Before I start my review I must mention that Moonraker is the ONLY movie that made MORE THAN 200 Million$ in the’70s. Is it a good or bad movie? Let’s see .
Capitalizing on the success of the previous "The Spy Who Loved Me" and taking advantage of heavily reminescent sci-fi craze following the 1977 "Star Wars, " the producers ended up with the most financially successful Bond till Goldeneye, but the positive aspects pretty much end there. "Moonraker" was not intended to be the follow-up to "The Spy Who Loved Me" as "For Your Eyes Only" was to be the 11th James Bond adventure, but the success of Star Wars had Cubby Brocoli make the decision to take the villain, title and nothing else from the novel and send Bond into space. Cubby maintained in the production that it wasn’t science fiction; it was science fact. But that isn’t the case, and this film both isolates itself from the rest of the films AND seems tired.
To begin with, the story is good.very good.
The movie begins with the loss of a space shuttle loaded on a 747 on its way to the UK. While officially it’s said to be an accident the shuttle maker Drax and US and UK Governments are justifiably concerned as the remains of the wreck’s found nowhere. Meeting with the shuttle maker followed by immediate threats to Bond’s life raises suspicions of Drax’s involvement. Teaming up with Dr Goodhead(secretly sent by CIA) Bond confirms Drax’s involvement. In what? Eliminate the human race(with a toxin derivative of orchids, no less) and start over with a new master race using a team of couples that’s to be secretly transferred to a "radar-invisible" secret city in outer space temporarily. How Bond disrupts this is the movie’s story.
But it’s hidden beneath everything else in the film. The ridiculous attempts at humor in the script make the film very boring, and the overall plot of the villain; destroying the world and then re-creating it; is a carbon copy of "The Spy Who Loved Me" and even more ridiculous. Space shuttles existed then, but a space station like that and a space program that organized wasn’t even thinkable back in the 1970s, and it doesn’t even exist today.greatly futuristic! With everything that goes on the film, you don’t think of it as a Bond picture. It’s either an elaborate, overly-dramatic science fiction film or a drama with some science fiction in it. Our eyes journey very very beautiful locations in Brazil, Venice and finally to the outer space where a toyish yet spectacular battle takes place mid vaccuum space. Some scenes are memorable such as the encounter with Jaws atop a winch mid air, fight with a python underwater, Bond inside a spinning wheel, gadget laden boat above all, Jaws falling in love etc. The pre-title sequence shows Bond kicked out of an aeroplane, reaching another man who’s flying mid air, snatching his parachute and having a safelanding . as unbelievable as heroic it is! Despite the exotic locations and gorgeous scenes, the movie ends very plainly lacking the "Bond" touch .
Roger Moore gives a poor performance, and the female lead; CIA agent Holly Goodhead, is again rather pathetically than betterly American. Jaws’s return was un-needed yet he befriending Bond is a highlight I’d say. A lot of the suspense and intrigue at the beginning of the film looks and feels good, but because of the extreme emphasis to SFX at the end, it somehow doesn’t really work. Special effects of this sort belong in Star Wars, not 007, but you could never tell that the filmmakers didn’t actually go up into space and shoot real spacecraft. The models and rewound camera techniques are impressive. The music is very very beautiful. The interesting thing about this film and TSWLM is that, while the films are good, the music is more exciting, enchanting, and everything the film was supposed to be. We have good performances by Q and Moneypenny as usual, General Gogol and Fredrick Grey reappear, and we have a beautiful farewell performance from Bernard Lee as M. In his best performance as the head of MI6, Lee’s final scene; seeing 007’s love-making to Goodhead, is a bit of a copy-off of TSWLM, but he does it so well. No one can replace the original M, who died of cancer after filming. Hugo Drax is a very interesting villain, with a very interesting death.
Some quotes are memorable.
[Watching the direct broadcast to White House and Buckingham palace that shows Bond in bed with a woman in spacecraft]
Defence Minister: My God, what’s Bond doing?
Q: I think he’s attempting re-entry, sir.
Miss Moneypenny: Why are you so late, James?
James Bond: **I fell out of an airplane without a parachute.
James Bond: [Marvelled looking at the beautiful bungalow] **Good God!
Corinne: The Drax residence. Every stone brought from France. Cute, isn’t it?
James Bond: Magnificent. Why didn’t he buy the Eiffel Tower as well?
Corinne: He did, butthe French government refused him an export permit.
Hugo Drax: Jaws, Mr. Bond must be cold after his swim. Place him where he can be assured of warmth.
Dr. Holly Goodhead: Have you broken something?
James Bond: Only my tailor’s heart [she kisses him].
Q: **Be careful, will you? Now, there’s ten darts: five blue-tipped, armour-piercing; five red-tipped, cyanide coated, causing death in thirty seconds.
*James Bond: Very novel, Q. Must get them in the stores for Christmas!
Hugo Drax: First there was the dream, now there is reality. Here in the untainted cradle of the heavens will be created a new super race, a race of perfect physical specimens. You have been selected as its progenitors. Like gods, your offspring will return to Earth and shape it in their image. You have all served in public capacties in my terrestrial empire. Your seed, like yourselves, will pay deference to the ultimate dynasty which I alone have created. From their first day on Earth they will be able to look up and know that there is law and order in the heavens.
Conclusion: MOONRAKER - An Enjoyable Bond Movie Better Than Reputation and Worse than the other whole lot.