Moonraker (DVD)

Roger Moore as Bond returns in this feature film to venture where no spy has gone. Good action for this franchise.

I have seen Moonraker several times over the years, and always feel it is excellent as a Bond movie. The movie gives me a sense of nostalgia for the cars and objects I remember from many years ago when I was a kid. You don't see that style of Ford trucks any more -- and notice that Bond films over the years seem to focus on Ford vehicles if they are filmed partly in the United States. It is useful to study how the sets are constructed and what furnishings are provided. It brings back a bygone era, and often, that can make up for other things that a movie is missing.This movie has no subtlety at all. We are quickly shown that Drax is indeed a villain within a minute or so of seeing him. From then on, it is very clearly Drax vs. Bond: evil and good, black and white, Death and Life. Of all the Bond movies, the scene in which dogs are unleashed upon one of Drax's employees is one so brutal I can't bear to watch it. I'm bothered by how Richard Kiel (Jaws) is used in the film, the role feels a little like he is being insulted by using his height and great strength to cast him as a freak of nature. However it is also a role where Jaws experiences love and begins a transformation. We can wish them both a happy ending to their adventure.It is hard for me to judge Roger Moore as a Bond. I like his keep calm and carry on Eton approach. He is a very good Bond. We see him thinking about what he is doing, even though it is remarkably easy for him to add 2 and 2. We see him loving the girls and fighting the bad guys, which is to be expected. (He seems to endure hand to hand combat with boku-wielding ninjas better than he did in "The Man With The Golden Gun" against trainees who had only their fists, but that is another miracle story.) As 007, he succeeds against his villains effortlessly, and that is hard for viewers to accept. There is no doubt in my mind that the two best Bond actors are Daniel Craig and Pierce Brosnan. Both have an explosive power and immersion into their roles that is authentic to viewers. Where Moore doesn't get so much as a chipped fingernail, Craig is often wounded and at least once tortured. We see he same things happen to Brosnan, again with authenticity. Connery experiences wounds and torture as well, but with less authenticity than Craig and Brosnan can convey. Moore goes on without a scratch, Craig and Brosnan and Connery bleed and go on, and are therefore more interesting. But note, they make stunningly rapid recoveries from wounds and torture.In Moonraker, most of the scenes lack real authenticity. It is hard for the viewer to believe Bond's ability to survive and then destroy Drax despite all the obstacles. Drax's villainy is cleverly played, and it carries authenticity; his attempts to kill Bond should have worked. We can believe Drax: we can't really believe Bond. For instance, why would a space shuttle need an air shaft under the launching pad? It seems such a good way to destroy the launching facility.Even so, I give this movie 5 stars. I love watching it. I love seeing the old Ford trucks and 1960s/1970s buildings. That's a '5'!

Well packaged

"Moonraker" for me has always been the best of the Roger Moore Bond outings. For years the single DVD was hard to find, at least at a price beneath $25 or so. I was thrilled when, last fall, apparently as part of the Bond movies 50th anniversary,  Moonraker  appeared. Bond movies are like "Godfather" movies, every year or so they come out in repackaged box sets, New! Improved! Whiter! and Brighter! than ever before, hoping to get fans to shell out even more money for movies they've already purchased countless times in countless formats. This edition of "Moonraker", I'm happy to report, offers high quality sight and sound, and features several bonus features, including commentary from cast and crew. Note , however, the picture of the front that appears on Amazon differs from the actual DVD package.I know that my preference for "Moonraker" over "Spy Who Loved Me" puts me in a minority of 007 fans (one that doesn't include Roger Moore). While "Spy" has several first-rate set pieces and arguably the best pre-title sequence of all Bond movies, for me "Spy" suffers from draggy pacing, usually by the time Bond is rescuing the sailors from Karl Stromberg's underwater fortress I find myself nodding off.In "Moonraker," on the other hand, director Lewis Gilbert keeps the story moving at a crisp pace, and the actors, for the most part, play their roles relatively straight. Moore has yet to descend into his cynical, play-Bond-for-laughs acting method. Richard Kiel as "Jaws" steals every scene he's in. Michael Lonsdale, as the villain Hugo Drax, displays a dry wit and quiet intensity that hints at the volcanic inner life of a mega maniac ready to annihilate the world's population and start a new master race. Bernard Lee, in his final appearance, as M, and the rest of the Bond regulars appear. The only real weak link is Lois Chiles as CIA agent/NASA scientist Lois Chiles delivers line readings for the most part in a sleepwalking monotone."Moonraker" opens with a familiar 007 plot device, the theft of a major piece of military industrial hardware, in this case, a space shuttle. Bond is dispatched to get it back, and the story takes him from southern California to Venice to Rio and the Amazon jungle, before climaxing in Drax's space station. Highlights include Bond trapped in a G-force training vehicle, a motorized gondola chase through the canals of Venice, a knock-down brawl with a Ninja assassin in a glass museum, a chase and fight with "Jaws" on a cable car, a boat chase on the Amazon, and the final battle in outer space. The film's strengths include an imaginative pre-title sequence in which Bond is tossed out of a plane without a parachute (featuring stunt work that has come to be widely imitated in action movies), a snazzy John Barry score, with Shirley Bassey performing the title song (A Shirley Bassey vocal is always a sign you're in for a treat), and a gag involving a secret gas warfare lab that delivers one of the biggest laughs in any Bond film (I can still recall the roar of laughter in the theater I saw it in originally)."Moonraker" has received a great deal of criticism over the years, especially for its outer space sequence. Many see it as a rip-off of "Star Wars." Yes, the producers were trying to cash in on the "Star Wars" craze, just as they cashed in on the "blaxplotation" and martial arts film crazes of the 1970s with "Live and Let Die" and "The Man With the Golden Gun." And let's face it, by 1979 the stories had pretty much exhausted the impregnable fortress ideas, having placed them everywhere from under the ocean to the top of the Swiss Alps. After "Spy" they literally had nowhere else to go but up.Of course, once you've sent your hero into space it can be hard to top, and after "Moonraker" the Bond movies really didn't try. The filmmakers dialed the stakes and special effects back considerably in "For Your Eyes Only," but only proved that, for Bond, there was no going back. The Bond films deteriorated into dispiriting exercises in the mechanics of franchise moviemaking. With the Pierce Brosnan films the franchise regained some creative and commercial vitality, but it's only been in the past six years, with the "rebooted" Bond played by Daniel Craig, that the Bond filmmakers have been able to recapture the original magic of Bond as more of a flesh and blood character than larger-than-life cartoon, in stories that push the boundaries of plausibility without falling over into being utterly preposterous.The 1970s 007 films, long derided by fans and critics alike, may be in line for a critical re-appraisal. Sam Mendes and Craig have remarked how one of their biggest inspirations for "Skyfall," the most commercially and critically successful Bond movie of them all, was the Bond films they saw in their movie-going youth in the 70s, such as "Live and Let Die." That marriage of 70s-pop culture sensibility and 21st century film technology, along with a world view shaped by the tumultuous events of the past 12 years, should help insure Bond is around for the next 50 years. "Moonraker" is no great work of art, but it is first-rate escapist entertainment and futuristic, in more ways than one.

I watched this again after 40 years. I remember it being cheesy but fun, and over-the-top but still good Bond film. Well, it's not as good as I remember, and it's even more cheesy. The story is standard Bond fare, but the sequence of scenes makes no sense, with Bond bouncing from one nonsensical action scene to another. Literally the only reason Bond makes any progress is that he goes somewhere, goons try to kill him, and that clues him in that he is in the right place. If Drax just left him alone in the first place, Bond would have got nowhere. Sigh. I want to like it, it's just so for-laughs (apart from the weirdly out of place horrific dog chase). What saves this film are the two French actors, Michael Lonsdale (Drax) and Blanch Ravalec (Dolly). Drax is one of the best Bond villains because he gets some of the best ever Bond villain lines. And Dolly was so hot they wouldn't give her any dialogue because her French accent would result in the film having an R rating. Unlike many, I did not experience the Mandela effect of believing Dolly had braces, but I was sure the Brazilian girl was killed by Jaws. Anyway, one of my least favorite Bond films, although I still like it more than most of the Daniel Craig stuff.

It was on time which was great as it’s a present for someone so I left it in the packaging I’m sure it will be in good condition 👍.

Buena edición, cualitativamente muy notable aunque carece de extras de relieve, no como la anterior edición que al menos contenía un documental interesante sobre la película y su rodaje. A pesar de ello, merece la pena.

„Moonraker“ war der elfte Film der „Bond-Reihe“, der vierte mit ROGER MOORE in der Hauptrolle. Gleichzeitig ist es der erste Film, in dem „JAMES BOND“ ein „Bond-Girl“ zur Seite gestellt bekam, das ihm fast schon ebenbürtig war. Dieses „Bond-Girl“ war LOIS CHILES, die sein amerikanisches Pendant „DR. HOLLY GOODHEAD“ spielt.Dieses Mal lautet „BONDS“ Auftrag den entführten Raumgleiter „Moonraker“ wieder aufzustöbern und herauszufinden, wer dahinter steckt. Zu diesem Zweck reist er nach Kaliforniern, um in den Produktionsstätten des Shuttle-Herstellers mit seinen Ermittlungen zu beginnen. Dort trifft er auf die attraktive NASA-Forscherin „DR. HOLLY GOODHEAD“, die ihm die Produktion und das Ausbildungsprogramm der Astronauten erklärt. Er lernt auch den zwielichtigen Firmenchef DRAX (Michale Lonsdale) kennen und entgeht nur knapp einem Mordanschlag von dessen chinesischen Leibwächter „CHANG“ (Toshiro Suga). Doch „BOND“ wäre nicht „BOND“, wenn er sich dadurch abschrecken lassen würde, denn schon in der selben Nacht findet er bei einem Einbruch in „DRAX`“ Büro Hinweise, die ihn zu einer Glasbläserei nach Venedig führen. In Venedig angekommen, trifft er überraschend auf „DR. HOLLY GOODHEAD“, die vorgibt bei der ESA einen Vortrag halten zu müssen. Als „BOND“ sich nachts in der Glasbläserei umsieht, findet er ein geheimes Labor und einen Behälter mit rätselhaften Phiolen …..„Moonraker“ ist ein typischer „Bond-Film“, da gibt es den Superagenten, die hübschen Mädchen und die fiesen Bösewichte mit ihren Handlangern. Die Filme sind alle gleich strukturiert und aufgebaut, neu ist in „Moonraker“ nicht nur, dass eines der „Bond-Girls“ fast ebenbürtig ist, sondern auch, dass ein Bösewicht zweimal dabei ist.RICHARD KIEL, der bereits in „Der Spion der mich liebte“ den „BEIßER“ spielte, darf in „Moonraker“ erneut Jagd auf 007 machen. Grund war, dass dieser Riese beim Publikum so gut ankam, dass die Produzenten ihn einfach nochmal dabei haben wollten.Ansonsten sind natürlich altbekannter Gesichter dabei, LOIS MAXWELL spielt „MISS MONEYPENNY“, DESMOND LLEWELYN ist Tüftler „Q“ und BERNARD LEE spielt ein letztes Mal „M“.Highlights der „Bond-Filme“ sind neben der Musik auch immer die Gadgets. Von denen gibt es dieses Mal reichlich, am besten hat mir die Gondel mit der Luftkissenfunktion gefallen. Aber auch das Parfümfläschchen mit Flammenwerfer-Funktion, das Armband mit Gift- und Explosionspfeilen, die dazugehöriger Uhr mit Sprengstoff und Zeitzünder, oder der Kugelschreiber mit integrierter Giftspritze fand ich noch charmant.Den Titelsong singt wieder einmal SHIRLEY BESSEY, die ja bereits die Titelsongs zu „Goldfinger“ und „Diamantenfieber“ gesungen hat. Auch das berühmte „Bond-Thema“ ist das erste Mal seit „Leben und sterben lasen“ wieder zu hören.Gedreht wurde der Film in Brasilien, Frankreich, Italien, Guatemala und den USA, die sind also ganz schön was rumgekommen. Heutzutage würden wahrscheinlich die FfF-Kinderchen empört und schnappatmend zum Schule schwänzen aufrufen, um ihren Protest auszudrücken. 😉Für mich gehört „Moonraker“ mit zu den besten „Bond-Filmen“, die Story ist spannend, die Darsteller sehr gut, hier stimmt eigentlich alles.Offensichtlich waren viele Menschen dieser Meinung, denn „Moonraker“ sollte bis zur Veröffentlichung von „Goldeneye“ im Jahr 1995, der finanziell erfolgreichste Film der Reihe bleiben.Mein Fazit: Für „Bond-Fans“ dürfte „Moonraker“ ein Highlight sein, nicht nur das er super spannend ist, auch die Darsteller und die gesamte Produktion ist schön klasse. Mir gefallen die exotischen Schauplätze, die hübschen Frauen und der „BEIßER“ war schon immer einer meiner liebsten Bösewichte. Ich fühle mich auch heute noch bestens unterhalten, insofern gibt es von mir natürlich eine dicke, fette Empfehlung für diesen Klassiker.

Worked perfectly!

Great