Moonraker

After "The spy who loved me" Bond producers wanted to do "For your eyes only". But the massive "Star Wars" success made them change their mind -sending 007 to space.

"Moonraker" (1979) is maybe too fanciful and slapstick, with too many special effects, stunts and gadgets. The film goes too far away also from the previous movie ("The spy"), which was perfect.

But "Moonraker" is very well done, from a technical point of view it's a masterpiece. It's surprising to see how everything was made with accuracy -for movies, in 1978-79, there were neither computers nor CGI effects.

The film is really funny and entertaining, with beautiful sceneries and sets. Venice, France, California, Brazil and Guatemala are the fantastic locations. Scenes in the space are only in the last 30 minutes of the movie -so it's not true that the film is entirely set in the space, as some detractors say.

The film contains also homages to "The magnificent seven", "Close encounters of the third kind" and "2001" -discover them! 7,5/10

"Moonraker" was the most expensive Bond ever, but after the success of "The Spy Who Loved Me", the producers were confident enough to take a step into the top budgets, also contemplating that after the blockbuster hit "Star Wars", a technical show up in space would sell. The movie was an immediate success, but apparently didn't become one of the most popular for the fans in long term, admittedly it has a few ups and downs. A very silly bit is the gondola, driving on land in Venice. The centrifuge, on the other hand, was a terrific idea. The opening sequence is a classic again: Bond falls out of a plane without a parachute, so he has to get one on the way down! The duel between Bond and Jaws (returned from "The Spy Who Loved Me") in the dizzying height of the cable railway is breathtaking. So is the beauty of Corinne Clery; not easy for Lois Chiles afterwards to get Bond's attention, but "take me around the world one more time" is a beautiful line. We get a Goldfinger type of villain again, a more sophisticated person though: Drax meets Bond early on, we know he's the bad guy, but we don't know what his plan is. The musical score of "Moonraker" includes quite a few ironic comments, but the western reference was a bit too obvious. The set design for Drax' base is remarkably different from the rocket base in "You Only Live Twice". While the latter was covering a huge round crater, Drax' controls in "Moonraker" are crammed in a rather narrow triangle room, but with a hundred screens nonetheless.

Roger Moore's entry in which faces dangerous adventures around the world . Moore's outing with overwhelming action and spectacular scenarios , the film teams Bond with an American agent (gorgeous Lois Chiles) in an effort to stop an industrialist from destroying the surface world so he can rule an outland kingdom . After his first introduction in ¨Live and let die¨ as tough and attractive James Bond of the Ian Fleming's famous creation , Roger Moore went on playing various 007 , and ¨Moonraker¨ is one of the best . The picture starts with an overblown free-fall opening , the best part of this film and introducing a giant villain (Richard Kiel who will repeat in subsequent entry). This Bond film deals about seductive James Bond OO7 as the ultimate spy hero who is assigned by MI6 a dangerous mission pursuing an intergalactic mad man (Michael Lonsdale in a potentially sinister presence as the head baddie) . Meanwhile , Bond goes to Venice there happens a high-octane race and Bond discovers clues in Rio De Janeiro. James is double-crossed and continues to follow the lead , deciding to investigate in Amazonas . Following the tracks all lead a nasty billionaire , a maniacal villain who schemes a world conspiracy.

Roger Moore as James Bond is cool , he does remarkably well , he earns in irony, suavity and sympathy, however also has coldness ,cunning , intelligence and toughness . Here Bond is an efficient , relentless agent trying to chase obstinately the criminals , traveling around the world as always , as this globe-trotting story is set in England ,America, Venice, Amazonas , Rio De Janeiro and exterior space . Bond to achieve his aims , along the way uses violent means even pulling off brutal killings against enemies who wreak all sorts of havoc . As always Bond will use gadgets provided by ¨Q¨ (Desmond Llewelyn) . In addition , there appears the usual as Lois Maxwell, ¨MoneyPenny¨ , Sir Gray as Geoffrey Keen , Walter Goetell as Russian general and Bernard Lee's last appearance as ¨M¨ .

The picture contains comic-strip adventure , sensational pursuits , silly set pieces, great stunts, tongue-in check humor, frantic action packed , amazing gimmicks and stimulating images like are the happenings on the spectacular races, the breathtaking aerial scenes, and the spacial fights . As is like a roller-coaster , as is fast-paced, light, excitement, funny and entertaining ; it's a winner for oo7 fans and non-fans alike . The chase and suspense formula wears strong in this entry .Enjoyable title song by Shirley Bassey and stirring musical score fitting to action by the usual composer, the classic John Barry . Riveting and fancy main titles by habitual Maurice Binder , furthermore eye-popping production design by Ken Adam . It's brimming with colorful and fascinating cinematography by cameraman Jean Tournier. The motion picture produced by habitual producers, Albert R Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson , being professionally directed by Lewis Gilbert who directed various outings though with no originality . Director Gilbert keeps this moving at an incredibly fast pace and this story about every's favorite super-spy falling in love with a CIA agent is one of author Ian Fleming's best . The film will appeal to James Bond series's buffs but good for fans only ; because this one goes on far too long . Rating : 6'5 , well worth watching .

This James Bond adventure from 1979 takes our beloved agent 007 to outer space after he chases the crooks all over the world. He goes there with Dr. Holly Goodhead (Lois Chines) and after them is the steel teeth Jaws (Richard Kiel) so that life in space doesn't get too boring.

Roger Moore does his job well without taking it too seriously.Humor has a big part in this movie.Moonraker is an excellent Bond adventure which is a little underrated.It has some brilliant action scenes for you to enjoy.

I really envy James Bond because he gets all the ladies and he gets to travel all over the world and in outer space.Sure his life is in danger all the time but that's what it takes to be a super agent.

If you want to see James Bond going sci-fi then this is a movie for you to watch.

Considered almost unanimously as one of the worst films in James Bond series, it is time for Moonraker to have a defender. On my opinion, this is Moore's best fourth outing as 007(may be not saying too much, but there are three films left), and a very entertaining sci-fi film. Critics argue that humor plays a strong hand in this movie-strong to such a degree that Bond character loses all personality, becoming blurred in an impressive set of FX and stunt men. I reply: certainly there are flaws, some of them (particularly Jaws conversion towards the end) very ridiculous. But there are good points, too. Remember that pre-credit scene, which was ACTUALLY shot in the air, the motorboat chase or the final space battle, one of the most spectacular moments of the entire series, (yeah, it was unrealistic, OK, but tell me how much realism you can find watching other Bond movies which are frequently referred to as" the best". Think of Goldfinger or You only live twice)

However, Moonraker does not compare to Octopussy or TSWLM, because of a sometimes plodding pacing, due to the addition of unnecessary scenes, especially during the first half, when James is Drax's guest in California. The love story is a mere and inferior copy of TSWLM. And, while in other Moore's films the blend of humor and Bond's trademark coolness worked smoothly, here Bond is not given a scene to show, not necessarily ruthlessness, but a bit of harshness, as we could see in FYEO or Octopussy.

Following Moore's outings will feature Cold War elements which seem to fit more with the character, and better screenplays from Richard Maibaum,the series' screenwriter who was mysteriously absent here.

But action remains mostly exciting, sometimes brilliant, and highlights what could have been a mediocre entry.