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.
Comments
To your four points I would also add:
A beautiful soundtrack
Visually stunning and inventive set design
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.
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.
Not the best film ever made by any means, but certainly one of the best Bond films ever made !! A highly entertaining movie :)
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.
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...
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.
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"
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.
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.
How anyone can rate DAD above it is beyond me. Where MR is beautiful, charming and stylish, DUD is just ugly, jarring, and random.
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.
If you haven't already done it try listening to it in a dark room with your eyes closed. Its sublime.
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.
Depends on your sense of humour too though.
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.
So?? You love MR but you love CR more right?
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,...)
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.