Moonraker

Details

When a Boeing 747 carrying a US space shuttle on loan to the UK crashes in mysterious circumstances, British investigators are surprised to discover that there's no trace of the shuttle amongst the wreckage. James Bond is dispatched to California to investigate Drax Industries, the company responsible for manufacturing the missing spacecraft.

Whilst visiting Drax's enormous estate, complete with a French chateau transported to America brick by brick, several attempts are made on Bond's life and he naturally begins to suspect that billionaire industrialist Hugo Drax may know rather more about the missing shuttle than he's prepared to admit. During his investigations Bond also meets Dr. Holly Goodhead, a NASA scientist supposedly on loan to Drax Industries.

Bond soon discovers that there's rather more to Holly than meets the eye when she turns out to be a CIA agent conducting her own investigation into Drax. Following a trail that takes him from California to Venice and eventually Rio de Janeiro, Bond uncovers a connection between Drax's organisation and the production of a deadly toxin derived from a rare orchid.

With the seemingly indestructible Jaws once again attempting to remove 007 from the equation, Bond and Holly eventually discover the full extent of Drax's plan. From a secret space station orbiting the Earth, Drax intends to release the deadly toxin into the atmosphere, wiping out humanity whilst leaving animals and vegetation untouched. His carefully selected group of physically perfect men and women can then return from space and repopulate the planet in his own image. There's only one thing for it - Bond is going into space.

Picture & Sound

The picture is bright and colourful with no obvious artifacting or outlining and an above-average bit-rate throughout the film. As each Bond film is released there seems to be a marked improvement in picture quality. Whereas some of the previous outings suffered from virtually continuous print imperfections, on Moonraker they're far fewer and further between.

The space scenes are impressively dark whilst retaining plenty of detail, and the sequences in Rio are wonderfully rich and colourful. The image can occasionally appear a little washed out, but overall this is another noticeable improvement over some of the earlier Bond transfers and certainly one of the better looking discs in the series so far.

Although the soundtrack has been remastered and presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, the rear channels aren't really used to their full potential. I can only think of a handful of occasions where they become particularly effective, whilst for much of the film they're largely left to support John Barry's musical score.

The centre channel is also a little disappointing, with dialogue occasionally sounding slightly muffled. Given the amount of action on screen, particularly during the later space sequences, there's certainly plenty of opportunity for a more adventurous surround mix. Okay, so the soundtrack has been remastered, but they hardly seem to have spent an age doing it.

Menu & Extras

Yet again MGM have come up trumps with the extras. Although the stills gallery and trailers are starting to resemble filler material, the documentaries are amongst the most interesting to date and really help make this disc shine.

The Inside Moonraker documentary provides the usual fascinating mixture of archive footage and interviews, covering the enormous scale of the production and the decision to send Bond into space. However, the real highlight is The Men Behind the Mayhem, which looks at the special effects work behind the film.

Some of the effects may now look laughable, occasionally reaching almost Thunderbirds territory, but others remain remarkably impressive. Watching the documentary reveals just how many apparently complicated shots were achieved using surprisingly simple practical techniques, and gives you considerably more appreciation for what the effects team managed to accomplish long before computer-generated imagery could come to the rescue.

There's also an audio commentary featuring director Lewis Gilbert and members of the crew, along with the usual stills gallery, theatrical trailer and collectable making-of booklet. Taken together, it's another excellent collection of archive material and exactly the sort of treatment these older Bond films deserve.

Overall

Although Moonraker wasn't originally supposed to follow The Spy Who Loved Me, the enormous success of Star Wars rather changed those plans. If audiences wanted space adventures then Bond was going to give them one, and the result is probably the most extravagant and completely over-the-top entry in the series to date.

Fortunately, for much of its running time Moonraker remains surprisingly traditional Bond. The superb pre-title sequence, which sees 007 thrown from an aircraft without a parachute, is one of the best openings in the series and contains some astonishing stunt work. From there we get exotic locations, beautiful women, elaborate gadgets, enormous sets and enough attempts on Bond's life to make you wonder why anybody still accepts an invitation to meet him.

Michael Lonsdale makes an excellent villain as Hugo Drax. Rather than ranting and raving about his plans, he remains almost permanently calm and delivers his threats with wonderfully dry contempt. His exchanges with Bond contain some of the film's best lines and his apparent boredom with repeatedly failing to have 007 killed makes him an entertaining adversary.

Roger Moore, meanwhile, is completely at home with the increasingly ridiculous material. This isn't a film that would have suited the harder-edged Bond of Sean Connery, but Moore's ability to raise an eyebrow and carry on as though travelling into orbit is simply another day at the office makes the whole thing considerably easier to accept.

And then there's Jaws. After becoming one of the most memorable elements of The Spy Who Loved Me, Richard Kiel returns and initially provides exactly what you'd expect: an enormous, apparently indestructible henchman capable of surviving just about anything Bond throws at him. Unfortunately, the character gradually becomes increasingly comic and the introduction of his diminutive girlfriend Dolly pushes things a little too far towards outright parody for my liking.

The same can be said for the film itself once everybody heads into orbit. The laser battle aboard Drax's space station is spectacular enough, but it's difficult not to feel that Bond has wandered onto the set of a completely different film. The special effects vary enormously too: some remain genuinely impressive whilst others look decidedly less convincing, particularly when viewed on a good DVD transfer.

Still, there's an enormous amount to enjoy before things become completely ridiculous. The locations are fabulous, John Barry provides another superb score and the action sequences are frequently excellent. The cable-car sequence above Rio is particularly memorable, whilst the enormous sets and sheer scale of the production ensure there's nearly always something impressive on screen.

Moonraker certainly isn't Bond at his most believable, but since when has that necessarily been a requirement? It's big, expensive, silly and enormously entertaining, and the excellent collection of extras provides a fascinating look at how such an ambitious production was put together. The remastered soundtrack could have been better, but the improved picture and superb documentaries make this another worthwhile addition to the Bond DVD collection.

One thing still puzzles me, though. Why on earth would the Americans loan the British a space shuttle? What the hell would we do with it?

Special features

• Audio Commentary Featuring Director Lewis Gilbert and Members of the Crew
• "Inside Moonraker" An Original Documentary
• "The Men Behind the Mayhem" Special Effects Documentary
• Stills Gallery
• Collectable "Making of" Booklet
• Original Theatrical Trailer