Bad Movie Beatdown: Moonraker (REVIEW) 

This review was originally posted in December 2015, and unlike the other episodes I've re-posted, this one is identical to it's original version. That's because this review was uploaded to RU-vid at the time, but I was afraid to make it public in case of any problems (at the time, I had only recently got my monetization back after it had been blocked for the best part of the year, without any notice or reason). So this has been sitting quietly private on my account since then, and since Kingsman is out this week, it seems like a fitting time to put it up. Obviously this means the review was made before Roger Moore's recent passing, so bear any comments in mind. For those who haven't seen this one, enjoy!

RIP Roger Moore

Maybe it's just me but does Drax remind anyone else of Peter Dinkledge?

Something about this movie's silliness and camp that I can't resist. Bad, but I love it.

The documentary on the making was fascinating especially for the special effects, sets, and model crafting. ILM was busy so the studio basically said "Fuk it, we'll start are own company. How hard can it be?" Very. I'll let wiki stress the point. Since NASA's Space Shuttle program had not been launched, Derek Meddings and his miniatures team had to create the rocket launch footage without any reference. Shuttle models attached to bottle rockets and signal flares were used for take-off, and the smoke trail was created with salt that fell from the models. The space scenes were done by rewinding the camera after an element was shot, enabling other elements to be superimposed in the film stock, with the space battle needing up to forty rewinds to incorporate everything. The climactic scenes of the space station disintegrating were created by Meddings and other members of the special effects team shooting the miniature model with shotguns.[5][21] The superimposed big shot of the battle had everyone sweating bullets because if they messed it up halfway. Throw it out and start over! Thankfully it came out in one and was Gorgeous! Not to mention how often do you shoot your own miniature with shotguns while recording in high speed?!

I know I should hate Moonraker for being ridiculous, but I like the movie. Moonraker is more ridiculous than other Bond movies, but I always have a fun time watching it. Roger Moore is great as always as a more lighthearted James Bond, and Lois Chiles as Holly is one of my favorite Bond women.

This movie is more of a parody than Austin Powers could ever be.

The best thing that came of this were the Moonraker references in the GoldenEye 64 game. They gave us Jaws as a playable character, the moonbase level as an unlockable mission and the ability to dual wield laser guns.

One thing I think you missed about Jaws is that for all his nasty killings, he DID have the very same Looney Tunes style fatal-yet-not-fatal accidents in the previous movie too - that scene where he collapses the house on himself, or where he drops a boulder on his own foot. So Moonraker just took that and made more of it, really - Jaws was always a villain you could laugh at despite being scary.

As cheezy as this movie is, I love it. I still pine for the Roger Moore era of Bond, where he was funny and witty, not as grim and serious as Craig's Bond, and where the threats to the world were larger than life and fantastic. And honestly - I felt giving Jaws a love interest and a happy ending was a nice touch, given how most Bond villains usually end up horribly killed, regardless of how fond we are of them.

It's hilariously ironic how the novel version of Moonraker was considered dated at the time, yet it feels less dated than Broccoli's treatment of the story (hearkening back to the cold war tensions that would soon be apparent in the next couple movies) Science Fact indeed! XD

Damn, Roger Moore was 52 and STILL had great looks.

this movie is a guilty pleasure of mine. its very campy and pretty silly but i love it for that

Moore was the Bond of my childhood...still my favorite😊😊😊

Oh my god. "Ew, James!" Is my favorite catchline for any awkward Bond moments. Period. XD

I've always thought Drax was the single "greatest" villain in all the Bond films (as far as his ultimate plan goes).

It would have been funnier if Jaws' love interest smiled to reveal she had terrible teeth with huge braces.

When a series that didn't start off in space goes there it's usually a sign they're running out of ideas.

I love it when Jaws can speak 36:35

The space battles with Russia in 1979 still haven't been declassified.

"Moonraker" was nominated for an Oscar for best achievement in visual effects in 1980. It went to "Alien" instead.

Okay, full disclosure - I was one of those kids that wanted to see Jaws become a good guy...

Lol, anyone else have an Amazon ad pop up as soon as the scene in the Amazon started? How do you manage such perfect product placement in a review of your movie?

I remember watching this with my dad in 1979 at UGC cinema in the newly built Palais des Congres, Paris, I was 6. First Bond movie ever. It was entertaining. Roger Moore was interviewed and rightly pinpointed this. You do not go to the cinema to leave feeling miserable....it should be an escapist experience. I even had the Corgi model with the satellite inside. Bond was a fantasy under Moore and I thank him for that. Moore was to Generation X what Connery was to Boomers.....

Wow! This was... Quite the ride! I know that this Bond movie is aware of its ridiculousness, but it really feels like they wasted its runtime with all these comedy action scenes and had to rush the space gimick! At best, they feel like something out of an MGM cartoon! But hey, at least Roger Moore had fun with this role... It's not a groundbreaking role... But certainly a memorable one.

Man, your one-liner for Chang's death was so much better than the one they went with.

A true guilty pleasure, and shame on you for not mentioning the quite superb score by John Barry, and despite the fact that it has so many flaws its a perfect popcorn film of its time, especially compared to some of the big budget franchise dross thats churned out these days.

True story; I first saw Moonraker on a recorded from TV VHS, the tonal whiplash of the cut to Bond playing Cowboy had eight year old me thinking somebody had taped over the rest of the movie

What helps differentiate Stromberg is that he genuinely believed in his rhetoric and thought he was ultimately doing what was best. Drax on the other hand has a God Complex and wanted to tout himself as the greatest in existence by means of disposing of human life on Earth so he could be the one to reshape it and get sole credit for that.

I think I may be the only person to have spotted the Alan Partridge reference at the beginning. Well done, sir. "No, no, no!! Stop getting Bond wrong!!"

Coming back to this review after many years I think this is Film Brains Magnum Opus

A few things: 1. Wow, Venice had it really rough back in the day, with James Bond and Indiana Jones wreaking havoc across it within 10 years of each other! 2. 17:25 - PffffftHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh my God, this is one of the most unintentionally hilarious things I've ever seen. First of all, I've seen this kind of protective/combat gear, but I'm sorry, he just looks ridiculous. And secondly - and this is the biggest reason why I can't take this guy seriously - jumping out and screaming like an idiot completely defeats the purpose of a sneak attack. 3. 24:10 - Oooookay, so apparently there are women out there who have a thing for 7-foot men with metal choppers. But hey, who am I to judge, there are also women who find Ralph Fiennes sexy even in his Voldemort form! ....... I'm just kidding, ladies. Whatever floats your boat. 4. 25:15-25:28 - And people bitch about the product placement in Man of Steel! 5. 27:28 - Wow, that's NOTHING like the Union Jack parachute scene from The Spy Who Loved Me.

Wait a second....A British Spy teaming up with a Female agent from the CIA... So that's where they got the Second Austin Powers movie from!

I gotta admit, when I was a little kid and saw this movie for the first time, I absolutely loved Jaws' good-guy turn. It's so idiotic, but I thought it was so cute. Oh well, I was five or so.

Jaws was popular with kids? What the hell were kids doing watching a Bond movie???

Well, people having laser weapons in 1979 actually makes sense in-universe: after all, someone was able to build a Space Laser eight years earlier (Diamonds are Forever) powerful enough to blow up submarines underwater. Scientific plausibility is not a feature of _any_ James Bond movie, aside maybe the first Daniel Craig one.

that's my favorite line 21:16 "very slowly"

I will note that the Soviets did make a photo flashbulb laser that would burn out the lighting element, but yield just enough juice tot burn a hole into a space suit. We weren't having space battles, but preparations and considerations got pretty far... then the Soviet's magnum ops, an orbital laser, had a glitch that sent it straight back down instead of into orbit.

That Q Boat was later purchased by a man from downstate Illinois, funny enough.

Moonraker is 45 years old! Made $210.3 million on a $30 million budget being the highest grossing film of the bond series at that point even getting an Oscar nomination for best visual effects Also the first time the space shuttle was shown to audiences This has all the cool action mainly an all practical opening that involves free fall, a cable car fight without any safety harnesses, a speed rocket simulation sequence that's quite suspenseful, a brilliant score by John Barry, a wonderful theme song by Shirley Bassey, and beautiful locations from France to Italy to the Amazon The late Michael Lonsdale as Drax makes for a deliciously slimy villain, Lois Chiles as Goodhead is also a very capable Bond girl being sly able to resist Bond's charms being progressive (Moore looks very comfortable on screen despite their lack of chemistry) and the movie still holds the record for the most wire work ever used on film next to the most use of breakable glass Its also great to see fan favorite Jaws back again by the late Richard Kiel even if he gets the Mandela Effect so to speak with him finding a love interest Plenty of lush sets by Ken Adam as well as beautiful photography thanks to Albert R. Broccoli's team clearly showing every penny of it There's even one portion where one of the Bond girls faces a horrific death almost like out of a dark fairy tale The climax in outer space is very exciting too being an gravity free battle The film has been criticized for its over reliance on gadgets; for some it'll be a distraction but again director Lewis Gilbert is having fun with the concept despite all the over-the-top moments, even Moore expressed his made fun of the plot's absurdity Heck Austin Powers would parody a lot of this decades later not to mention the MCU's Black Widow lifts a few influences It has fun with itself while also poking at the casual sexism of women in the space workforce Drax is obsessed with the conquest of space so he has a plan do establish a human colony as a flawless perfect race with no genetic flaws even down to using poison gas in small containers on Earth This does tie into our own fascination with reaching the stars given what happened with the moon landing and Sputnik A lot of preposterous campy fun to be had here thanks to this script by Christopher Woods even if it deviates heavily from the book Yet it did take substantial risks in storytelling remaining relevant in the cultural landscape being fun escapism

Such good sport !

Bad as this movie is, I still enjoy it. It's a damn sight better than any of the Daniel Craig movies, at least...

I think we all can agree on one thing, John Barry's score is better than the film.

If you pause the video at the skydiving scene, you can see the stuntman's face.

It's amazing how this is such a remake of Spy lol 😂

I liked Moonraker, because it was in space, and had Jaws. So the daftness was not a problem. It was very silly, but silliness was to be expected by that time.

i love the alan partridge refrence i loved james bond when i was younger for your eyes only is my favourite

That cable car fight always reminded me about Where Eagles Dare. My actual childhood movie.

One of the best Bond movies.

Terrific summary. I completely agree.

* gasps happily * I'm not the only one!

This movie may be stupid as a sack of shit, and it jumps the shark pretty high, but it is still fucking entertaining.

Manuela is my favorite part of the film and one of my favorite Bond girls ever. It's a shame she's only in the film for 10 minutes or less to only hook up with Bond and be manhandled by Jaws. Emily Bolton was so insanely gorgeous.

You gotta love Moonraker. It’s peak camp Bond, but with a good balance of serious elements. Drax is a great villain, Jaws’ return was neat, as well as his redemption, the score is grand, the space effects are great, Ken Adam knocked it out of the park with his sets, and Roger Moore still delivers his awesome performance. Moonraker is no less cheesy than The Spy who loved me, so I don’t see why the latter gets all the love but Moonraker doesn’t.

The film's novelization (yes, they made a novel adaptation of a movie that was an adaptation of another book), mentioned his Nazi background.

Hugo Drax is the best Bond villian ever.

My brother walked in at 6:34 and asked why the skydiver was trying to bite the other guys balls.

Other odd thing is a Moonraker is actually a from of sail used in ships that allows for a fast pursuit or get away mainly used by pirates and smugglers.

One correction. In They Spy Who Loved Me, they never said Stromberg wanted to repopulate the surface. In fact, he wanted to live under the sea. One thing Moonraker corrects is the fact that they never said WHY Stromberg needed to start a holocaust. We saw a grand total of 2 women in his organization and they were both killed early on. Everyone on the tanker and sub crews were men. We didn't see anyone besides Stromberg in his city at the end.

You very funny man. I like your work very much!!!

Well I’m glad I watched your latest crossover with The dom because that’s how I found your channel 😇

38:00 Doesn’t that just sum up every trend Hollywood has ever done!👏👏👏

The Pink Panther theme was an inspired choice XD

"Happened to turn into a hovercraft because Bond was in it' Yes. Exactly. He is James Bond. Get over it.

Most hilarious Science fiction part was the Moon Rakers boosters having enough fuel to sustain flight

Jeez it took forever for moonraker to finally be going into space

Well there's also a point where someone basically says Jaws and Dolly were rescued too.

Love Moonraker

Eli J Martinez: alright that's funny 20:16

Between this, Jason X, and that one Hellraiser sequel can we replace “Jumping The Shark” with “Going To Space”?

"...Kids who are probably 40 years old now.", that would be me :)

Kanenga Balloon VS Pigeon Double-Take. The war rages on.

I love all the bond's , no faults found 🤭 ever

I like Moonraker

I enjoyed this movie

Film brain said Bond working with an American counterpart was the same in the last movie, that’s the same in EVERY bond movie. Ever heard of Felix Lighter?

38:19 I think he's attempting re-entry, sir? - Q (Desmond Llewelyn) Moonraker

I can never get into Roger Moore as JB, because he looks eerily similar (in the face, anyway) to my (rather elderly) dad... So it just looks like my dad forcing an eww-y kiss on Corrine, and it just looks like my dad making completely unsublte single entendres... And IRL my dad is freaking TERRIBLE about gratuitous staring at random women, and thinks that because the waitress (young enough to be his granddaughter) politely fake 'laughed' at him hitting on her, it means she likes it, she thinks it is charming to be publicly hit on by a man in his eighties (never occurs to him that she is just being polite because we have not paid yet, and she might either get in trouble or at least lose a tip if she says 'ew fuck off you gross old perv') (he's the same way with cashiers... 'she laughed, she liked it!' 'omfg dad, she was just being polite, I could see in her face and body language that she was uncomfortable' 'ahhhh you don't know what you are talking about'. Ugh. So, long story short, I just can NOT appreciate Moore's Bond in any way the character is meant to be taken, all I can see is my dad putting on a British accent and harassing female staff on an international level. So, picture a college math professor from California (in his eighties, but trying desperately to convince everyone he's 20 years younger (to his credit, he really does look like Roger Moore, just a slightly older one... Maybe a Moore in his late fifties/early sixties. He's always looked much younger than his actual age, but unfortunately it convinces him to act like he's twenty years younger as well, which works against him health wise), picture that man, a man who thinks he is suave and clever, but is so far from it he couldn't see it with a telescope, as James Bond. - shudder - Yikes on trikes, man.

20:20 I have that exact same telephone 😂

I liked Jaws getting a love interest haha

I suspect that the "women are pets, not people" theme of this movie, was the result of a national backlash of insecure males, against the progress of the feminist movement. In the 1960s, the Pill put contraception solely in the hands of women for the first time in history. The 1970s saw laws passed against sexual discrimination (including paying a woman less than a man, for doing the same job), sexual harassment (if your male colleagues or your boss groped you, you could now report it to the police, and press charges; and sue if you were fired in retaliation), Roe Vs. Wade allowed women to legally terminate their unwanted pregnancies, there were millions of more women in the work-place than there had been since WWII (and not just in traditional "women's" jobs) and on top of that, for the first time ever, strong women were starting to appear all over popular culture. Shows like Wonder Woman, Police Woman, Bionic Woman, Charlie's Angels...etc. inspired millions of little girls (who took lunchboxes of the aforementioned shows, to school, and played with the action figures) to believe in themselves, and inspired them to be brave, strong, and independent. Strong female leading characters also started showing up in the movies: Ripley from Alien, Princess Leia in Star Wars...etc. And all of this terrified and enraged men who were insecure of their masculinity. This movie was for them. But even so, is no one going to comment on the fact that they apparently chose a 13-year-old child to be Jaws' love interest? I think that even the average misogynist would look at the two of them, and think, "Dude, that's messed up".

24:35 This is one of those movies where I really do believe the Mandela Effect... I remember when I first saw this as a kid, and I SWEAR TO GOD part of the reason the Girl and Jaws Bonded so fast was she had BRACES!!!! But Clearly NOT!!! WHAT THE F**K!!!!

As bad as this movie is, the stunt work on the cable car scenes give me chills because there were real people on that car, no CGI like today.

I LOVED Jaw's little girlfriend!

Preposterous fun!

Funny you should mention the "there is always a carneval in Rio" thing, because Spectre, 30 years later... does the same. Bond will be Bond, I guess. :)

Great movie! Piss off!! The title song is beyond beautiful.

Eli J Martinez: Really Bond really he had to say that? 18:20

Way to go Jaws!!!

A thought: how would this movie work if it was redone today with the new grim-dark Bond continuity?

Wait, hold up. Her name is Goodhead?

A lot of people are not that fond of the Roger Moore era, otherwise know as "The era of the Eyebrow", due to the silly comedic moments that all of his films had shoved in, that were not present in any of the other Actor's movies. That is until the last couple of Brosnan's outings and those caused them to completely reboot the "feel" of the franchise for Casino Royale.

15:55 WTF?!! Are we sure this isn't an Austin Powers prequel? Since when did James Bond turn into Looney Tunes?! O.o

Happy birthday to our host. I haven't see Glass Onion yet but want to and want to go in fresh-minded, so I hope you don't mind me watching some older classics. You still get ad revenue for this, right?

I've never heard the ants go marching song in connection to Noah's ark.

Who knew James Bond and Spider-Man both leave their name on their cameras.

roger moore's bond is like the collection of all that I dislike about the series

LOL, the girlfriend in the glasses looks like proto-Bernadette from Big Bang Theory.

Why is there a Mayan temple in the middle of the Amazon?

I bet she gives great helmet