Movie · 1979 · Action, Adventure, Thriller, Science Fiction · 2h 6m · PG · English
Curator score: 2.0/10 (208.9K ratings)
Where all the other Bonds end… this one begins!
Overview
After Drax Industries' Moonraker space shuttle is hijacked, secret agent James Bond is assigned to investigate, traveling to California to meet the company's owner, the mysterious Hugo Drax. With the help of scientist Dr. Holly Goodhead, Bond soon uncovers Drax's nefarious plans for humanity, all the while fending off an old nemesis, Jaws, and venturing to Venice, Rio, the Amazon...and even outer space.
Ratings
Curator score: 2.0/10
IMDb: 6.3/10
Letterboxd: 2.87/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 59%
Metacritic: 66
TMDB: 6.2/10
Director
Lewis Gilbert
Production
EON Productions, Les Productions Artistes Associés, United Artists
Cast
Roger Moore, Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Richard Kiel, Corinne Cléry, Bernard Lee, Geoffrey Keen, Desmond Llewelyn, Lois Maxwell, Toshirô Suga, Emily Bolton, Blanche Ravalec, Irka Bochenko, Mike Marshall, Leila Shenna, Anne Lonnberg, Jean-Pierre Castaldi, Walter Gotell, Douglas Lambert, Arthur Howard
Curator Review
Verdict
A wildly uneven but undeniably entertaining Bond spectacle that trades espionage for camp, scale, and late-70s sci-fi excess. It’s best approached as a glossy stunt show with outrageous production design rather than a serious thriller.
Best for
Bond completists
fans of campy blockbuster excess
viewers who enjoy practical effects and elaborate set pieces
audiences in the mood for silly, high-gloss adventure
Skip if
you want grounded spycraft
you dislike tonal whiplash or self-parody
you prefer lean thrillers over spectacle
you’re allergic to late-era Roger Moore silliness
Overview
Moonraker is the point where Bond fully surrenders to spectacle, and the result is both absurd and strangely irresistible. The movie has the confidence of a franchise that knows it can get away with almost anything: Venice canals, Amazon chases, laser battles, and eventually outer space, all delivered with a straight face that makes the nonsense funnier.
Worth noting
What holds it together is the craftsmanship. The production design is lavish, the locations are vivid, and the action has a tangible, analog grandeur that modern effects-heavy blockbusters rarely match. Even when the plotting becomes cartoonish, the movie keeps moving with enough visual invention to stay watchable.
Bottom line
Still, this is not the Bond film for people who want tension, realism, or emotional depth. It’s a tonal outlier, more interested in escalation than suspense, and its broad humor can feel like a betrayal of the franchise’s sharper instincts. But if you meet it on its own terms, it’s a gleeful, expensive piece of 70s popcorn cinema.
Top Letterboxd reviews
MenOnFilm (3★) · 1760 likes
1969 Bond cradles his murdered wife and grieves.
1979 Bond is flying around in space while lasers go off and he cums on the moon.
matt lynch (5★) · 969 likes
first time on 35mm.
you can grouse about how relentlessly corny this is or you can marvel at a spectacular analog technical achievement (the likes of which will probably never be seen again). my brain understands why people -- even Bond fans -- don't like this one, but my heart says you'd have to be crazy to hate it. also it ends with a giant fucking astronaut laser fight and if you can't get behind that there's just no helping you.