Moonraker has the wrong kind of dumb.
For one thing, you can’t steal a space shuttle when it’s being carried on a 747; there’s no fuel in it.
And the villain’s plan doesn’t make any sense. I get that he wants to kill all of humanity, but how does he get so many people to help him? I mean to say, if some psycho billionaire asks me to build a bunch of satellites that will dispense fatal nerve gas into the atmosphere, I’m not really seeing what’s in it for me.
Bond said to her, “Take care of yourself,” and I immediately thought, “Oh yeah, she’s dead.”
An interesting conversation could surely be had about how cheap life is in the Bond universe.
My take is that it’s clearly an unreal - at times, even surreal - universe. Death in a Bond film is not equivalent to death in the real world.
Heh. I thought that too.
“Come to my space station with your sexy girlfriend so you can re-populate the Earth! By the way, I’m going to kill your parents, and your granny, and all your friends from school, and…”
I think Drax’s plan was need-to-know. Most people didn’t know what they were making. Everyone just has a piece.
Not only does it fix the obvious plot hole, it makes tactical sense. I think most people wouldn’t go along if they knew his plan.
I also liked how Bond looked shaken after he got stirred by the centrifuge. Taking twelve g’s or whatever takes a toll, even on the best superspy.
The rest, though, yeah. “Wrong kind of dumb” is a good descriptor.
I see what you did there. 
What’s the name of the trope in which Bond’s goose would surely be cooked except for the fact that Q gave him just the right high tech gizmo earlier in the movie?
Chekov’s gun?
I think the drop in entertainment value from The Spy Who Loved Me (which I love) and Moonraker (which I mildly dislike) is the biggest decline in the series, as far as I’m concerned. Although Casino Royale to Quantum of Solace is another strong contender, I suppose.
For the folks who got to go along to the space station, it could make sense. I was thinking of all the people who worked to make the plan happen, and then had to stay on Earth. There’s not really any upside for them.
I thought of that, but how do you disguise your plan from someone who is building satellites to dispense nerve gas? And they must have known what they were building, because they freaked when the vial broke.
Bond doesn’t seem very bothered by their deaths, either, which he directly caused.
This was one of the rare occasions that Bond got to use a gadget twice. I do wonder how Bond was supposed to know which sort of dart to load into his wrist gun. Bond shoots Drax at the end and they just stare at each other; “oh, that was the armor-piercing dart. Let me get one of the cyanide ones. Hold on a second.”
Was Jill Masterson in Goldfinger the first woman to suffer that (pretty much exact) fate? Gets seduced by Bond for information/assistance, caught, and murdered immediately afterwards?
Maybe he hired Stromberg’s former employees from The Spy Who Loved Me; they were perfectly willing to destroy the (surface) world in the previous movie. At the very least, he certainly hired Jaws!
I love the scene where Drax is on the phone with his HR - “Regarding a replacement for Chang. You have someone in mind? Oh yes, if you can get him, of course!”
As I mentioned above, Moonraker was my first Bond film, and even all these years later, that particular death sticks with me. For a movie that’s basically so silly, the way that Drax kills her (setting his hunting dogs on her) was surprisingly vicious. It really shook little 12-year-old me.
All this discussion of Moonraker and no mention of the ultra-cringe-inducing Jaws love sub-plot? Here’s where they meet. You’ve got the ludicrous attempt to make this gorgeous woman look like a nerdy young girl. You’ve got the unfathomably cliche music swell. And the coup de grace, of course, is the added SFX of the teeth gleaming, with…wait for it…stupid sound effect added, of course.
They worked really hard to make this as stupid as possible.
Jaws was a pretty ridiculous character to begin with. How does he have superhuman strength? Why can’t he be killed? There’s no backstory or explanation why this man even exists.
So I didn’t mind giving him a bit of humanity, and turning him to Bond’s side was an interesting idea. Problem was, it was done very clumsily. And you’re right, that scene where he meets the girl was… bad.
This seems relevant to the thread. (I may have found this elsewhere on the board, or maybe even in this same thread.)
To be fair, James Bond is apparently unkillable, consumes alcohol in copious fashion without obvious affect, apparently exudes pheromones that make all women swoon over his cheesy pickup lines and rapey behavior, and also manages to use a 7.62mm Walther PPK to take down professional thugs even through the .32 ACP is an anemic round barely suitable for dispatching vermin at close range. This, combined with his periodic shape-shifting and blind pig luck of always having a precise need for the absurdly specific gadgets he was just issued at the beginning of the film, clearly indicates that the Bond films actually function as a shadow offshoot of the X-Men franchise in which “M” is actually Magneto, sending Bond off to fight against the forces of a bald supergenius and the members of his shadowy organization which he has recruited and trained to use their powers in order to bring peace and order to the world.
Stranger
Maybe he favors it because it doesn’t print under a skin tight tux.
For Your Eyes Only (1981)
Easily Roger Moore’s best so far. A really fun ride.
We start with Bond finally dispatching “Blofeld” once and for all in, as far as I can recall, the first pre-credits sequence that has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the movie. Regardless, the helicopter stunts were really cool, and set a high bar for what was to follow. Despite some overt silliness (“I’ll buy you a delicatessen!”) I enjoyed it.
The opening sequence also had Bond visiting the grave of his late wife, calling back to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. I’m guessing that scene also put to rest that particular subplot as well. Correct me if I’m wrong – was Mrs. Bond ever referenced again?
It’s the ‘80s now, so Sheena Easton sings the theme song. Then we get straight into the plot. A shipwreck sends some super-secret MacGuffin technology to the bottom of the sea, and multiple folks are trying to recover it. Along the way, we get an exciting car chase, an absolutely incredible ski/motorcycle chase, some cool underwater action, and an edge-of-your-seat rock climbing sequence, any of which would have made for a single signature scene in a lesser Bond film. This one offered an embarrassment of riches.
Carole Bouquet was stunning, and did a fine acting job for a model. I’m surprised she didn’t become more well-known – at least I’d never seen her before. Perhaps she’s more famous in France, as most of her credits seem to be French-speaking roles.
One sad note was the absence of M. I read that Bernard Lee had become too ill to work, and out of respect Albert Broccoli refused to re-cast the role. I get that, but the whole “M is on leave” bit was rather awkward.
Lynn-Holly Johnson as the spoiled ice skater added a nice light touch to what was one of Moore’s more serious turns at 007, creating a good balance. Julian Glover and Topol were both terrific as the bad guy and the not-quite-so-bad guy. Everybody’s motivations made sense, the character dynamics all worked, and the plot moved ahead at a steady pace to a satisfying conclusion. This wasn’t just a good Bond movie, it was a good movie, period.
Next up: Octopussy
