Could have spoilers
"Moonraker" was not intended to be the follow-up to the tired "The Spy Who Loved Me." "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. 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. 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.
Roger Moore again gives a tired performance, and the female lead; CIA agent Holly Goodhead, is again rather pathetic. Yes, she's an astronaut and scientist, and she can fight, but why couldn't she fight the goons who knocked her and James out? The acting by the person in the role isn't Bond quality. Jaws's return was un-needed and he could've easily become Bond's ally without the worthless, puny girlfriend. A lot of the suspense and intrigue at the beginning of the film looks and feels good, but because of the tired feel of the film and actors, it doesn't really work.
The film is better than TSWLM, however. 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 far more impressive and believable than any kind of CGI used in the new Star Wars films. The music is very beautiful. The interesting thing about this film and TSWLM is that, while the films are tired, the music is 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.
The film gets 5 and 3/4 stars out of 10.
"Moonraker" was not intended to be the follow-up to the tired "The Spy Who Loved Me." "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. 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. 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.
Roger Moore again gives a tired performance, and the female lead; CIA agent Holly Goodhead, is again rather pathetic. Yes, she's an astronaut and scientist, and she can fight, but why couldn't she fight the goons who knocked her and James out? The acting by the person in the role isn't Bond quality. Jaws's return was un-needed and he could've easily become Bond's ally without the worthless, puny girlfriend. A lot of the suspense and intrigue at the beginning of the film looks and feels good, but because of the tired feel of the film and actors, it doesn't really work.
The film is better than TSWLM, however. 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 far more impressive and believable than any kind of CGI used in the new Star Wars films. The music is very beautiful. The interesting thing about this film and TSWLM is that, while the films are tired, the music is 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.
The film gets 5 and 3/4 stars out of 10.