It's Thursday on Roger Moore Week and we're heading out of the stratosphere with
MOONRAKER, in which, quite simply - James Bond Goes TO SPACE (to foil another evil dude's plan to remake the world in his own image)
Say what you will about the Roger Moore Bond movies, these cold opens are terrific. Moonraker opens with a free-fall-out-of-an-airplane stunt which they filmed almost totally practically except for a handful of closeups. Honestly - this kind of amazed me. I thought the whole cinematic free fall skydive sequence was something limited by tech to the 21st century, but here they are back in 1979 doing it and making it look really great.
Obviously when Star Wars came out in 1977, the Bond producers pivoted from whatever else they had lined up and said guys guys we have to put Bond in space NOW. So that's exactly what happens here. Evil Man Drax has a secret space station and Bond must go up there with CIA agent scientist Holly Goodhead to stop Drax from poisoning the entire world and then repopulating it with the perfect human specimens he has chosen.
The biggest let down here is Drax. We get introduced to him early on, and he and Bond know they are going to be after each other the whole movie, but honestly, Drax is played so boringly it's a real shame. I feel like with better writing and especially portrayal, Drax could have been up there with Goldfinger. As it is, he's interesting on paper but the two-dimensional monotone performance just makes him forgettable - kind of like the underwater bad guy from the last movie.
A few weird moments in this one - the boat that Bond casually drives up on land, the rather egregious 7-Up billboard product placement in some of the driving scenes, etc - but overall it's a pretty even handed film. I was pretty engaged and interested the whole way, especially the first half. Once Bond finally does get to space - remarkably - the pacing seems to really drag out, with a lack of urgency by a lot of characters who you feel should be a lot more urgent. The space effects try their best but they are a little lacking - especially the laser gun effects - I feel like some of these production elements they sourced right from the 1960s (Star Wars, which came out 2 years before, looks infinitely better, special effect wise)
Observations -
- Moore continues to be unflappable in all situations, and that works, but when it spreads to other characters I don't believe it. I only will accept Bond being totally cool headed in a nightmarish doomsday scenario, I feel like other characters need to play higher stakes in order to make his coolness seem unique
- Nice to see the return of fan favorite Jaws the Henchman from the previous movie. He even becomes a good guy by the end and gets a girlfriend, the moment and musical cue of which gave me a good chuckle.
- Speaking of chuckles, perhaps my greatest guffaw comes on Q's line at the end about attempting re-entry. Classic.
- Bond Bonks - 3 times with 2 women (including his first zero gravity nookie - n i c e) - running total - 33 with 25.
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