Moonraker (James Bond 007)

I liked it. I'm not giving it a super high grade (much less a rave), but whenever people bandy about the worst Bond film, Moonraker is invariably mentioned. Let me be clear. It's not perfect. But neither were ANY of the movies in the franchise. I think a couple of Daniel Craig's outings could qualify as great cinema, but I don't think anything else so far really can.

Yes, the space laser battle at the end is dumb. But I find ALL of the climaxes so far in the early movies dumb. It seemed to move along quicker than many of them at any rate.

I thought the stuff on the cable car was pretty neat, and I thought the teaser of Bond fighting a guy in midair to steal his parachute was the greatest stunt ever. And with the exception of Chang, nothing in the movie really offended me either, which is a bit unusual.

I am 99% sure Bruce Timm modeled Justice League's Vandal Savage after Drax. Aside from having the exact same haircut, goatee, and coat, the thing that really brings them both together in my mind is the fact that they both do a lot of standing with their hands behind their backs. That specific thing is the giveaway.

A lot of people have criticized the humor in the film. But there is neither a slidewhistle nor Sheriff Pepper present. We're good on my end.

I think the thing that made me like the movie is the fact that when Bond suggested in front of Jaws that Drax would next be getting rid of nonperfect examples of humanity, Jaw's wasn't just concerned with his ugly mug, and metal teeth and penis. He looked at his new, silly, nerdy girlfriend, and realized the danger they were in and turned on him. Jaws is frankly not a good villain for a redemption arc. He's killed and been shown to enjoy killing so many people that I don't forgive him. That's true. But I also really respond well to the idea that one of the Bond villains has a bit of nuance to them. Outside of the Bond girls, all of the arch-villains are incredibly and irredeemably nasty. They all kill the help instead of the paying them for example. Yes, Jaws turning on Drax involves a bit of self-interest. But that's more nuance than most of the villains get.

Do you know what's weird? I feel the notion that he and his girlfriend survived was probably tacked on through a couple of added lines of dialogue. That must have been a negative note from an audience after a test screening. I think it would have been cooler if they died, celebrating their weird love, and actually dying doing a decent thing for once Jaws' life. It's a common belief in Hollywood that most test screenings, as annoying and infuriating as they can be, tend to make the movie better. I don't think this was necessarily true back then, if there was an actual note that Jaws and goofy girlfriend should survive. That's just my feeling.

You want to come after me for giving the worse Bond movie of all time a positive review? Feel free. I don't feel strongly enough about it to care either way. But yes, my first impression was positive. ***1/2.