Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Search cinema listings

Browse cinemas A-Z

Search 20,000 reviews

 

'Moonraker' revisited

With 'Quantum of Solace' due to hit our screens soon, we take a daily look back at the 21 official Bond films. Day 11: ‘Moonraker’

Moonraker (1979, Lewis Gilbert)

Villain: Hugo Drax
At stake: same as the last one
Candy: Lois Chiles as Holly Godhead
Gizmo:
gondola/hovercraft prototype
Theme song:Moonraker’ by Shirley Bassey
Quote: ‘May I press you to a cucumber sandwich?’

The same team that brought us the superior thrills of ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ here contrive to spluff out the most absurd, slapdash and slapstick Bond of them all with a dispiriting sci-fi farrago that never really gets off the launch pad.

Fast-tracked into production in order to cash in on the post-‘Star Wars’ craze for all things space related, Bond finds himself catapulted into orbit by the withered elastic of a story that simply transplants the genocidal groove of his most recent outing from an undersea lair to outer-space lab.

The opening minutes set out the stall, with some excellent skydiving stunts immediately undone by a super-goofy sight gag and capped by Shirley Bassey’s limp theme song droning over a ‘will-this-do?’ credit sequence. The rest of John Barry’s score is, to be fair, excellent, as are a bulk of the effects, but the risible laser guns, barmy gondola/ hovercraft hybrid (‘The Bondola’) and an altogether woeful attempt toward an interstellar laugh-a-rama feel about as comfortable as elective bowel surgery.

Moore, for his part, is every bit the Dapper Dan – be it in an olive-drab safari suit or dun-yellow trackie – but he’s beginning to look a little creaky in both the action scenes and the amore department. He also appears increasingly bemused by the far-out flips and twists to which his character is subjected by Christopher Wood’s mercilessly stupid script.

Like Disney’s ‘The Black Hole’, ‘Moonraker’ shows us how bad science fiction can be when it’s stapled to the flank of a horse of the wrong colour. It’s an undeniably low point in the franchise and is leavened only by Michel Lonsdale’s oleaginous turn as Hugo Drax, a louche villain given to such delicate turns of phrase as ‘Mr Bond, you appear with the tedious inevitability of an unloved season…’

James Bond will return in… ‘For Your Eyes Only

Read our original 'Moonraker' review

Author: Adam Lee Davies



What do you think?
Post your comment now

*mandatory fields





Top Stories

Ang Lee talks 'Taking Woodstock'

Ang Lee talks 'Taking Woodstock'

Ang Lee talks to Tom Huddleston about his tale of the men behind history’s greatest music festival

Hippies who work for The Man

Hippies who work for The Man

To celebrate George Clooney comedy 'The Men who Stare at Goats', we look back at six memorable onscreen hippies who fought the system from within

Roland Emmerich's guide to disaster movies

Roland Emmerich's guide to disaster movies

Ahead of the release of '2012', Roland Emmerich offers his ten tips on creating the perfect global catastrophe

Grant Heslov: interview

Grant Heslov: interview

Grant Heslov, director of 'The Men who Stare at Goats' talks about his old pal George Clooney, his interest in the paranormal, and his fond memories of working on 'Happy Days'

The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'

The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'

Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’

Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?

Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?

Time Out ponders the influences behind James Cameron's anticipated space-opera on the basis of the trailer

Michael Haneke: The man behind the menace

Michael Haneke: The man behind the menace

From Cannes to Munich to London, Dave Calhoun tours Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner, 'The White Ribbon'

How Jane Campion brought John Keats back to life

How Jane Campion brought John Keats back to life

Time Out gets Romantic with the ‘difficult’ New Zealander about her new film, 'Bright Star'

Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam

Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam

In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations