Moonraker

Moonraker (1979)

Runtime: 126 minutes

Directed by: Lewis Gilbert

Starring: Roger Moore, Michael Lonsdale, Lois Chiles, Richard Kiel, Corrine Clery

From: United Artists

I figured it was about time to do another Bond film as it's been a few months. I am trying to get back in order so it required me to watch this again, even though I wasn't really looking forward to the task. This isn't one of my favorite Bond movies, I'll put it that way.

The plot concerns the odd Hugo Drax (Lonsdale) who is extremely rich (he owns a fancy castle which looks like it's in France even though it's supposed to be in California; they try to explain it away but it doesn't quite work) and owns a company that manufactures space shuttles. Turns out, he is crazy and has somehow constructed a space station without anyone finding out. It will be used to host the finest of the human race as the rest of the humans will be killed by a toxin that harms them but not plants or animals. The journey starts off in California before going to Venice (Italy, not California or Florida), Brazil, and then... outer space, where things get REALLY ridiculous and implausible.

It's a shame that I agree with the consensus that this is one of the worst of all the Bond movies; I mean, the locations all are quite pretty and there are some great action scenes, from the cold open involving being thrown out of an airplane and the legit awesome stuntwork that was done, as it was none of that fake-looking CGI crap; instead they did it practically with real stuntpeople. There are other quality action moments. 007 fights a guy who is Japanese and of course knows martial arts and dresses like a samurai! That was sweet.

But the story and how it's quite similar to The Spy Who Loves Me, that doesn't help matters, nor does it help how preposterous it is (even compared to the last one). The story is what turns me off the most, along with all the humor and how much of it doesn't work. I mean, you see a pigeon do a double-take! And there is plenty of footage that is undercranked or overcranked to make it faster or slower than it was originally filmed.

I won't complain about how you can't believe what you see, especially once you get to outer space. You can nitpick that all to death for having what seems like hundreds of logic flaws and things that make no sense. It at least is filmed pretty well and looks real good even in 2013. But the villain looking like a grown-up Eddie Munster (to steal a quote) which doesn't help his cause. It is best described as an off-kilter performance and if that is what they were going for, it worked. It was low-key, for sure. At least he said some pretty amusing lines and admits to wanting to kill 007 in creative ways. There are some pretty atrocious one-liners that sometimes make zero sense, though. Jaws returned and like the rest of the movie, it's pretty silly and light in tone, which doesn't always work.

While this has its moments, overall this is among the worst of the Moore Bond movies. Once I see them all I'll officially list where I rank them from best to worst. I'll be back Thursday night with something completely different.