Moonraker : appreciation or hate?

OHMSS69

Maybe this has been cvovered in an earlier thread, I don't know. I am gonna just "run it up the flagpole and see who slautes it."
I see alll the apprecialtion for certain films , I have even seen an appreciation thread for the universally despised DAD, Howefer I don't recall seeing one for my most despical film in the series: MOONRAKER.
Despite all the hate I have to dump on this entry I did find some things enjoyable.
1. Great locations
2. The PTS
3. Villian Chang and the final fight with Bond
4. the centrifudge
They took good advantage of the locations and you did have a feeling of "being there"
I consider the PTS to be one of the best if not the best in the Bond series. Even the over the top joke at the end with Jaws flapping his wings like a pathetic chicken and landing on the circus tent did not ruin this suspense filled scene. and yes, those were real stuntmen performing a real stunt.
That fight between Bond and Chang in that glass factory was supreb.
Seeing Moore in that Cengtrifudge was one of the few time that he actually looked lost and scared in a Bond film.

That being said MR has so much that drags the film down.
The over reliance on slapstick. Despite the fact that the film is a reworking of the previous TSWLM, the humor and suspense found equal balance in that effort. MR just had too much emphasis on the comedic elements. Even Jaws is messed up here.
Lois Chiles is the most boring and worst excuse for a Bond girl. At least Halle Berry and Denise Richards were good to look at but not Lois. She actually auditioned for the role of Anya in TSWLM. Maybe Cubby felt sorry for her missing out on the earlier film and took pity onher sorry ass.
Hugo Drax. He was the most boring and dull villian in the series. Lonsdale's performance just fell FLAT as a pancake. Only reason I did not fall asleep watching him was because I was too busy shaking my head at this riduculous movie. the head shaking kept me from dozing off.

0BradyM0Bondfanatic7

How are there 3 of these threads all at once?!

MajorDSmythe

The other 2 threads have now been exterminated.

darren_blacksmith

Of course it's firmly tongue-in-cheek, but it was of its era, and aimed at a more family audience than some of the more recent films. It's also so stylishly, charmingly and epicly done that I can easily forgive it some of its excesses!

To your four points I would also add:

A beautiful soundtrack
Visually stunning and inventive set design

007RogerMoore

I love it! And DaltonCraig007 does too. It's incredibly good IMO!

SaintMark

It is just a perfect movie in which Roger Moore found his perfect rendition of 007, Drax is a brilliant villain, the death of Corinne is one of the darker moments in the franchise, one of the better soundtracks of the franchise, brilliant sets, wicked sense of humour, etc.

This movies has its small flaws like most 007 movies but is an impressive movie made by really passionate people that really gave us a big eventmovie and made it look good.

actonsteve

Moonraker is like a big dog wagging its tail knocking people over unintentionally. In places it is absolutely annoying, but you cant help but love it.

There are bits of seriously misplaced humour that bring the thing crashing down. Then you get a oneliner, a Ken Adam set or a bit of JB music and all is right with the world again.

But, god it tries your patience.

DaltonCraig007

An excellent Bond film ! Outstanding soundtrack, sets, cinematography... lots of very sexy girls, top-mark action scenes, an epic adventure ! And Sir Rog gives the most entertaining Bond performance. How can you not love passing 2 hours with Sir Rog who is clearly enjoying himself ?

Not the best film ever made by any means, but certainly one of the best Bond films ever made !! A highly entertaining movie :)

actonsteve

SaintMark said:

This movies has its small flaws

They aren't small flaws...they are whopping great cavernous ones.

Dolly running into Jaws' arms as romantic music plays and a space station distintegrates around them is shark jumping of the most shocking kind.

DaltonCraig007

actonsteve said:

SaintMark said:

This movies has its small flaws

They aren't small flaws...they are whopping great cavernous ones.

Dolly running into Jaws' arms as romantic music plays and a space station distintegrates around them is shark jumping of the most shocking kind.

Maybe not the most subtle kind of humour.... but I find that scene utterly hilarious.

0iker0

I like it, the same way I like every single Bond picture, however, I think it's the worst bond movie ever. Jaws is now just a clown with a good dentist. Some of the scenes in RIo make no sense, like the one in which Jaws doesn't kill the girl because a few people pass by, or the one in which Jaws falls in love. How can there be a mayan piramid in the Amazonas? The PTS is one of the best if not the best of the whole series, but the rest of the film is just too slow and makes not much sense.
The villain is overrated, and the bond girl is not too good.
And I haven't started with the best part: it goes to outer space. And then some say that the invisible car was too much...
The soundtrack, the sets, the pts and the title sequence are the best part of the film. I'm not saying it's bad, just that it's not in my top 21 of the Bond films...

SaintMark

actonsteve said:

SaintMark said:

This movies has its small flaws

They aren't small flaws...they are whopping great cavernous ones.

Dolly running into Jaws' arms as romantic music plays and a space station distintegrates around them is shark jumping of the most shocking kind.

The 007 movies are all with their flaws and the one mentioned does not matter it is somehow a redemption of a great character like Jaws. Most people dislike that fact having met Richard Kiel in person I find that a good choice by EON. The man is a prince, a gentle and gracious giant that made my then small girls feel really comfortable around him.

BAIN123

actonsteve said:
Moonraker is like a big dog wagging its tail knocking people over unintentionally. In places it is absolutely annoying, but you cant help but love it.

There are bits of seriously misplaced humour that bring the thing crashing down. Then you get a oneliner, a Ken Adam set or a bit of JB music and all is right with the world again.

But, god it tries your patience.

Indeed it does. Especially by using this classic bit of music in the most cringe-worthy manner possible.

"This is no time to be discussing politics"...damn wrong movie

There's two good lines in MR in the space of a minute:

"Have you broken something?"
"Only my tailor's heart"

"What was that for?"
"For saving my life"
"Remind me to do it more often"

thelivingroyale

I love alot of Moonraker, but THEY RUINED JAWS!!!!! and for that reason, it's low on my list.

Still, most of it is good. The PTS is one of my favourites, there's some great action, rog is at his best, the music and the sets are good, it's an enjoyable film apart from Dolly/Jaws.

MajorDSmythe

I'll go with hate.

It starts on a bum note, and gets progressively worse until it finally ends. MR is in my bottom 5 worst Bonds, with only CR, QOS and AVTAK keeping it from the bottom.

timmer

thelivingroyale said:
I love alot of Moonraker, but THEY RUINED JAWS!!!!! and for that reason, it's low on my list.

Still, most of it is good. The PTS is one of my favourites, there's some great action, rog is at his best, the music and the sets are good, it's an enjoyable film apart from Dolly/Jaws.

That's about it. It's a great escapist Bond film, but the Jaws/Dolly thing was a bit much. Very groan worthy. But otherwise a splendid Bond film. Wonderful entertainment. Marvelous sets and scenery, populated by a bevy of both colourful and dangerous characters, plus a big rubber snake. :P

darren_blacksmith

It's easy to sneer in retrospect, but remember that this was a film from a time with a very different style and sensibility from now, and it was really a *family* film. So much of it felt like it was there to entertain the children in the audience.

How anyone can rate DAD above it is beyond me. Where MR is beautiful, charming and stylish, DUD is just ugly, jarring, and random.

Chevron

I've learned to enjoy it for what it is. There's some good investigating by Roger, good locations, wonderful music and two of the most gorgeous Bond girls ever, Corinne Clery and Lois Chiles. Good acting from Roger after the centrifuge almost kills him. Also a chilling death scene for Corinne.

Major plot hole though: if the poison plane grows in the amazon rain forest and the mooraker launch complex is there, then why bother shipping the plants to Italy to get put in the glass containers and then ship them all they way back to the amazon.

BAIN123

BTW I'm going to go for appreciation. It's by no means one of my favourites and I actually rank it pretty low but that there are some fantasic aspects about it. Namely this

If you haven't already done it try listening to it in a dark room with your eyes closed. Its sublime.

actonsteve

darren_blacksmith said:
It's easy to sneer in retrospect, but remember that this was a film from a time with a very different style and sensibility from now, and it was really a *family* film. So much of it felt like it was there to entertain the children in the audience.

How anyone can rate DAD above it is beyond me. Where MR is beautiful, charming and stylish, DUD is just ugly, jarring, and random.

Well, I saw this first as a ten year old on a family outing to the pictures - and even at that age the Jaws/Dolly/Bondola bits brought me up short and I thought that was rubbish.

And why is a Mayan pyramid in the Amazon jungle? The mayans didn't get south of Honduras. Unless it a timeshare holiday home...

To be fair, there is alot of good stuff there as well. Its the Broccoli team at the top of their game.

darren_blacksmith

actonsteve said:

Well, I saw this first as a ten year old on a family outing to the pictures - and even at that age the Jaws/Dolly/Bondola bits brought me up short and I thought that was rubbish. I think even at the time people had problems with it.

Depends on your sense of humour too though.

timmer

Chevron said:
Major plot hole though: if the poison plane grows in the amazon rain forest and the mooraker launch complex is there, then why bother shipping the plants to Italy to get put in the glass containers and then ship them all they way back to the amazon.

I'll take a stab. I'm not sure the plants were shipped to Italy. I think the glass containers only were shipped to Brazil. But I could be wrong. The scientists may have needed facilities in Europe as opposed to the jungle to get their work done properly, but Drax did have a rather hi-tech set-up in Brazil, so yes I see your point. I'm not sure what was going on actually. Will have to watch the movie again and suss that out.

Murdock

I like Moonraker, but I'm curious to know the reactions of people back in 79, when they first found out that James Bond was going where William Shatner has gone before. XD

Zekidk

Apprecialtion here as well.

It has one of the best scores of the series, one of the best and most wellwritten villains, fantastic and great use of locations (a Lewis Gilbert trademark) and wonderful action sequences.

myworldisenough

I love to hate it becuase it takes Bond too far into the realms of fantasy and has many annoying moments, where it is too cheesy, with far too much overt humour and is far too unbelievable. I prefer other Moore movies to be honest, with the exception of TMWTGG & the awful AVTAK. That said however, it still has some great moments too and at least you can say Bond making it into space is certainly a unique moment in the history of Bond. The score is great, the sets / locations also. Also there are the darker elements like when the killer dogs are unleashed to chase Corinne Clery's character to death.

darren_blacksmith

I'd say science fiction, not fantasy (albeit science fiction with silly humour)

Signed_By_RogerMoore

Love Moonraker in every way...such a great Bond film. So much going for it and an all-time classic for me. How anyone can prefer it as a Bond film to CR is just baffling

BAIN123

Signed_By_RogerMoore said:
Love Moonraker in every way...such a great Bond film. So much going for it and an all-time classic for me. How anyone can prefer it as a Bond film to CR is just baffling

So?? You love MR but you love CR more right?

I appreciate many of its strenghts: the cinematography, the music, the special effects, Moore's performace... Bond escapism par excellence!
I'm not very fond of the more silly jokes... but when I watch it I try to enjoy MR as it is instead of compare it to my favorites ones (FRWL, CR, OHMSS,...)

Signed_By_RogerMoore

BAIN123 said:

Signed_By_RogerMoore said:
Love Moonraker in every way...such a great Bond film. So much going for it and an all-time classic for me. How anyone can prefer it as a Bond film to CR is just baffling

So?? You love MR but you love CR more right?

Ah fluffed what I meant to say! Should have said how anyone can prefer CR as a Bond film to MR is just baffling

SaintMark

Signed_By_RogerMoore said:

BAIN123 said:

Signed_By_RogerMoore said:
Love Moonraker in every way...such a great Bond film. So much going for it and an all-time classic for me. How anyone can prefer it as a Bond film to CR is just baffling

So?? You love MR but you love CR more right?

Ah fluffed what I meant to say! Should have said how anyone can prefer CR as a Bond film to MR is just baffling

No more common sense, CR the movie screwed CR royally over, it is one of those movies I prefer the book more. :D

In the matter of Moonraker I love the novelsiation by mr Wood (based upon his own screenplay), after Fleming my favorite reads bookwise.

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