat of the film, which does start promising, but quickly goes south as more and more sci-fi elements are introduced. I particularly hate the laser gun battle in outer space, which should be deleted from the minds of every Bond fan immediately. I also hat Jaws switching alliances and helping Bond, there is no need for this type of stuff in a Bond film, and for that matter I also forgot to mention the whole loves story of Jaws getting a girlfriend, and going to live with her on a space station, I mean come on, you can't even make up this stuff, it is supposed to be a action movie about a secret British secret agent, not a sci fi love story in space.
Once you get over how poor the movie is in quality (By far Moore's worst Bond), the acting is also pretty bad, I think even Moore was in awe with how bad the plot was, as throughout this movie he just has a baffled expression on his face. The tongue is left firmly in cheek with some of the humor, and Moore still has his one liners to deliver, and it is quite funny in places, although some of it is unintentional.
To try and look at this on a positive side, it was the highest grossing Bond movie, up until Goldeneye in 1995. The special effects were also cutting edge at the time and are impressive in places, and the stunts that took place, as always, are great particularly the sky diving pre title sequence and the fight onto of the cable car.
Something else to look out for is the musical door, which is actually the music from 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'.
This movie is pretty ridiculous and is lacking in 'Bondness'. It is let down by its sci-fi plot, and few little things that make it that extra bit silly, like Jaws getting a girlfrined. If you interested in science fiction then you may enjoy this, but as far as being a Bond movie, this is a big let down.
So the basic plot to this movie is that a spaceship (the Moonraker) is stolen while being piggy-backed on a regular 747 aeroplane. Bond needs to investigate what happened to it as its where abouts is currently unknown. He soon discovers hugo Drax and Drax industries, who developed the ship is behind it. This all leads to Drax having a secret space station and plans to live there with a select few people after he poisons the rest of the world.
The movie starts decent enough with the hijacking of the shuttle and then a nice sequence with Bond being thrown out of a plane by none other than Jaws, without a parachute, whcih he then steals from the pilot who he threw out earlier, and must evade the pursuing Jaws, which he manages, the only slight let down is Jaws tryingto fly like a bird after his parachute fails, although this is amusing.
We then get into the meat of the film, which does start promising, but quickly goes south as more and more sci-fi elements are introduced. I particularly hate the laser gun battle in outer space, which should be deleted from the minds of every Bond fan immediately. I also hat Jaws switching alliances and helping Bond, there is no need for this type of stuff in a Bond film, and for that matter I also forgot to mention the whole loves story of Jaws getting a girlfriend, and going to live with her on a space station, I mean come on, you can't even make up this stuff, it is supposed to be a action movie about a secret British secret agent, not a sci fi love story in space.
Once you get over how poor the movie is in quality (By far Moore's worst Bond), the acting is also pretty bad, I think even Moore was in awe with how bad the plot was, as throughout this movie he just has a baffled expression on his face. The tongue is left firmly in cheek with some of the humor, and Moore still has his one liners to deliver, and it is quite funny in places, although some of it is unintentional.
To try and look at this on a positive side, it was the highest grossing Bond movie, up until Goldeneye in 1995. The special effects were also cutting edge at the time and are impressive in places, and the stunts that took place, as always, are great particularly the sky diving pre title sequence and the fight onto of the cable car.
Something else to look out for is the musical door, which is actually the music from 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'.
This movie is pretty ridiculous and is lacking in 'Bondness'. It is let down by its sci-fi plot, and few little things that make it that extra bit silly, like Jaws getting a girlfrined. If you interested in science fiction then you may enjoy this, but as far as being a Bond movie, this is a big let down.
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Comments
Great score, brilliant villain. It's just fun.
Are you kidding? This movie fails on every level. Whether as a Bond film, a sci-fi film, a love story, or even a freaking comedy!... It's not a movie, it's a joke. You're right about the attempt (and miserable failure) to capitalize on Star Wars. But that was the Moore films' biggest flaw wasn't it? Trying to ride on every fad of the 70s? From blaxploitation in Live & Let Die, to Kung Fu in Man with the Golden Gun, to this!.. I'm amazed they never tried to get Moore's Bond to go all Travolta during the disco years 8-)
Thanks for the review, by the way. It summarizes my opinion as well (although I'm not sure if Moonraker grossing more than the Dalton films can be considered a "positive" thing!)
If you don't like it, fine, but don't try and ruin it for the rest of us. Moonraker will always be one of my favorites.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
The point of a review is to give an honest opinion. If he didn't like Moonraker, of course he's gonna "bash" it. If you think a review should always be positive, you're confusing "reviewing" and "promoting". If Moonraker's one of your all time favorites, good for you. It would be a sign of maturity to still be able to enjoy it and not be influenced by negative opinions. Personally, I think a reviewer did his job when he warned us about a movie he didn't like.
I was very young and I loved the Roger Moore films and space shuttles.
Must have watched it several hundred times. I get a great nostalgic feeling when I watch it.
Live & Let Die (blaxploitation)
MWTGG (Enter The Dragon-style martial arts)
Moonraker (Star Wars)
I'm not a fan of Moonraker at all which is saying a lot because I really like Moore as Bond and Jaws was one of my favorite Villains in the entire series.
The plot was silly and the Sci Fi stuff isn't my cup of tea at all. Jaws finding love? Stupid idea. He goes from this beast in The Spy Who Loved Me to a guy who finds love in the second?
Probably the worst of the series. I rate DAF above it,
Agreed, although I still think its slightly above DAD.
1 - Moore, 2 - Dalton, 3 - Craig, 4 - Connery, 5 - Brosnan, 6 - Lazenby
Oh and did I mention Jaws also falls down a waterfall?
great scene. thanks for mentioning it.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
Moonraker- The only movie that matters.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
Instead of approaching the Star Wars topic with phantasy vehicles, the Bond producers sticked with their philosophy of "Science Fact"
Only the old farts who enjoyed MR in their youth in a cinema will understand how amazingly new everything was.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Yes, we know! B-)
I was including myself
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
When Tracy Died I didn't cry....When Vesper Died I didn't cry...When Jaws found his true love and was looking for her in despair inside the space station and finds her in slow cheesetastic motion...tears flowed..tears of joy I tell ya..gives me a lump in my throat just thinking about it...heres to us...my extremely strong cynicism vanishes...
Here's to us indeed good sir -{
Not this old ancient fart!
Once you realize this is the highest quality movie perhaps ever made…then maybe you will begin to understand.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
It looks fantastic, big, epic even. A lot of money was spent on it and
You can see it. -{
Sadly as I got older ( but even more handsome and sexy !
Myself, either skipping or fast forwarding large parts of it. As now I find
Parts of it boring/ silly.
Although I wouldn't totally dismiss it, as some have as it has many good
Points. Then again I could watch it in a few weeks ( in the right mood ) and
Fall in love with it all over again. As I used to skip large parts of QOS, yet now
I quite like it.
1. Thunderball 2. FRWL 3. Casino Royale 4. TLD 5. OHMSS 6. SkyFall 7. GF 8. TSWLM 9. GE 10. FYEO