Read Positive User Reviews for Moonraker

7

marcmyworksJan 27, 2020

One of the more enjoyable of the Roger Moore 007 films. Moonraker combines the right amount of action, camp and story, and seems to really take advantage of the Star Wars-hype of the 1970s.

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8

VidyaBumOct 22, 2021

Having watched 25 Bonds from Dr.No to Skyfall, I place Moonraker at 8/25.

Generally looked down as the epitome of Moore's Bond, an over the top, ultra-comedic, far too silly movie, I found Moonraker to be a great step up from itsHaving watched 25 Bonds from Dr.No to Skyfall, I place Moonraker at 8/25.

Generally looked down as the epitome of Moore's Bond, an over the top, ultra-comedic, far too silly movie, I found Moonraker to be a great step up from its predecessor, The Spy Who Loved Me, from which it takes it main plot.

Moonraker is often chiefly remembered for its space battle where a bunch of plastic dolls fire very fake lasers over a black background.

And it shouldn't.

Moonraker is certainly that, and it is in many ways one of the silliest of the Moores, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have its own qualities:

- a villain with an actual style and presence, carried by an actor that carried the role beautifully
- an overall solid direction and acting, where the actor scenes and the action scenes are equally well handled
- a plot with proper stages that do not continuously contradict themselves
- the second protagonist of this movie, Richard Kiel, aka Jaws

The plot may be silly, but it is not shy of giving nice twists that do not require brain shutdown to be accepted.

The villain is a particularly strong point, because Bond can only be as good as the man he's trying to beat. Drax may have several quirks and may not look menacing, but he is unquestioningly smart, capable and several times brilliant. He acts odd, but establishes dominance several times and plays a good counterpart to Bond.

Jaws in this movie goes from a strange henchman in the last movie, to an almost protagonist. His little side story grows in importance in such a way that it ends up spilling over into the main plot, and it is both cute and well brought in, to the point that when his part in the movie ended, I said to my friend "well now I've lost 90% of the interest in this movie", but there was less than 10 minutes left.

The interaction, lines, direction, music, action, everything in this movie is at least decent, sometimes very good.

So yes, Moonraker is camp, yes it has people carrying French châteaux from France to the US, yes it has a radar that detects an unknown space shuttle at 12:36 and a shuttle of what I can only call Space Marines taking off in their own shuttle at 13:15 to intercept it, yes it has a giant man with silver teeth that eats cable car cables with the girth of a leg, yes it has Moore riding a gondola in the middle of an Italian plaza with the locals thinking they've gone mad, yes it has ninjas defending museums with wooden swords, yes it has all sorts of silly over the top parts, but that doesn't make it in the least bit bad. I was engaged by the characters and action much more than I thought I'd be, I found the villain interesting to fight, I found the story novel and fun to follow.

Moonraker is almost the campest of the camp, but unless you hate that, it is also a wonderfully engaging, well-made, and entertaining movie.… Expand

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9

Kai82Dec 23, 2020

The eleventh James Bond movie and the most science fiction inspired one even to date. The producers were influenced by Star Wars and its great commercial success. So it was decided to adapt to this and let parts of the story happen in space.The eleventh James Bond movie and the most science fiction inspired one even to date. The producers were influenced by Star Wars and its great commercial success. So it was decided to adapt to this and let parts of the story happen in space. For comparison: The Ian Fleming novel Moonraker has nothing like this in it and some parts were later used for Goldeneye (An in name only adaptation if you need a label). The story starts when a Moonraker type space-shuttle is stolen in midair from a shuttle carrier aircraft (The carriers exist in real life and are modified Boeing 747s). James Bond is set to investigate this and starts by asking billionaire Hugo Drax whose Drax Industries build the shuttle for help. His investigations lead him to a much bigger menace. More I wont spoil. The story is good for franchise standards. It has a lot of good twists and is entertaining. I like the science fiction elements but these are not mandatory for me. The next movies never used these again and I can not say that I missed them nor that I hated them. The concept and ideas for the plot / menace are really good and the climax is well done. The actors are fine for me. Roger Moore delivers as always. Michael Lonsdale as Hugo Drax is an interesting antagonist. He is smart, a clever schemer, awfully rich and gets the things done he wants. He is probably in my top 10 James Bond villain list but not in the higher ranks. However Richard Kiel as Jaws is high on the list. He became a fan favorite in the last movie and returns which is remarkable. He is still intimidating, indestructible and has an engaging smile:-). He gets even some bit of development here and I like also Blanche Ravalec in this regard too. Some of his best moments are in this movie (circus tent, carnival or cable scene). The humor is also quite remarkable as some of my favorite jokes of the franchise are from this movie (The Eiffel tower joke alone is remembered by every James Bond fan). Normally I would not point this out in a James Bond movie but the special effects look really good and have aged well for that time. The soundtrack is O.K for me but not remarkable in comparison. Overall it is an enjoyable James Bond movie with great humor and memorable scenes. Slightly misses my 10/10 rating but I re-watched it quite some time.… Expand

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8

alejandro970Jun 25, 2022

Now, a mission on the dark side of the moon; but without Pink Floyd. The fact that creative liberties have been taken is easy to forgive for the typical action sequences of the long-running series. And if you pay attention you will see nodsNow, a mission on the dark side of the moon; but without Pink Floyd. The fact that creative liberties have been taken is easy to forgive for the typical action sequences of the long-running series. And if you pay attention you will see nods to more than one "space" movie.… Expand

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7

MrPajamasFeb 17, 2021

For me, Moonraker didn't beat The Spy Who loved Me, but he wasn't bad. Nice plot with a nice bad guy. I quite enjoyed the end. Location quite nice. Just a good movie that I can recommend.

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7

Kian3000Jul 18, 2021

Moonraker is a pretty good James Bond film. This movie is campy but this is an enjoyable and entertaining movie. Roger More was great as James Bond. The fight choreography is good. The problems that I had in this movie were the main villain'sMoonraker is a pretty good James Bond film. This movie is campy but this is an enjoyable and entertaining movie. Roger More was great as James Bond. The fight choreography is good. The problems that I had in this movie were the main villain's plan had no logic on what he was doing and it felt like a Saturday morning cartoon. The other problems that I had in this film were I didn't like the changes they made to Jaws and there is one fight scene were James Bond is fighting a martial artist and I didn't like the clothing and the weaponry he was holding, I preferred if the Karata guy wore a ninja outfit and was holding a metal bladed Kanata instead. Overall I recommend you seeing this movie.… Expand

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9

Steven1981Mar 24, 2020

Moonraker is 1979 sci-fi adventure sort of action thriller.. Roger Moore returns as James Bond 007 and actor Richard Kiel makes an appearance as iron or metal teethed nemesis, Jaws... Most of the actresses are beautiful and sexy in MoonrakerMoonraker is 1979 sci-fi adventure sort of action thriller.. Roger Moore returns as James Bond 007 and actor Richard Kiel makes an appearance as iron or metal teethed nemesis, Jaws... Most of the actresses are beautiful and sexy in Moonraker especially Dr. Holly Goodhead played by Lois Chiles and we've some excellent scene involving Roger Moore in some metal arm device that spins round and round but some clown speeds the device up so it spins so fast it can be fatal to a human and kill them so Roger Moore manages to stop it eventually after some device that Q (Desmond Llewellyn) gave him short-circuits it or something. We have some excellent fighting scenes and some encounters with villain, Jaws who tries to bite James Bond (Roger Moore) after he jumps out of a plane at the beginning and is using a parachute. We have a giant snake that tries to kill James Bond (Roger Moore) but fails and beautiful women and scenes in space and laser action scenes. All in all this Bond film is great and certainly one of the best and better ones and Michael Lonsdale as Drax is okay too plus Shirley Bassey's excellent and beautiful musical score at the beginning.… Expand

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7

Onlyclassicvg1Aug 14, 2022

The eleventh James Bond movie and the most science fiction inspired one even to date. The producers were influenced by Star Wars and its great commercial success. So it was decided to adapt to this and let parts of the story happen in space.The eleventh James Bond movie and the most science fiction inspired one even to date. The producers were influenced by Star Wars and its great commercial success. So it was decided to adapt to this and let parts of the story happen in space. For comparison: The Ian Fleming novel… Expand

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