Moonraker
doctor maybe
Posts: 8MI6 Agent
I have not seen Moonraker in such a long time. I would be willing to say a good ten years or so. Having seen it when I was just a young chap, I did not really understand what was going on at the time and now that I have a little more age on me I decided that I would watch it today. I thought "Surely it can't be that bad!". As I type I am watching the boat chase. The movie started strong enough (no parachute?! AWESOME!) Then Jaws showed up. After that, to California, still good, Venice, still good and then he drives the long boat on land where I think I could let that slide until the pigeon does a double take. I know it is a Roger Moore Bond movie so there will be humour, but come on. So minus Jaws, and the pigeon, still a good movie. Then Rio. Awesome so far, Moore is definitely very physical in this film which is welcome on my part. A cool slide down the cables from the cable car, after which Jaws and this girl ruin the ending to the scene, then a great fight in the ambulance when Bond is flung out and starts walking up the road. Now then, cut to Bond in a poncho on horseback to a monastery which doubles as M's office a la the Queen Elizabeth in TMWTGG, and I don't even know what is going on with all of this silliness. Then it's right back into action in the Amazon. So far, it is not such a ghastly movie overall, but there are definitely parts that should still be on a cutting room floor somewhere. I won't write it off as the worst Bond film, but I will see where it goes. Comments on the overall film? Still good? Or far too zany to merit a viewing but once every ten years?
"My dear Colonel Bouvar, I don't think you should have opened that car door yourself."
Comments
It's a good fun family Bond film (unless Dad is a cumudgeon). This one is in a genre of its own, however.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
All the money is up on the screen.
"Frederick Gray! What a surprise. And in distinguished company, all wearing gas masks. You must excuse me, gentlemen, not being English, I sometimes find your sense of humor rather difficult to follow!"
and also some rather edgier parts such as Corrine's death at the hands of the dogs and Bond in the centrifuge.
The humour is quite well judged for the most part:
"You missed, Mr. Bond"
"Did I?"
The plot is recycled from the previous film and it's an obvious Star Wars cash in but it all fits together rather well and zips along at a steady pace.
I think for some, the ending in space is a step too far but it never bothered me. Had that ending come during Connery's reign it may have felt out of step, but for a Moore film, all of which have a comic strip feel to them, I actually think it works quite well.
The film does have problems, most notable for me are Lois Chiles, who I don't think is very good and also the Jaws/Dolly ending would have benefitted from being a bit darker ie. have them die. But on the whole, I love Moonraker.
As a side note, I would love to see a faithful adaptation of the Moonraker novel with Jared Harris as Drax.
Pay attention, 007! I don't get how people can multitask while watching movies.
Anyway, it sounds to me like you really enjoy Moonraker, but are afraid to admit it due to its "bad reputation"
Has anyone else on here watched it with the Gilbert/Wood/Wilson commentary track? It's pretty entertaining. Wood HATES the line, "I never learned to read" because it makes Corrine seem like an imbecile. haha
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
The generation that has watched the "old" 007 films via VHS, DVD, Blu Ray, etc and may not have been alive when they were released in the theaters may not appreciate that these movies are a product of their times. These movies were events back then and things in the 1970's were pretty miserable in a lot of ways. So some great escapism was in order. When these movies were made, it wasn't with the purpose of folks 30 years down the pike ripping them to bits. Sure, Moonraker strayed pretty far from Fleming and the earlier Bond films, but it's still great entertainment. Can't wait to be able to see it on Blu Ray.
I think this is a good point and always worth bearing in mind with older films. They were released in cinemas, viewed a few times at most and that was it. The idea that viewers would have the ability (let alone the desire) to pore over them frame-by-frame was unthinkable.
11- TB. 12- OP. 13- LALD. 14- TMWTGG. 15- FYEO. 16- YOLT. 17- TND. 18- QoS.
19- TWINE. 20- AVTAK. 21- MR. 22- DAF. 23- DAD.
Very well said.
Plus most of the MR haters know and judge the movie only from a relative small tv screen and never have experienced them in a cinema -{
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
I was born in '86 and didn't even know what a Bond movie was until I was probably 12 or 13... Once I started watching though I was instantly hooked. I guess I'm a little out of the ordinary though in that I prefer the older movies to the newer ones. I actually rather like the old graphics and feel of the special effects of the time. Give me a Connery movie any day on any size screen and I'm glued. Moonraker is a good movie and I can see how back when it first came out people would have been amazed so to speak but most people my age are de-sensitized to all of the effects because every movie made now is pretty much all computer. How many films are made on location in todays world? They are mostly in front of green screens and they don't do much for me. I like that all of MR's money was poured into the sets and effects but I think what holds me back is the just genuinely silly parts of the movie. Not that others weren't silly, but certain parts seemed just a bit TOO silly. Top 15 for me, though.
+1
In one of the DVD featurettes (I'm sure it's also in the new blu-ray set), they pretty much set up the special effects from scratch and were not up to par with the leading effects teams at the time as seen on Star Wars (Lucasfilm employed a state-of-the-art quad digital printer for The Empire Strikes Back in 1979), Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind and Superman the Movie. It was interesting how they filmed one effect element on film at a time and added successive effect elements on the same strip of film, combining miniatures, matte paintings, laser blasts, etc., all of which making it a precarious prospect because if the film broke, got scratched or damaged in anyway, they would have to start all over again. Its Oscar nomination for best visual effect is a testament to the end product, despite the fact that it did not belie the arduous process they went through.
I absolutely love the centrifugal scene. And the cable car scene was pretty good. But overall, Jaws (as he is in this movie), his love scenes, the whole super-race thing, and laser fights in space... was just too much for me
1 - Moore, 2 - Dalton, 3 - Craig, 4 - Connery, 5 - Brosnan, 6 - Lazenby
I think you'd like being waterboarded more than AVTAK, Blackleiter....am I right?
Also, Moonraker is awesome, and I think pretty much everyone barring the most hardcore no-fun Flemingists will confess to little at least a little bit of affection for it.
Actually I can think of quite a few things worse than watching AVTAK. Watching Casino Royale '67, for example. Or any number of non-Bond films. Although AVTAK is at the bottom of my list of Bond films, I would still enjoy it more than the Twlight series, or Adam Sandler films, or Kate Hudson rom coms, or Gerald Butler rom coms, or Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson kiddie films, or movies directed by Uwe Boll, or..........well. you get the picture!
Cool! I admit that there are parts of Moonraker that make me cringe, but if I were to sit down and choose between a Goldeneye or newer Bond film to watch or Moonraker, I would pick Moonraker... if only for sentimental value