137 replies to this topic

[SteelClaw]

When I was browsing the forums, I noticed that a lot of people have been saying bad things about Moonraker, I have'nt seen it and don't think I will because I've heard so many bad things about it, I need to be presuaded even though I am a bit turned off at the fact that Drax wants to replace the human race

[Stuart]

Steelclaw,

This will be the Cliff's Notes version of the Moonraker theses.

Moonraker is the premier James Bond action comedy. It appeals primarily to children, while still being, officially at least, a James Bond film with the attendant action and sex.

It has a spectacular first few minutes, but as soon as Jaws begins flapping his arms (you'll understand when you see it), it all goes downhill.

Barry's score is beautiful, but it gets lost in the shuffle.

Special effects are only marginal, considering the pioneering work done by Kubrick and his crew on 2001: A Space Odyssey.

There are some great lines, particularly from Drax.

My conclusion: It's worth seeing, just to have a complete view of the entire James Bond canon.

[Righty007]

Moonraker is one of the best Bond films!

[YOLT]

TMWTGG is far better than MR.

[homerjbond]

MR is definitely one of John Barry's best score.

The centrifuge scene is about as close as Roger Moore came to enduring any kind of torture as Bond.

The movie went downhill as soon as it went into space (which, of course, was inevitable)

Although the movie does provide one of the better double entrendes (by Q, no less): "I think he's attempting reentry, sir."

[ChandlerBing]

Moonraker is a gangrape of a good Fleming novel. It was someone's idea to cash in on Star Wars, for reason whatsoever except to make money and pillage Fleming. It's okay to watch every once in a great while. It's definitely not Fleming's Bond. If he would have still been alive in 79, he would have been very pissed.

[Cabainus]

While Moonkraker is a far cry from most of the other Bond films, it relates to the sudden craze for sci-fi which was generated after the release of 'star wars' at about the same time.

The public wanted it and the producers gave it to them, in a similar way as LALD did the blaxploitation films, and to a certain extent DAD did with thte current crop of hi-octane action films.

This was reflected in the box-office receipts which were the highest recorded until GE in 1995.

The bottom line is, Bond is a franchise and it is important to deliver a film that makes money, in my opinion this is far better than releasing a film that gets obscured and hidden away amongst everythng else that is released at the time.

In 1979 for better or worse everyone was talking about Bond..

In terms of the contents of the film, there are still some memorable scenes, and aspects of this film

John Barry's haunting score
The centrifuge scene that leaves Bond visably shaken
The death of Corrinne to hunting dogs
Hugo Drax's ever-so-dry one-liners

I am the first to admit that at times things got silly, with the double-taking pigeons etc but it is still a worthy addition to the series, and deserves at least the slightest praise..

[zencat]

Don't listen to what people say about Moonraker, SteelClaw. Watch it and make up you're own mind. It's one of my favorite Bond films.

[Coop]

I love Moonraker. I saw it on my 9th birthday on the big screen and it blew my mind. It also turned me into a massive Bond fan.

The few things that grate with me now are the bad rear-projection, a **** model shot of the waterfall, the double-take pigeon and some very obvious product placement. The rest of it seems just as wonderful now as it did then.

[Coop]

Blimey, this site is censorious

If you're wondering what the deleted word is, it begins with a c and rhymes with slap.

PS> Am I the only one that finds the Moonrakers in space scene rather beautiful and moving?

[homerjbond]

Originally posted by Coop
Blimey, this site is censorious

If you're wondering what the deleted word is, it begins with a c and rhymes with slap.

Clap?!?

[Loomis]

MOONRAKER is great fun, much more so than its successor, FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. I love the fact that the Bond series contains films as lighthearted as MOONRAKER as well as films as dark as LICENCE TO KILL (although MOONRAKER does have its moments of sadism) - variety has always been the spice of the Bond pictures, each of which mirrors its time. The franchise would not have lasted had they attempted to make FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE again and again and again. Still, I agree with YOLT that THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN is far better than MOONRAKER. Now THERE's an appallingly underrated Bond flick.

[Turn]

Moonraker's problem is it is basically the same theme and plot as TSWLM. Other than that, it's not nearly the worst of the series.

[zencat]

But don't all Bond movies have basically the same theme and plot?

[Turn]

Originally posted by zencat
But don't all Bond movies have basically the same theme and plot?

True to an extent. But if we take that too literally then we'll wind up like those people who like to say the films are the same thing over and over again. Basic structures, sure, but different enought to keep people interested.

You've gotta admit, though, these had a lot more in common than the "let's start WWWIII plots" or diamond satellite plots. MR and TSWLM came out within two years of each other and the others at least had some breathing room between doing the same things.

[stromberg]

There is no such thing as a bad Bond movie. The only one that comes close to it is a non-EON production starring Sean Connery.
Go see Moonraker and see if you like it. No matter of you love it or hate it, you won't regret it. Moonraker can be both: great fun but unfortunately also a major disappointment. I think I pointed it out in another thread: After all those years, I'm still not sure about my own feelings about MR. Whenever I start to watch it, I don't know what will happen. One day I love it, the next day I hate it. Brings me to the idea that I could give it a try tonight...

[zencat]

Originally posted by stromberg
...I'm still not sure about my own feelings about  MR. Whenever I start to watch it, I don't know what will happen. One day I love it, the next day I hate it. Brings me to the idea that I could give it a try tonight...

I'm having this same problem at the moment with TWINE. Just don't know how I feel about it. Time for another look, I think.

[kevrichardson]

1. Moonraker has a very good underrated John Barry score . It came after the TSWLM form Marvin Hamlisch . Plus it's the last of Shirley Bassey . And the last time the 007 theme is heard on screen .

2. The best of the Moore pre-title sequences , once again after the ski jump from The Spy . It had to be out of this world. The Free Fall fight between Bond and the pilot for the parachute is what Bond film stunts are all about . No CGI ,just two real guys going at it .

3. In all reality Moore is not that bad as Bond . It just that some of the slapstick material gets in the way .

4. Hugo Drax is not that bad of a Bond Villian . He has some great lines , and Michael Lansdale is very effective.

5. Great space effects . The last half of the film has some great set .

6. The Space Battle was nicely staged , similiar to the underwater fight in Thunderball.

7. The film has two rather good fight . The one between Bond and Chang and the Cable car with Jaws and Dr.Goodhead .

8. The best Bond girl name since Pussy Galore - Dr. GoodHead !

[BONDFINESSE 007]

IF YOU DONT WATCH MOONRAKER YOU WILL MISS OUT ON A VERY ENJOYABLE BOND FILM its very good and the music is top notch, and the action is to die for

[ChandlerBing]

Originally posted by kevrichardson
1. Moonraker has a very good underrated John Barry score . It came after the TSWLM form Marvin Hamlisch . Plus it's the last of Shirley Bassey .  And the last time the 007 theme is heard on screen .

2. The best of the Moore pre-title sequences , once again after the ski jump from The Spy . It had to be out of this world.  The Free Fall fight between Bond and the pilot for the parachute is what Bond film stunts are all about .  No CGI ,just two real guys going at it .  
*****I will agree with you.  It's very well done.  Eraser ripped it off. and it was done with CGI.  

3. In all reality Moore is not that bad as Bond . It just that some of the slapstick material gets in the way .
******Fans of Roger's go for it here.  I like him as an actor, but he's just off-based in this one.

4. Hugo Drax is not that bad of a Bond Villian .  He has some great lines , and Michael Lansdale is very effective.
*******He's very, very droll!
5. Great space effects . The last half of the film has some great set .
*******Was Nominated for Academy Award.  Still feels very Buck Roger-ish.  I keep expecting to see Buck and Wilma.  

6. The Space Battle was nicely staged , similiar to the underwater fight in Thunderball.
*******The ending was horrible.  Not Bond at all.  
7. The film has two rather good fight . The one between Bond and Chang and the Cable car with Jaws and Dr.Goodhead .
********Jaws is a Herman Munster clone who keeps getting punched in the mouth and kicked in the balls by Bond, and it's not funny.  Terrible!

8. The best Bond girl name since Pussy Galore - Dr. GoodHead !

Dr. Goodhead is an ice machine in the charisma department.

[bribond]

It's not a bad film, just a little too silly. It's certainly worth watching, particularly the centrifuge scene, the pheasant (sp?) shooting scene, and the opening. The John Barry score is good, Venice looks great, the French girl is good and I met the actress who plays Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles) last year and she was very nice and posed for a picture with me.

[SteelClaw]

Originally posted by zencat

I'm having this same problem at the moment with TWINE. Just don't know how I feel about it. Time for another look, I think.

I liked TWINE, I thought it came to a close second with DAD for being my favorite Bond movie.

[Dr Niles Crane]

Is there anything good about Moonraker?

No.

[Dr Niles Crane]

just kidding... or am I? Does Moonraker make Die Another Day look like a Merchant Ivory fillm?

[JackChase007]

Only one - the precredits scene. That's it. Once it's over, you might as well shut it off. The fight in freefall is fantastic, and is the only aspect of the movie that I respect (aside from Barry's score, which is far from bad, but not one of my favorites either).

[YOLT]

Stone is stone and water is water:) If I want space adventure I will watch SW not Bond. Bond is a spy, ok he is a super spy, but no not in space. However MR has very good moments, but easily, TMWTGG is better.

[brendan007]

i think moonraker is too harsly criticised, sure bits of it are silly, but on the whole its an enjoyable light hearted bond film. i even wrote an essay defending the film as part of my final exams at school.

[M_Balje]

I know the movie Cald Moonraker,but the moost disapointing point is that he go to the Moon.

The scene's that there show stuf about the moon of talking about it are
a litle bit too long sometimes.

Points i like the moost:

The Gunbarrel scene with and end of Jaws in the circus.
The Maintitles with the second best song of Shirley Bassey. (Daf is my favorite)

The hoovercraft scene in Italy.
The Waterfall scene's and the fight with the snake.
The Dogs scene.
Talking with M,Moneypenny and Q in Italy.

Place in my Top 20: number 18.
That's before Goldfinger and Thunderball and after Dr No.

[Kronsteen]

Well, Moonraker is a very good movie. It has many of the great elements that a Bond film should have...

- Lonsdale as Drax is a great villain. One of the best!
- A good and beatiful girl
- Roger Moore in good form
- The evil henchman Chang
- Lots of great actionscenes
- Possibly the best locations ever used in a Bondfilm, except for space: Brazil, Venica and California.

The film is great until Bond goes into space, which is far to weird for him and Jaws turning good is just silly. But otherwise I cant find any major disappointments in the film...

[BONDFINESSE 007]

THE MOVIE WAS FUN, ALL THE WAY AROUND