Moonraker (1979)

"Well...here's to us." -Jaws

Moonraker is a disaster plain and simple. Certainly worth watching once cuz it's a Bond..I guess, but not worth rewatching---ever.

And yes, I was right in my guess made in my SWLM post.  This plot and movie were conceived of in post-Star Wars afterglow. Underwater was what IT was and now what it IS is space. So, 007 goes to space.

There were only 3 real bright spots for me. 1. Jaws, 2. The technical weightless effects, and 3. The writers who dared to set a whole fight sequence on a sky gondola. Other than that, mandatorily forgettable.

For 1978 filming, I thought the ability to have multiple people appear to float space-like was rather spectacular. Kudos to those tech guys.

What I really hated was that I could see where Moonraker is a hack. They took what was usable -almost shot for shot from YOLT and combine it with mimic shot for mimic shot from Star Wars. (Though this does not apply to the lasers or space ships- they were awful. It's really ILM or nothing in my book.) Seriously, if I could rename Moonraker, it would be You Only Live Star Wars.

Oh, the Venetian gondola that turns into a hover craft was stupid (It lacked all cool.), and Michael Lonsdale looks, acts, and sounds like Peter Dinklage playing Tyrion Lannister.  Or Peter Dinklage is doing an amazing Hugo Drax impression?

On a scale of Bond in space to Muppets in space, I give Moonraker 1.6 out of 5 stars.