Moonraker (1979)

Now That's What I'm Talk Bout!

Bond: Roger Moore (Live And Let Die • A View To A Kill)

Bond Girl: Dr. Holly Goodhead  Played By: Lois Chiles (The Great Gatsby • Broadcast News)
Bond Villain: Hugo Drax  Played By: Michael Lonsdale (Munich • Ronin)
Villain's Goon: Jaws  Played By: Richard Kiel (The Spy Who Loved Me • Eegah)
Villain's Goon: Chang  Played By: Toshirô Suga

Genre: Action Adventure Thriller (UK, France)

Directed By: Lewis Gilbert (The Spy Who Loved Me • You Only Live Twice)

Overview: James Bond, superspy extra-ordinaire Agent 007 with a licence to kill is sent to investigate the mid-air theft of a spaceship and wouldja look at thatm, he discovers instead a far Moore sinister plot!

Moonraker is madness, and in the best possible way.

On the heels of The Spy Who Loved Me, a film featuring underwater cars and metal mouthed invincible goons, Ian Fleming ramps the believability factor to the Nth degree in Moonraker. If there was ever a doubt that schlock and camp weren't a planned part of the 007 plots, perhaps space stations and laser gun fights will change your mind, but of course no spoilers.

Moonraker begins with Bond getting busy with some dame on a plane. Sadly he does not get the chance to dip his wick, choosing instead to engage in fisticuffs with the people pointing guns at him. And who makes a welcome early appearance but Jaws, Goon Extraordinaire! As his first nasty trick of the evening, he hucks James out of our aforementioned plane, sans chute. Exciting stuff right off the bat indeed, and director Lewis Gilbert keeps the energy way up throughout, even if the formula is as predictable as it's always been.

The energy and atmosphere of Moonraker brings us back to the good old days of early James Bond. There's international adventure, a mystery that's ever deeper than last we thought with a plot ever-more globally sinister than before. 'Q' actually introduces a slew of gadgets like he used to, and the batshit crazy oddity of such concepts as dragon myths, severed statues via bowler and megalomaniacal characters is distilled into a space-age saga that not only tributes recently produced film like Star Wars but includes a keypad code you may well recognize.

And for as much as Roger Moore does not quite pull off debonair with his Bob Barker suits, he is a frequent fan of his 'Q' gadget, the Bickle Brand Wrist Dart, and of course there's nothing as nice as finding a new favorite bond Girl, this time from the exotic realm of America.

Moonraker is a warm and fuzzy film that gives a fan everything one expects from Bond and more, including one of the cheekist last lines that actually made my jaw drop.

'Q' you dirty dawg!

Bond Gadgets: 
A speedboat with mines and torpedoes that has a hanglider attachement!
A C4-laden digital watch!
An safe cracking X-ray device that doubles as a cigarette case!
The Bickle writs dart gun with poison as well as armour-piercing darts!
A speedboat/hover-gondola!!!

"My interior decorator? Some weird guy in a black mask, but he comes highly recommended. I heard even the Emperor uses him."

Performance: 9 Cinematography: 9 Script: 8 Plot: 8 Mood: 9

Overall Rating: 86% (Soars High Indeed)

SuperSpyStats

Personal bodycount: 11 including one bare-handed kill!

Foiled Assassinations: 6

Near Misses: 0

Dames Bedded: 3

Martinis Drank: 1

What's all this?