In defense of Moonraker finale
yc95
Posts: 3MI6 Agent
Yeah, yeah, I know – I’m in the minority of a minority here. Even among those who (sheepishly) admit a fondness for Moonraker, most of them like it DESPITE the space battle at the end. Hardly anyone claims to LIKE the final laser shootout.
Well, I want to register a humble defense of the finale, and would love to hear from anyone who agrees (if you exist!).
Let me first say that I agree that “Bond in outer space” was a shameless and cheesy nod to the popularity of Star Wars and sci-fi in general in the late 1970s. For a Bond purist, I can see why this movie, and especially the ending, is a huge deviation and disappointment. No argument here.
However, if you take off your Bond lenses for just a minute, and imagine the ending standing on its own, as a 70s movie apart from the Bond franchise, I think you could argue that the final action sequence was unique even among science fiction films. We’ve seen battles in outer space a million times before and since, but they almost always involve ship-to-ship (or fighter-to-fighter) combat, not friggin’ “dismounted infantry” combat! Sure, it’s completely implausible, but the cinematic appeal of a zero-gravity, three-dimensional shootout between human beings and not machines is just too wild and crazy not to love… Maybe they didn’t pull it off well enough, but they did what they could with the effects of the time. (In fact, I kind of like the low tech approach!)
Most climactic movie battle sequences bore me to tears, but the Moonraker one has stuck with me. Maybe it’s just because I’m a product of the 70s and its Star Wars sensibilities, but I’d love to see someone try to pull off a similar action sequence with today’s technology.
What do you think???
Well, I want to register a humble defense of the finale, and would love to hear from anyone who agrees (if you exist!).
Let me first say that I agree that “Bond in outer space” was a shameless and cheesy nod to the popularity of Star Wars and sci-fi in general in the late 1970s. For a Bond purist, I can see why this movie, and especially the ending, is a huge deviation and disappointment. No argument here.
However, if you take off your Bond lenses for just a minute, and imagine the ending standing on its own, as a 70s movie apart from the Bond franchise, I think you could argue that the final action sequence was unique even among science fiction films. We’ve seen battles in outer space a million times before and since, but they almost always involve ship-to-ship (or fighter-to-fighter) combat, not friggin’ “dismounted infantry” combat! Sure, it’s completely implausible, but the cinematic appeal of a zero-gravity, three-dimensional shootout between human beings and not machines is just too wild and crazy not to love… Maybe they didn’t pull it off well enough, but they did what they could with the effects of the time. (In fact, I kind of like the low tech approach!)
Most climactic movie battle sequences bore me to tears, but the Moonraker one has stuck with me. Maybe it’s just because I’m a product of the 70s and its Star Wars sensibilities, but I’d love to see someone try to pull off a similar action sequence with today’s technology.
What do you think???
Comments
And although you make comparisons between the laser fight and "Space Invaders," I really don't see how the pixels of an arcade game are the same thing as what was in Moonraker. Personally, I felt some real flesh-and-blood drama in the shootout that I DON'T feel in most movie shootouts. Maybe I wouldn't call it "realistic" in a art-imitating-science way, but it seemed to me that the deaths of the Space Marines were at least *compelling* in a sense. The vapor jets from the hits to their spacesuits, the muffled screams, the way their inertia causes them to hurtle into the void with no chance of being recovered... I mean, who goes into a battlefield with nowhere to hide or take cover, when your enemy might be in any direction around you, and the slightest rip to your suit means instant death? It's absolutely NUTS, which is exactly why I loved it!
Still---in its defence---I'd say that it was very much 'of its era'
I'm actually all for Bond returning to space one day---and doing it right: Think 'Apollo 13' rather than 'Star Wars.' We spend at least a half hour of the film showing Bond undergoing serious and rigorous training...
I think the villain's final lair should be on the dark side of the moon B-)
This should be Craig's fifth or sixth (final) Bond film... :v
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
IMO MR delivers it spectacularly! More than it has ever been given credit for.
007 in space? Madness, you say?
But of course! And therein lies the subtle genius of that finale.
Look at the caper. Drax's master plan. As far as`plans go...its a doozy. Global domination is not enough...this guy has delusions of godhood!
Blofeld was never that crazy! (Come to think of it...no one else has been THAT crazy. Christopher Walken included.)
Now, consider this, if you absolutely HAVE to get Bond into space I maintain that this is a totally viable plot.
The MR haters (and there are plenty) need to make the allowance that this a compromised movie. There IS no reason for Bond in space except for Star Wars. Period. But wait a minute.
The MR space finale has been tarred and feathered beyond reason. Take a step back and you realize what a staggering acheievement Ken Adam, Derek Meddings and the crew accomplished in 1979(!).
Quibble all you want about the fx, for 1979 its impressive stuff. And the space station is another Ken Adam masterpiece.
Jaws`in love? Terrible, you say?
Am I the only Bond-fan in the universe who believes that this is an absolutely ESSENTIAL scene in not only the movie...but the entire series?
I kid you not. If not for Jaws in love...the finale has no emotional resonance.
Yes, I know, that love-at-first-sight scene is not a good moment...but if you erase that scene and accept the fact that Jaws (or any henchman) would save a loved one from extinction then one can appreciate how glorious is the scene when Bond turns JAWS.
Jaws and Dolly are not up to Drax's perfect standards and, therefore, expendable. It takes Bond to wake Jaws up and it is a brilliant manuever...but more than that...it is the emotional core of the movie.
For you see even the henchman, the monster,has a soul and in the Bond universe, to acknowledge that an Oddjob could love ANYTHING is stepping outside the formula.
That close-up of Richard Kiel, when he looks helplessly at Dolly is, quite simply, one of the most touching moments in the series.
For you see, Bond and Holly would fit right in Drax's new world. Jaws? Expendable...just like 99.9% of us in the audience.
For a split-second in time...we are the henchman.
When Jaws disobeys Drax...there is a shudder in the henchman universe. An unprecendented event in the Bondian annals. The villian and his henchman in conflict? Unthinkable.
Humanize the henchman? Not my cup of tea either. I prefer my Red Grants to be ciphers.Like Jaws.
But MR forces the issue: even a henchman is human.And in that single moment of longing, Jaws is the face of humanity.
MR is the only Bond film to have a villian follow his megalomania to its logical exztreme. Drax is the only bad-guy in the asylum of Napoleons who believes he's God.
Can it be that the only possible caper for such a villian requires outer space?
Is it possible that MR is actually better BECAUSE Bond goes into space?
In its own crazy and glorious way MR gets better with age. Oh sure, the film will always be the low point for some fans. But that doesn't matter.
Bond had no business being in space, that's for sure...but he went.
And, with his usual style and panache, he conquered. Make no mistake about that.
Defend the MR finale? How about a show of hands who think the finale has been unfairly thrown into the trash-heap for way too long?
"Jaws, you obey ME!!!"
And yes, that's the odd thing about MR. It's a crazy movie, but the moments of drama for me work far better than in any of the PB films or the latest CR.
As for the finale, it reminds me of the tagline "Where other Bonds end, this one begins!" You see YOLT saw Bond almost go into space but that stalled. 12 years on, and he's there. It didn't seem so crazy back then imo, because in those days everything moved forward a lot, there was more progress. Now everything's gone retro.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I am not a big fan of the finale of MR, as it is extremely silly, but I do think it is fun and I much prefer it to finales like that of AVTAK, TLD and DAD. I have a kind of 'it is fun but' relationship to MR in that I think the film is quite enjoyable at times but
Great point. You could write a short book filled only with Drax's one-liners and speeches. Better yet, Hallmark should start a new series of cards with phrases like "boundless munificence", "unloved seasons", "your seed, like yourselves", "tedious inevitability" and the like. They could call it "Addraxions" perhaps?
Sorry to drift off-topic. I prefer most of what precedes the space battle to the battle itself. At least they weren't stupid enough to have Bond fly the shuttle himself; he needed Holly to do it. I also agree with zilcho that the turning of Jaws is one of the more interesting points in the series -- the relationship between he and Drax is usually lost in the hubbub of the one between he and Dolly, which less interesting.
And the lazer battle was dandy. {[]
Wow, what a great analysis! I always liked the implied condemnation of eugenics in the Jaws/Dolly scene in MR, but I never really thought of it that clearly before. Great post!!!
And I all wanted to do with this topic was make a case that the laser shootout was cool...:p