The end credits of The Spy Who Loved Me promised audiences, “Star Wars led to a wave of science fiction films in the late 1970s, the Bond producers decided to hold off on For Your Eyes Only and delivered a 007 space adventure instead.
Moonraker sent Bond into the cosmos to battle a villain on his personal space station. Although it was widely panned by critics, Moonraker became the highest-grossing Bond movie at the time, so it must have gotten a couple of things right.
It’s Not As Bad As People Say
It’s A Bond Movie Before It’s A Sci-Fi Movie
In the wake of Star Wars’ runaway success, Hollywood caught space fever and bombarded audiences with Star Wars-inspired sci-fi actioners. Moonraker was the Bond franchise’s response to the success of George Lucas’ groundbreaking space opera.
Fortunately, it doesn’t fall too far down the genre rabbit hole. Moonraker is a Bond movie that goes to space, not a space movie that happens to feature Bond. The first half of the movie is a traditional 007 adventure set on Earth. That restraint is refreshing, considering how much more Star Wars-y it could have been.
Roger Moore’s Bond Is Iconic
Roger Moore ensured the longevity of the Bond franchise and set a precedent for all his successors when he came out of the gate with a wholly unique performance as 007. Unlike George Lazenby, Moore didn’t emulate Sean Connery. For better or worse, he made the character his own with a fresh take, entirely separate from Connery’s initial portrayal of the character.
Moore is even watchable in his worst Bond movies. His 007 is defined by his wry, tongue-in-cheek sense of humor. It’s not for everybody, but it’s undeniably iconic.
The Opening Airplane Sequence Is Thrilling
Moonraker gets off to a spectacular start in its opening scene, as Bond is suddenly ambushed by Jaws during a flight and ends up getting thrown out of the plane.
He steals a parachute from the pilot as they both soar through the sky in one of the all-time most gripping Bond movie openings. Moonraker’s opening action scene is arguably so riveting that it couldn’t be topped by anything from the rest of the movie.
The Visuals Are Stunning
The Bond producers went all-in on their trip to space. Star Wars didn’t just inspire the filmmakers to cash in on the space trend; it also inspired them to up the ante on their pulpy visual style.
Ken Adam provides typically breathtaking production design for the spacecraft and Derek Meddings brings it to life in glorious fashion with Oscar-nominated visual effects.
It Has Two Memorable Villains
Bond villains are so hit-and-miss that having one great villain in a movie is something to celebrate – but Moonraker has two. Hugo Drax is a classic Bondian megalomaniac: a diabolical industrialist who plans to wipe out humanity so he can repopulate a post-apocalyptic Earth with a master race. He gets a haunting death scene as he’s sent drifting into space to die slowly, painfully, and completely alone.
The secondary villain is even more iconic: Drax’s henchman Jaws, played by Richard Kiel, reprising his role from The Spy Who Loved Me. It was unprecedented for a henchman to come back for a second movie, but Jaws instantly became a fan-favorite icon. Drax presumably hired him on a pre-mortem recommendation from Karl Stromberg after his stellar work as a henchman in The Spy Who Loved Me.
It Is As Bad As People Say
Moore’s Performance Veers Into Self-Parody
Moonraker is often cited by Bond fans who feel that Moore should’ve retired from the role a lot earlier than he did. While his advancing age wouldn’t show until he had to perform stunts for Octopussy and A View to a Kill, Moore’s comedic take on Bond was running out of steam in Moonraker.
In his spacefaring adventure, The Cannonball Run.
The Venice Gondola Chase Is Completely Absurd
There’s a lot of silly action sequences in Moonraker, but the one that really takes the cake is the gondola chase in Venice. This scene is even more far-fetched than anything that happens in space in the second half of the movie.
Bond gets into a high-speed chase in a gondola along the canals of Venice. Then, the gondola turns into a hovercraft and drives out of the canal onto the street. A pigeon does a double-take.
It’s Full Of Product Placement
Product placement is to be expected in Bond films, but Moonraker’s use of product placement is particularly egregious. The filmmakers stop the story dead for on-the-nose close-ups of the products whose manufacturers are keeping the lights on.
Moonraker has distracting in-movie commercials for Seiko watches, Bollinger champagne, Glaston boats, British Airways, Christian Dior perfume – the list goes on.
Special Effects Take Precedence Over Story
In the past few decades, as visual effects have taken over mainstream filmmaking, directors have struggled to find the balance between computer-generated spectacle and honest, heartfelt storytelling. The latter has proven to be much more engaging and timeless than the former.
The filmmakers behind Moonraker are more interested in making the movie look pretty with lots of spectacle and special effects than telling a compelling story about a gentleman spy whose latest investigation sends him into the cosmos.
Bond’s Trip To Outer Space Was Too Far-Fetched
The main reason why critics rejected Moonraker – and why fans continue to reject it to this day – is simply that the concept of Bond going to space was too far-fetched. The movie has a fundamental flaw in its central premise.
The audience is always expected to suspend their disbelief in a Bond movie, but this was beyond the pale. There’s a way to make a spy movie work in space, but it doesn’t involve a laser battle.
