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Weak after the Previous Bond (Digital Video Cartridge for CD-i Players Required)

by Lonnie E. Holder 2006-09-08, 0 people found this review helpful

Roger Moore had his ups and downs as James Bond. After an excellent entry in the series with "The Spy Who Loved Me," "Moonraker" was another weak entry. The fault this time lies with the outer space shootout that finishes the movie, a reprise of the underwater battle from "Thunderball" in combination with a bit of "Star Wars" Death Star destruction.

The basic concept is similar to many of the previous Bond films that have worked so well. Hugo Drax, effectively played by Michael Lonsdale, has a plan for (what else) conquering the world. Lonsdale is one of the most superb Bond villains ever, easily surpassing Ernst Stavro Blofeld and in the same league as Christopher Lee. Lonsdale is one of the most coldly calculating megalomaniacs to ever menace the world in the Bond series, and his only error is to dismiss Bond too readily.

Lonsdale's plan is quite complex, and involves choosing "perfect" human specimens to transport into space and then cleverly eliminating the rest of mankind. How does he do all this? You must watch and see. Obviously space shuttles are involved and a clever plan for killing all the humans remaining on Earth.

One thing I've wondered about in some of Roger Moore's Bond movies is why the bad guys are good at what they do and the good guys are not all that good, or perhaps effective. This time Hugo Drax is supported by Richard Kiel as Jaws, Corinne Clery as Corinne Dufour and Toshirô Suga as Chang. All these actors and actresses are competent and intelligent. Bond, on the other hand, seems to get people who appear to be amateurs, or think Bond is bumbling. Makes you want to be on the side of the bad guys. Admittedly, two of Drax's key personnel end up helping Bond, but I still wonder why the good guys can't get better help.

As I mentioned before, the final portion of the movie takes place in space, so you can guess that this film is loaded with technology and gadgets. In another reprise we see Bond in a boat chase through the canals of Venice, a chase that includes a gondola being cut in half similar to the boat chase in "The Man with the Golden Gun." Bond's gondola turns out to be loaded with nifty extras, of course. Later Bond gets another cool boat in South America. This boat includes torpedoes, mines, and a built-in hang glider. The boat itself looks very high tech. We also see lasers quite a bit in this film. Similar to the science fantasy movie "Star Wars," the laser beams are visible. One of these days someone will make a realistic movie where the laser beams are not visible; admittedly more boring, but also more factual.

Bond movies have always had great locations, and this one meets the standard; Venice, Guatemala, Brazil, among others, and the credits list outer space. I believe I recognized the Lancaster-Palmdale area of southern California as part of Drax's facilities for building the Moonraker shuttles.

The theme song for this movie was sung by Shirley Bassey, who also sang the theme to "Goldfinger" and "From Russia with Love," and appeared as a lounge singer in the movie "Live and Let Die."

Even though this movie had a bit too much hokum and a wooden performance by Bond, who appeared to be bored much of the time, there is still a lot to like about this movie. Richard Kiel is a super-villain worthy of a super-spy. Admittedly the jokes associated with Jaws's appearances are often corny, but Jaws is a cool, bizarre villain. I also enjoyed Bond's escape from the cable car in Brazil. Jaws's outfit in Carnivale was interesting and unique, and fitted his personality well. I really enjoyed the fight between Chang and Bond in the glass shop in Venice. The fight between Chang and Bond in the warehouse is an (inadvertent?) homage to Bruce Lee's "Game of Death." There are quite a few other worthwhile scenes.

It's hard to rate this movie higher than three stars because of the flaws and Moore's rather weak performance. However, it is a Bond movie, and always worth a bowl of popcorn. I recommend this movie for fans of Bond and for those who like cheesy science fiction or science fantasy films. Movies like these typically do not win many awards, but they sure are fun to watch.