Published via Ecency

(source: tmdb.org)

The first four James Bond films starring Roger Moore had one thing in common – the producers tried to exploit popular genre and cinema trends of the time. In Live and Let Die it was blaxploitation; in The Man with the Golden Gun it was the kung fu film phenomenon; and The Spy Who Loved Me tried to capitalise on the popularity of Jaws and similar films with maritime-related plots. Moonraker, the 1979 film directed by Lewis Gilbert, was quite obviously inspired by the audience’s hunger for science fiction films sparked by the success of Star Wars. As such, it became the most expensive film in the history of the franchise at that point, but also the most spectacular – a distinction it holds to this day.

Moonraker is actually the last James Bond film based on an Ian Fleming novel, but, like all films of that period, Christopher Wood’s script has very little to do with the original text. The plot took more inspiration from contemporary events, most notably a new stage in the US space programme embodied in the development of the Space Shuttle. The film begins when one such experimental vehicle is hijacked while on loan to the United Kingdom. The British government sends its top-secret agent James Bond to investigate, starting at the headquarters of Drax Industries, the huge corporation that designed and built the spacecraft for NASA. Its owner, Hugo Drax (played by Michael Lonsdale), almost immediately wants Bond dead, but those efforts fail and Bond goes to Venice, where he discovers that Drax is involved in research on a deadly nerve gas. He also discovers that one of Drax’s assistants, NASA expert Holly Goodhead (played by Lois Chiles), is actually a CIA agent. The two continue their investigation in Rio de Janeiro, and Bond later tracks Drax to a secret base in the Amazon jungle, where he uncovers Drax’s diabolical plan to murder the entire planet and repopulate it with a small number of genetically superior men and women who would previously have taken shelter in an orbital station.

Making Moonraker as a science fiction film turned out to be a wise decision for the producers, because audiences flocked to the cinemas, making it the commercially most successful film in the history of the franchise at that point. This would, however, be hard to imagine for those reading the critics, who attacked the film as “outrageously silly” and often viewed it as the worst in the franchise’s history. To a certain degree, some of those critics have a point. Moonraker is indeed a very silly film that is difficult to digest for those who insist on the purity of Ian Fleming’s vision. The film is mostly oriented towards humour rather than action, and at times it seems like a deliberate parody of all previous Bond films. On the other hand, all the ingredients of the Bond formula are here, only enhanced to unsurpassed levels. The exotic locations are more exotic than ever, with outer space remaining exotic to this day. Hugo Drax is the most megalomaniacal of all Bond villains. And the Bond girls in this film are more numerous, more diverse and, of course, always dressed in revealing costumes. The producers throw in as much fan service as possible, the most obvious being the return of Jaws (played by Richard Kiel), the seemingly unstoppable and undefeatable killer who proved to be Bond’s most dangerous adversary. In this film, he is given a petite girlfriend (played by Blanche Ravalec) who inspires him to see the error of his ways and become Bond’s ally in the dramatic finale.

Roger Moore was by that point quite comfortable in his role, and in Moonraker delivers another good performance. On the other hand, Hugo Drax (the character that inspired the nickname for the author of this review) is played by the rather uninspired Michael Lonsdale, who makes the Bond hyper-villain look and sound uncharismatic despite the Holocaust-like scope of his scheme. The film had better luck with Lois Chiles, the actress playing the Bond girl. At times she struggles with bad dialogue, but in the end proves to be a much more effective actress than Barbara Bach in The Spy Who Loved Me. Lewis Gilbert, the filmmaker who directed the previous film, does another great job with Moonraker. He maintains a good pace and handles scenes that feature different locations and styles. It begins with one of the most impressive stunts in the franchise’s history and ends with a truly spectacular finale featuring some of the best special effects of the late 1970s. The final showdown features armies of astronauts fighting with laser rifles, dozens of people experiencing zero gravity, and pays great homage to both Star Wars and 2001: A Space Odyssey. John Barry delivers another very good and effective soundtrack, although the main song performed by Shirley Bassey isn’t that memorable. Moonraker was often accused of being too similar to The Spy Who Loved Me, but in the end the formula worked. Audiences were pleased with this film four decades ago, and there is little reason to doubt they could be pleased now. Except for certain figures filling news headlines whose ideas for the future of humanity make them eerily similar to Hugo Drax, which makes Moonraker look somewhat less silly than it used to be.

RATING: 7/10 (++)