Review of Moonraker (1979) by Nick E — 13 Jul 2008

After the release of the spectacular Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me", Bond fans were awaiting the release of the proposed film "For Your Eyes Only." However after the release of "Star Wars" in 1977 which proved to be a masterpiece for its time (and it still is) the producers decided to put Bond out into space thinking it would be an incredible adventure and addition to the franchise.

Well...it sort of was, and sort of wasn't. After viewing the documentary/making of, it was revealed that this film was quite successful although modern day Bond fans may beg to differ. Moore's performance wasn't entirely all that brilliant, there didn't appear to be that much chemistry between him and Lois Chiles (the main Bond girl), it seemed to depend highly upon special effects and imagination, Michel Lonsdale wasn't the strongest most intimidating villain, and despite Richard Kiel reprising his role as Jaws from the previous installment, they decided to make him an ally in the end because he happened to fall in love with a short blonde woman who wore glasses (the Tchaikovsky theme added that element of cheesyness to it).

That said, the film isn't without some key highlghts and moments. Whether that be the opening sequence (I wont give it away for those of you who haven't seen it), a good couple of shoot-outs, and the use of flashbacks whilst Bond's ride on the spinning gravitational machine goes out of control. Of course how can we forget the humourous line Bond uses to dispose of one of the villains up in space ("Take a giant step for mankind") or Jaws' only line in the whole series (Clinking glasses with his new girlfriend over a toast: "Well...here's to us").

Before you say "World is Not Enough" or "Die Another Day" is one of the weaker films in the Bond series, you're best to watch this one if you haven't seen it yet. See "Moonraker" so you can say you've watched it. It's the James Bond series. You have to at least watch all of them once.