Moonraker (John Glen, 1979, UK/France/USA)

Moonraker is one of the more divisive films in the Bond canon. Though For Your Eyes Only was initially slated to be the next Bond film, Moonraker was rushed into production following the global box office success of Star Wars in 1977. Bearing little resemblance to Fleming's source novel beyond some character names and plot points, Moonraker was first and foremost an effort by the Bond team to capitalize on the success of the late 70s sci-fi craze. It also represents one of the pinnacles of Bond's popularity, as it would be the most successful Bond film until the Pierce Brosnan era in the mid-1990s.

It can be argued that Moonraker is best enjoyed in parts, although it is somewhat dissatisfying on the whole. There are set pieces in the film that rival anything in the Bond canon. The opening parachute sequence is one of the most memorable openings in the entire Bond franchise, and still exhilarating to watch even in 2024. Michael Lonsdale as Hugo Drax is one of the best Bond villains, highly memorable and standing out amongst the best. While Lois Chiles lacks something of a spark as Holly Goodhead, and Richard Kiel as Jaws is a bit overplayed at this point, there is a good deal of enjoyment to be had here.

Moonraker is where the franchise started to lean into the comic and tongue-in-cheek aspects. It is also where the franchise lost most of its seriousness, and seemed more tailored to kids and younger audiences. It is not surprising that the franchise ultimately ended up with a course correction during the Dalton era, as it seems after this film that Moore's trajectory was to continue playing the series for laughs. Also worth noting here is Shirley Bassey's last collaboration with John Barry for the theme song.

7/10