"Star Wars" came out two years before this and was a massive hit, so why not give James Bond a laser blaster and put him in space? The answer is because it would be stupid. There are a few memorable scenes; Roger Moore trapped in a g-force simulator, Richard Kiel as Jaws biting everything in sight, and the catchy Shirley Bassey theme song. There is admittedly a lot I like about this Bond film, but it's also represents the beginning of the end for when the series shifted to overly relying on improbable spy gadgetry and far too much humor. "For Your Eyes Only" was terrific, but I do think "Moonraker" signaled the end of good Bond pictures during the Roger Moore era, most of which only got worse.

This is easily the worst of the Moore James Bond films.The plot this time is that Bond is investigating the disappearance of "Moonraker" ships constructed by Drax Industries with the help of Dr. Holly Goodhead (*shudder*), and uncovers a plan by Hugo Drax to destroy all human life on Earth except those individuals he sees as most fit, and create a new space civilization. Sound familiar? Well, that's because the plot is so similar to the previous film, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), which was about the main villain, Karl Stromberg, wanting to destroy all human life on ground level and create a civilization beneath the sea. Different element, but both civilizations are in places supposedly uninhabitable by humans. I get that a lot of the Bond films copy plot elements from each other, but copying almost the exact plot from its immediate predecessor is just desperate. Even The Spy Who Loved Me is said to have taken numerous plot elements from a Sean Connery Bond film, You Only Live Twice (1967), but the former turned out to be a better film. Moore, as usual, is trying his darndest, and he can't really be blamed for the crappy material he has to work with. Lois Chiles as Goodhead (*shudder*) has one of the stupidest names for a Bond girl, and although she can fight o.k., she's just terribly dull. Richard Kiel returns from the previous film as Jaws, but here he is more of an annoyance, like many other henchmen from inferior Bond films, showing up all the time and not going away. Not only that, but he is turned into a complete joke, being a good guy, falling in love with a dorky girl, and speaking...Why is he speaking now when he showed no previous indication that he was capable of it? Michael Lonsdale's Drax is completely uninteresting as a villain because of how ripped-off he is from Stromberg and he doesn't seem to be making much of an effort to kill Bond properly (sure, that's a thing with many Bond villains, but he doesn't even try here; also, who's he trying to be, Hitler, with his talk of a master race?) A lot of things seem to happen conveniently for both Bond and his enemies. They all have gadgets (some quite stupid) for any situation. Bond himself seems to piece together clues much too easily, and that's partly due to Drax's poor efforts to kill him. There are also so many terrible jokes and puns not just by Bond this time, but other characters as well. When everyone watches Bond and Goodhead (*shudder*) have sex at the end, Q (Desmond Llewelyn) says that Bond is "attempting re-entry." Hmm.... A lot of the in-jokes are unwelcome and completely random. For instance, Before Bond goes to meet Q in an old Western-looking town, he is wearing Clint Eastwood's outfit from his Spaghetti westerns.True, there is a lot of spectacle, especially with the final battle in space, and others do commend the film for that, but to be honest, I really don't care. No amount of spectacle or incredible effects work will grab me if a film has no integrity to it, and this film has none. Even film series like Bond and Friday the 13th have standards, guys. By trying to take advantage of the Star Wars madness that originated two years earlier, what we get here is a stupid, ridiculous, lazy, and calculated film with nothing to show except spectacle, and to be honest, even the spectacle's overblown.I'm not going to knock Bond fans for liking this film, because with six actors and 24 films with the character, so many different versions of him and his adventures have been shown to the world, and it's a constantly-changing franchise, so what's the point?

Widely Considered the Worst James Bond Movie, Without much Dissent, it's a Bad Movie on Any Account. The Pacing is Horrible, not one Joke is Funny, the Score is Unremarkable and Anemic, and it Contains, perhaps, the Worst Chase Scene in a Big Budget Movie, Ever (gondola).It's Embarrassingly Inconsistent and Fails to Follow Form. Bond (Roger Moore) is Strangely Absent a Gun at times, or even the Wrist Weapon He is given at the Outset, in the Fight Scenes. Speaking of Fight Scenes, some are Choreographed so Stiff as to be in Slow Motion. The Glass Shop Abomination in so Over the Top with Yelling and Smashing Everything in Sight that it becomes Jaw Dropping Bad.Speaking of "Jaws", as little as possible, the Returning Character Lampoons Himself in what could be Called the most Clumsy Scene in any Bond Film, only to be almost Topped by the Ending Switcheroo.The Shameless "Bond in Space" Scenes are Infamous. The Villain "Drax" is a Monotone Bore with Lines that are only Memorable because they are Cringe-Worthy. There are a Multitude of "Bond Girls" that are Displayed more Mannequin than usual, and the Lead, "Dr. Goodhead", delivers some of the Worst Acting and Line Reading Imaginable.The Impressive SFX, the Enormous and Stunning Sets are Eye-Popping and some are Artistically Interesting (Drax lair in South America), but all the Money up there On the Screen Can't Save this from the Bottom of the James Bond Gun Barrel. Speaking of Guns, Bond Fires One Shot in the Entire Film.Abysmal Movie by any Standard and as a James Bond Entry it is Intolerable.

What is hard to believe is that when Moonraker came out in 1979, it was a hit, and has since grossed a third of a billion dollars. What a complete joke. This whole movie is a joke and comes off like a comedy. Ridiculous, horribly staged fight scenes (especially the one in the glass shop), the Venice water chase, everything about this movie comes off as a pompous, slapstick joke. It's so bad, it's fun to watch. The absolutely absurd premise of killing off humanity with a plant extract that dissolves in space, yet can survive in a glass vial during a fistfight add to the comedy of errors. Bond only fires a weapon one time in the entire film, and even then it was unintentional (when Bond was "hunting" with Drax and "killed" the sniper in the trees)--an inexcusable shortcoming in any spy flick, and seems devoid of his usual toys or weapons, other than conveniently placed wrist dart launcher at the beginning. Topped off with the absolutely hilarious bond between Jaws and the teeny, tiny Swedish girl in pigtails, Bond's most deadly weapons in Moonraker are a slew of ghastly one-liners, and easily qualfies as the best of the worst Bond movies, just ahead of View to a Kill. Bad acting by Moore, comically arranged choreography and ridiculous "kill" elements (the scene in the tunnel designed to kill Bond and Dr. Goodhead by jet blast that only goes 20 feet, for example), rescue shuttles that are ready to go on a moment's notice (instead of the usual two years' of planning), lasers that make squish sounds in space make this parody of the space race beyond any credible recognition, other than slapstick humor which is just too dumb to even laugh at.