James Bond - Moonraker (Ultimate Edition 2 Disc Set) [1979]

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Customer reviews

review by: brendoclarke date: 2008-11-07 rating:
I'm not a Bond fan..but
The reason why this movie is great is because it packs alot of action into 2 hours and the viewer is never left bored. It is the most cartoonish of all the Bond movies reaching its peak of silliness right off the bat with Jaws, returning from The Spy Who Loved Me, surviving a freefall from an airplane. The absurdity is made all the more tragic in that it follows one of, if not the most spectacular Bond opening in the entire series. Moonraker is a movie with sky high highlights and some pretty bad lowlights. The pre-credit sequence with Bond being shoved from an airplane sans parachute is thrilling and leads into the spectacular Moonraker theme sung by Shirley Bassey. This movie may have the best musical score of any of the Bond movie and that is no small feat.



I fully understand if people don't like this film. It is the least serious entry in the series existing in a completely different universe than films like `From Russia with Love' and `Casino Royale' but Bond was never meant to be serious and thats why i will never be a Bond fan.
The double entendres and the silly dialogue will never make me laugh; they will only make me cringe.

Selah,
Brendan Clarke

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review by: date: 2008-07-11 rating:
Bond in space? Well this was 1979 ...
Moonraker, and James Bond struts his stuff where no Bond has ever been before, yes, outer space. Following hot on the heels of the massive box office successes of films like Star Wars, the Bond producers must have felt the need to keep Bond 'current' - after all, how do you keep the most successful movie series in cinema history hot and topical?

Apart from the space scenes (which, when viewed from the lofty perch of 2008, do seem rather amateurish) this is still a great Bond movie. All the formulaic stuff is there - an amazing opening sequence (involving parachute jumping), the briefing by M, the crazed villain (Drax), his henchman (Jaws), the leading lady (Holly Goodhead, who is also a CIA spy), quips, Q's gadgets and exotic locations (such as Venice, and more impressively, Rio).

Moonraker was a smash at the box office at the time of its release. Incidentally, it has very little resemblance to Ian Fleming's novel of the same name, but still, the producers got it right and this is two hours packed with action and adventure.

See James Bond movies for what they are - a bit of fun and escapism.

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review by: date: 2007-12-12 rating:
You Only Live Thrice
Roger Moore's biggest box-office hit during his tenure as Bond, Moonraker has seen its reputation plummet to the point where its widely regarded as the worst film in the entire series. It's not exactly difficult to see why. The ill-advised jokes that end the otherwise stunningly shot pretitle sequence of Jaws and a parachuteless Bond battling midair unfortunately give a hint of what is to come, but for the first 35 minutes it chugs along very competently, even throwing in one good setpiece in a G-Force simulator. Then comes the gondola/hovercraft sequence, a setpiece that abandons any notion of internal logic for cheap gags and illustrates one of the film's biggest problems: there's no real menace when we know Bond doesn't need to rely on his wits because he's got an absurd gadget for every occasion, and without any sense of threat the action scenes constantly fall flat. Many of them aren't even particularly well-staged but look rather haphazardly thrown together. Worse still, by offering the second consecutive reworking of You Only Live Twice's plot (all from the same director, Lewis Gilbert) it all feels like it's just going through the motions because they can't think of anything better to do.

While it doesn't show the contempt for Bond that Octopussy seemed to revel in as it seemed to go out of its way to humiliate Bond by making him literally butt of all the jokes, it constantly winks at the audience as if to say "We know it's nonsense, but at least it's very expensive nonsense." Unfortunately, it does set up two of the least welcome future developments in the series - as well as being the one where the product placement started to get out of control (my, didn't 7-Up and British Airways do well?), it also started the unfortunate tradition of the Michael G. Wilson cameo. Still, it's nice to see Bernard Lee getting to play a warmer M in his final Bond, finally proud of the boy (the film is very much the end of an era, with most of the surviving members of the old team breaking up - this was Lee, Gilbert and Ken Adam's last film), the great special effects are genuinely impressive even 28 years on and Michel Lonsdale provides the series with one of its best villains and gets all the best lines ("Look after Mr Bond. See that some harm comes to him") even if he is wasted by the derivative plot.

There's not a huge amount in the way of new extras on this two-disc Ultimate Edition - Roger Moore's audio commentary, a 1979 making of featurette, footage of the Rio shoot, test footage for the skydiving sequence and a couple of storyboard sequences. Sadly the teaser trailer sending up hairspray and perfume ads is still not included, although all the extras from the original edition have been carried over.

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review by: RS date: 2007-10-26 rating:
Moonraker? - more like The Spy Who Loved Me 2!
I'll begin with saying this has always been one of my personal favourites from the golden era of Bond movies - the 70s. This film is Roger Moore, the greatest Bond IMO, at his peak and he plays him with the same charm and wit we came to expect. However, this movie always seems to get a bad press, often named as the worst Bond ever, which I think is strange considering this is very similar in style to The Spy Who Loved Me, one of the most successful Bonds of all time. Both were directed by Lewis Gilbert, both feature the metal toothed henchman Jaws, both blend action with humour perfectly, and both have two very similar villains with a view to wiping out the human race, only difference being one has his lair in the sea and the other in space. Unfortunately this movie is panned for being a copy, but I don't believe this to be true as both films have their own unique qualities. I agree that Moonraker does appear to be far fetched in places, eg the laser battle, the gigantic space station that Drax had built, but, let's face it, far fetched is what you come to expect from most Bond films. There are some very good moments in the film. The film begins with Bond fighting for a parachute in mid air after being pushed out of a plane. There's a darker moment when Drax sends killer dogs to maul a girl to death after she gives infomation to Bond. Jaws is eventually hired to kill Bond, yet he doesn't outsmart him when he pursues Bond in a cable car, which makes way for the hilarious scene when Jaws falls in love! There's a great chase full of explosions when Bond is chased to Drax's base, a haven inhabited by beautiful women. It was a nice twist to see Jaws turn good and help Bond, and in his last scene, sharing a drink with his girlfriend, we hear him say his only ever words 'here's to us'. The effects stand up very well. Obviously everything in space was model shots, but IMO I think this looks more real than CGI which is so over used today. The score from John Barry is the best I have heard from a Bond movie. Very haunting and beautiful, and I love the familiar Bond tune played on the boat chase scene. This film doesn't take itself too seriously which is how I believe Bond films should be. Wish people would give this film a break, as it is in a different league to Die Another Day, the most stupidest and far fetched Bond ever! But if you like your Bonds more Daniel Craig like gritty thrillers, then avoid this at all costs! Hope this review has been helpful.


review by: skenn1701a date: 2007-10-09 rating:
Close Encounters of the Bond Kind
I remember seeing Moonraker when it first came out at the cinema - as a young boy, it seemed like the best Bond ever - bigger and better than all the rest.
How times have changed.
This movie starts out on a high note - literally, as Bond is thrown out of a plane without a parachute. It is a breathtaking reminder that once there was a time when for a Bond movie, this sort of spectacular unique stunt was done for real. However, then follows the theme song - one of the most turgid and uninspired of the Bond movies, and a sign of what is to follow. From a French chateau recreated in California, to Venice and on to Brazil, the movie covers ground, and actually has Bond spying and involving in skulking around - the first time he has done that in a while in the series. But the tone falters... there are some great lighthearted moments (gondola chase), and there are some significantly dark moments (the beautiful pilot Corrine gets mauled by dogs in an extended chase scene), which do not sit well next to each other. The director could have done better - Moore actually looks even more relaxed in the role than he did in The Spy Who Loved Me, and not yet too old even as he was turning 50, and Lois Chiles plays well as an initially ice cool astronaut.
Really it does check off all the boxes for a great 70's Bond movie - the big stunt, the boat chase, the beautiful ladies, the droll monotone Michael Lonsdale playing the heavy (if only someone had given him a white Persian cat to stroke he would have been perfect...), and the return of the popular Jaws character, this time showing a softer side. Why, the whole idea of the story has been lifted from the previous film, with the bad guy seeking to destroy humanity so that a new master race can survive under the sea / in space (delete as appropriate) and repopulate.
No, it is the last act that really trips up the movie looking back on it now - the effects have been done terrifically well, for the time, especially since they were done in-house, without the aid of an effects company. It is the whole misconceived space station and subsequent laser shoot out in space. Terrific then, horribly dated now. It just seems to drag on too long to be exciting, much like other sci-fi movies of the time which were too impressed with their own special effects to use the scissors. And since when did blowing up the villains lair seem a good idea - when it was in space, and you were still on it??
Well, let's not be too churlish. It's a Bond movie, in the true escapist mould. It has terrific moments, and it still entertains.. for that I am willing to let it scrape through on 3 stars.. but be warned, for every moment that makes you cheer, there are a few moments lurking round the next plot twist to make you groan...

Ultimate Edition delivers yet again on sound, and bright sharp colours for the picture. The usual extras are here from the Special Edition, and a few more - but truth be told nothing too riveting, save perhaps for Ken Adams home movies of the production (his last Bond movie). Roger Moore also adds a talk track on the movie.
5 /10 for the movie, 9 /10 for the extras.

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Similar categories

Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Action & Adventure . All Action & Adventure
Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Action & Adventure . Heroes & Heroines
Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Action & Adventure . James Bond
Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Crime, Thrillers & Mystery . James Bond
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Format (binding_browse-bin) . DVD
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . BBFC Rating (intended_use_browse-bin) . PG
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Editions (feature_two_browse-bin) . Collector's & Special Edition
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Editions (feature_two_browse-bin) . Box Set
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Region(feature_browse-bin) . Region 2
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Release Date (feature_three_browse-bin) . 1970 - 1979
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Language (theme_browse-bin) . English

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