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Strengths and Weaknessess in Moonraker (1979)
I just finished watching Moonraker and I wanted to know everyone's opinion on Roger Moore's fourth installment as James Bond.
Strengths:
The locations may be some of the most exotic in a Bond film including California, Venice Italy and Rio de Janeiro Brazil and the cinematography is naturally beautiful.
The Return of Jaws as a foe to continue the success of TSWLM in the Bond franchise.
Minor references to Ian Fleming's Moonraker novel when Minister of Defense mentions the fact he plays bridge with Drax and Drax plan to murder Bond and Goodhead with the rocket's liftoff flames.
Weaknesses
1.The plot: When a Drax Industries space shuttle is hijacked in midair and the crash scene finds no trace of the moonraker, the first suspect is the company that manufactured the space shuttle, not the Russians or any other space exploration competition at that time. When James Bond is sent to meet Drax to apologize for the reckless protection of the Moonraker on behalf of the British government, Drax wants to harm him simply for visiting the facility. If it wasn't for Chang trying to murder Bond in the space simulator, James Bond may have just gone back to London and Drax could continue his secret plans with no further interruptions. Would James Bond have searched the safe if he had no reason to feel threatened? Three locations later in Brazil next to the Amazon river, Drax reveals his plot to use a rare flower to sterilize the human race and rebuild civilization into the perfect utopia. This same plot was just used in the previous film with an underwater Atlantis utopia for Stromberg.
2.The death of Corinne Dufour: While her death can be argued to be the most gruesome murder to all Bond girls in the series, it is done in poor taste with the tone set for the movie; example the three Jaws parachuting, cable car, and riverboating sequences that feel more like a Bugs Bunny cartoon for laughs. A death like this would be more acceptable in LTK or QoS.
3.The writing: The plot holes are embarrassingly attempted to be covered up with a few lines in dialogue. When James Bond asks Drax why did you hijack the space shuttle, he just says he needs it and couldn't make another one on short notice without problems, as if the Brazil and outer space headquarters didn't take years to design and build. Also when the space base is found by James Bond, it is not seen by anyone else on Earth due to a radar jamming system. Once the radar jamming system is turned off, everyone on Earth can see it and arrive to the base in a matter of minutes. I am all for science fiction and fantasy for this Bond adventure but the need to try to explain the possibilities is ridiculous.
4.Jaws falling to his doom three times and still arriving to Drax Brazil HQ before Bond.
As for the Jaws romance, as a silly Bond adventure I think it adds to the film but if you take the movie seriously it is annoying.
Overall I enjoy Moonraker and while I have this movie in my bottom five Bond films, I enjoy it as a spoof of the Bond series and do not try to compare it to the likes of DN, FRWL, GF, OHMSS, CR, etc
Strengths:
The locations may be some of the most exotic in a Bond film including California, Venice Italy and Rio de Janeiro Brazil and the cinematography is naturally beautiful.
The Return of Jaws as a foe to continue the success of TSWLM in the Bond franchise.
Minor references to Ian Fleming's Moonraker novel when Minister of Defense mentions the fact he plays bridge with Drax and Drax plan to murder Bond and Goodhead with the rocket's liftoff flames.
Weaknesses
1.The plot: When a Drax Industries space shuttle is hijacked in midair and the crash scene finds no trace of the moonraker, the first suspect is the company that manufactured the space shuttle, not the Russians or any other space exploration competition at that time. When James Bond is sent to meet Drax to apologize for the reckless protection of the Moonraker on behalf of the British government, Drax wants to harm him simply for visiting the facility. If it wasn't for Chang trying to murder Bond in the space simulator, James Bond may have just gone back to London and Drax could continue his secret plans with no further interruptions. Would James Bond have searched the safe if he had no reason to feel threatened? Three locations later in Brazil next to the Amazon river, Drax reveals his plot to use a rare flower to sterilize the human race and rebuild civilization into the perfect utopia. This same plot was just used in the previous film with an underwater Atlantis utopia for Stromberg.
2.The death of Corinne Dufour: While her death can be argued to be the most gruesome murder to all Bond girls in the series, it is done in poor taste with the tone set for the movie; example the three Jaws parachuting, cable car, and riverboating sequences that feel more like a Bugs Bunny cartoon for laughs. A death like this would be more acceptable in LTK or QoS.
3.The writing: The plot holes are embarrassingly attempted to be covered up with a few lines in dialogue. When James Bond asks Drax why did you hijack the space shuttle, he just says he needs it and couldn't make another one on short notice without problems, as if the Brazil and outer space headquarters didn't take years to design and build. Also when the space base is found by James Bond, it is not seen by anyone else on Earth due to a radar jamming system. Once the radar jamming system is turned off, everyone on Earth can see it and arrive to the base in a matter of minutes. I am all for science fiction and fantasy for this Bond adventure but the need to try to explain the possibilities is ridiculous.
4.Jaws falling to his doom three times and still arriving to Drax Brazil HQ before Bond.
As for the Jaws romance, as a silly Bond adventure I think it adds to the film but if you take the movie seriously it is annoying.
Overall I enjoy Moonraker and while I have this movie in my bottom five Bond films, I enjoy it as a spoof of the Bond series and do not try to compare it to the likes of DN, FRWL, GF, OHMSS, CR, etc
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Comments
"The locations may be some of the most exotic in a Bond film including California, Venice Italy and Rio de Janeiro Brazil and the cinematography is naturally beautiful.
The Return of Jaws as a foe to continue the success of TSWLM in the Bond franchise.
Minor references to Ian Fleming's Moonraker novel when Minister of Defense mentions the fact he plays bridge with Drax and Drax plan to murder Bond and Goodhead with the rocket's liftoff flames. "===
I choose to ignore it's "weaknesses"
It's a top-notch Bond-film. The last of the great epic Bond films IMO.
I think you are being too hard on the plotting. I think it all hangs together well enough as all Bond films pretty much do.
ie Bond is not really in California to apologize. He is there to investigate and Drax is fully aware of this. Drax knows full well that Bond is a dangerous man. "Your reputation proceeds you." Drax naturally would like to accidentally kill him, eliminate this threat, and then of course express his regrets.
Drax's excuse for hi-jacking the MR works perfectly well. Well enough, same with the rader jamming scenario. We are asked rather, to not ponder too deeply, as to how he might have managed to construct the whole set-up, under the radar in the first place.
The indestructible Jaws schtick is a carry-over from the previous film. They only get away with this because it's well, Jaws.
But still, don't forget Oddjob could crush a golf ball with his bare hand.
Bond-villain henchmen tend to be tougher and more resilient than the average bear.
However his falling in love, yes, I could have done without that.
The Dufour death is somewhat unsettling, but it works well enough. Drax's evil credentials are fully established with this scene, if there was really any doubt.
I think Drax's plan to rule a new earth from space, dovetails nicely with Stromberg's, only two year's earlier, mad scheme to rule a new underwater earth.
This is Bond's job, to take-down these Blofeld wannabees, both the space cowboys and the waterbugs.
Barry's Score, The Locations & Ken Adam's sets.
Weaknesses
Every other aspect of the film.
I would love to see this film on big-screen, pristine, digitally restored 2k or 4k viewing. My 40" blu-ray set-up doesn't come near giving this movie the scope it deserves.
Jaws is awful in this film, Kiel seems to have aged about 10 years from TSWLM.
The bits in space aren't as bad as you think from memory but it's still just a very silly idea. If Bond had stopped the shuttle from leaving earth in some kind of tense countdown scenario then it could have been great.
1) John Barry's score - Within the past year I watched a video showing a scene from E.T. without John Williams' magnificent score playing in the background. It just makes you realize how much of an impact music can have on a film. I think that the same can be said for Moonraker. John Barry gave this film a soul. He breathed new life into it by adding so many rich and layered textures. This quite possibly is his best work and the song "Bond Lured to Pyramid" is my personal favorite thing that he has ever done.
2) The locations/cinematography/set design - Everything is top notch here. They aimed to make a giant spectacle and they succeeded.
3) Roger Moore's performance - Not his best but he does manage to hold the whole thing together for the most part. Which was not an easy task.
Weaknesses
1) Way too over the top - I'm just going to list a number of things in here to make it more compact. The idea of Bond going into space proved to be more than many fans could handle. There are numerous plot holes and the film becomes pure fantasy during some scenes. The campy humor just doesn't stop. It's just best to turn your brain off and enjoy the ride, if you can.
2) Jaws - He gets his own special section. They ruined the character by turning him into comic relief. They made him into Wile E. Coyote by surviving falls from terrifying heights. They even had him fall in love.
I can look past the negatives and enjoy the film for the most part. I think that there are much worse Bond movies than this one.
Re Plot Weaknesses point no. 1 - I think you are right about this. Funnily enough I am at present writing an article due to appear on The Bondologist Blog very soon about the lack of reference to Soviet Russia in MR (one very brief scene with General Gogol). It will deal with just this topic and is entitled, "Christopher Wood’s Moonraker (1979) – The Mystery of the Missing Soviet Russia Factor". I intend it to be the first of the new content uploaded to the blog in the Summer 2013 period.
The logical place to continue this investigation would be at point of origin. Even if the Russians are suspect, Bond couldn't very well stroll into the Kremlin during the cold war, demanding answers.
No, of course he flew to Drax Industries in California. That's your obvious next stop after the crash site, especially if you suspect sabotage, which Mi6 did.
1. Roger Moore's performance.
2. John Barry's music
3. Cinematography
4. Locations
5. Manuela
6. Corinne Dafur
7. Loyalty to the basic Manichaeism of Fleming Bond.
8. A Summertime fun movie and Cubby was proud of it.
9. Lois Chiles Vassar joke.
10. Michael Lonsdale in a James Bond movie.
Weakness
1. Extravagance beyond credulity.
2. Comical aspects of Jaws and his new girlfriend.
3. Lack of depth of Hugo Drax.
4. Lois Chiles as a CIA officer.
5. Virtual JB & TSWLM copy for outer space.
How could Bond have work for MI6 when he and his boss reported to the Minister of Defence ?
I just have to say I love the unintended humor here. As someone who has fallen in (and out of) love, I can attest it is indeed a terrifying height.
Unless, of course, the humor was intended. In which case, well done you.
As for MR, the last time I watched it was directly after reading the Fleming novel. Remembering it as one of the worst Bond movies, I was shocked by how much better it was than I remember - the first half especially. (That said, it easily wins the distinction of being the Bond movie most unlike the Fleming book it is based on.)
Yes, many scenes are silly beyond redemption. But if you just let yourself go and embrace the lunacy, it's an enjoyable ride.
ie Bond is in fact an Mi6 agent.
You're confusion might be with the distinction between the political branch and the civil service. Minister of Defence is a politician. Mi6 members from M on down are civil servants. Mi6 is accountable to government oversight, ie Ministry of Defence. Although M does seem to communicate directly with the PM as well.
There is a little mini-history here.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/379632/MI6
But what was the point of your question? How does M consulting/confering/briefing with the Minister of Defence suggest that Bond could not be working for Mi6?
Moonraker is an idiot but a likeable one.
The laziest potrayal of bond ever but the script doesnt even bother with the character. Hes just a mannequin strolling from set to set spouting oneliners
Even Pierce does better then this.
Ha, I honestly didn't notice that until you pointed it out. Perhaps my subconscious is trying to tell me something?
I like that. If I ever have to describe MR in one sentence then I think that this fits nicely.
# Roger Moore playing it seriously
# Excellent and superlative pre credits sequence
# memorable background scores
# locations used. Italy, Brazil, (outer space theme even) etc
# centrifuge sequence
# Michael Lonsdale - especially some of the quotes of Hugo Drax
# never boring, action aplenty
weaknesses
# Roger Moore playing the Idiot and over-use of humor
# Lois Chiles awful character
# Return of Richard Kiel
# last appearance of Bernard Lee as M (could of been in the above list, but sad to see such a great name go from the franchise)
# The shoot em-up sequence with the lasers at the spacestation
# Above all else, the asinine and ridiculous idea to send James Bond into space in the first place. This never occured in the novel. All to cash in on the Star Wars boom of the time. Ok it made a lot of money for them, but what a stupid dumb ass idea it was. Bond should be undertaking missions on earth, not getting involved in laser battles in outer space, but it's no good crying over spilt milk. Damage has been done
True, but how ridiculous & harmful to the Oddjob character it would have been to see him "turn good" - say team up with 007 to try and stop the atomic bomb after he was locked inside the vault with it. Oddjob's willingness to die to serve Goldfinger by preventing Bond from defusing the bomb was an impressive show of real menace. Jaws "turning good" to help Bond fight Drax was, I think, even worse than making him even more indestructible than he was in TSWLM.
That's how I "choose" to see it as well but I think that the intent of the producers was to make Jaws more humane because so many kids liked him at the time. Imagine a MR without all of the absurd comedic moments from Jaws. A film where he doesn't have a forced love interest. When he learns that he would be killed because he doesn't fit the profile of those selected to be in the master race then he would have turned on Drax. This would have been far more interesting then what we were shown. We didn't need the love story to make this happen.
I fell that this is an aspect of the MR plot that is rarely (if ever) touched upon, as YOLT, TSWLM and TND all had a villain playing one superpower against the other to create a war that they will ultimately benefit from. This rather sets MR apart from the other films that had the same basic plot. I find this aspect of the film to be very interesting and as it's very esoteric and specialist it is a perfect fit for The Bondologist Blog to analyse at article length.
Yes, it is very bizarre, in a very good way, of course! That is why Moonraker was my favourite Bond when I was younger and I suppose that it still is in a kind of a way.
It is a very unusual movie, and pure escapism the tone of the film is unlike any other Bond movie, over looking its obvious cringe worthy parts.
How do people take the bit when Bond knees Jaws in the groin and it makes a metallic clang?
Is this just a cheap gag or is the fact that Jaws has a metal penile prosthesis part of why he is physically imperfect and worried about being culled in Draxworld?
Only you could have written that, @TheWizardOfIce, though you do have a point! The metal groin thing is really bizarre, in keeping with the rest of the film, I suppose. A case of too much information, perhaps.
Well it doesn't seem to bother Dolly in the slightest so god alone knows what she's got going on under that white dress that's compatible with Jaws' steel tool!