Worst. Bond. Movie. Period. And though this is a front-to-back rewatch, I don't think I'm going to change my mind on that.
Dave Hill’s ★½ review of Moonraker (1979) on Letterboxd.com
Ugh. And, um, bleah. While the Roger Moore era was filled (not necessarily with Moore’s concurrence) with cheesiness and camp, “Moonraker” is, in may ways, the nadir of the series. There’s practically…
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Fair enough review, I'd say. I'm not disagreeing with it, by any stretch, but wonder if you think you would have thought the same way reviewing it just after seeing it for the first time?
Or, did you feel this way back then, too?
It's hard for me to remember back, um, 24 years … but my vague sense is that it was kind of fun back then, if occasionally goofy.
My goofiness quota for James Bond flicks has gone down since those days.
The thing is, there are some fun aspects to Moonraker — like the Astronaut Laser Fight. But as a BOND movie, it fails on every level, agreed.
I loved this movie as a kid, but it doesn't age well, and once you grow up a tiny bit, the flaws really come out hard. I remember finding a copy of the original Moonraker novel by Ian Fleming, and being utterly flabbergasted that the big Dramatic Set Piece Conflict in said book was a rigged Bridge game.
Could've been worse: my first Bond movie in the theaters was Octopussy. Crap, what an embarrassing cheez-fest.
Ditto, and ditto, +Isaac Sher.
I think one of the things that struck me was that, for being inspired ("BOND! IN! SPAAAAAACE!") by Star Wars and Close Encounters, the FX shots are pretty lame in thought and execution), and the space science is godawful (even managing to get the spinning of a space station to create pseudo-gravity completely wrong).
I found the product placement in this film more egregious than in other outings.
Hovergondola: Worst Bond Vehicle Ever.
Yeah, even I have to admit that Octopussy wasn't the best when it comes to Bond flicks….
Oh god, the Hovergondola. Yeah, that scene, complete with trombone "waaaaahs" and double-taking pigeons, was not just the low point of the movie, but of the series as a whole. I mean, it looks like something we should've seen in an Austin Powers movie, not an actual Bond movie.