I was always interested in James Bond as a kid. I have always liked the idea of these really long series of films that have tons of sequels, and there's always an obscure 2-3 out there that you can't find for some dumbass reason. I remember being absolutely obsessed with Godzilla, Zatoichi, The Twilight Zone, and other types of really long series that didn't used to be online (Twilight Zone is mostly available online right now, though it's still not the whole show). I'm not sure exactly why this was, but I am sort of a completionist / obsessive compulsive about these sorts of things.
I remember going to Peters Video, in Calistoga California with my brother and my dad in the 90's and early 2000's, and renting random ass James Bond movies. How I got into the series, who knows. It's very possible I saw Goldeneye in theaters in 1995 (age 9), or when it was a new release, and that would about make sense if that was when I got into the Bond series. Anyhow, we'd rent all the back catalog of Bond films. I remember liking Roger Moore films the best, because they were zany and dumb, fitting perfectly with my pre-teen mentality. Second I liked Timothy Dalton, then Pierce Brosnan. Then Connery, then Lazenby, then Daniel Craig if you're curious.
The Roger Moore films took a turn for the weird very early on. That is not to say some of the Connery films weren't weird, but I feel like Connery turning Japanese and fighting Oddjob was still not as weird as Bond going to space, Jaws, and using a special Golden Gun on a desert island. Although my favorite Bond villain was Donald Pleasence as Blofeld, that's purely because I am a Pleasence fanatic.
Moonraker and The Spy Who Loved Me were two of my standout favorites from the series even early on. I loved Jaws, he was my second favorite villain, and to this day is the only Bond henchman to appear in two Bond films. Richard Kiel was stunning as Jaws, certainly looks the part, and it helped that he was an unlockable character in the Nintendo 64 Goldeneye video game.
This is a noticeably silly entrant in the Bond franchise. Capitalizing off of the success of Star Wars like so many other films, this entry saw Bond take to space. Although when I saw it in the mid 90's this seemed absolutely like a "jump the shark" moment in the series, I have to say that watching it now in 2017, it doesn't seem as unrealistic and far fetched.
There are several different theories as to which actor plays Bond at what age in his life. It's basically regarded that Daniel Craig is Bond when he's youngest. He's green, he's cocky, and Q and Moneypenny are young. Then it would be Lazenby, in the film where Bond gets married. Then Timothy Dalton as an angry, more violent Bond thereafter. Then for me I feel like Connery and Brosnan are interchangeable for the most part in the timeline. But it's pretty much agreed on by everyone that Roger Moore portrayed Bond at his oldest. He's in the minimum amount of fights, he hardly kills anyone in most of his entries. Moore was also the oldest actor to play Bond, and so this theory makes sense the most.
This is hardly a standard review, obviously. But as a Bond entry, I found Moonraker to be pretty fun, and there's always a special place for it in my heart. The stunts are cool, whether it's skydiving with no parachute, taking a gondola hovercraft onto land, or the tense action on the sky tram. Moore is confident and slick as Bond, though I'd have to say that Moore also plays the least likable Bond in my book. He beds the ladies, he smarts and charms his way around everything. This movie never saw a Bond car, didn't have much gadgets, and Bond only kills one person directly in the entire film. It's an odd one, but it's very good in my book.
As an entry, it's most likely on the low spectrum for most people. But I'm not most people, and my ratings are a whole WTF thing as I'm sure you'll notice. I give this one 4 stars. I like it! The Spy Who Loved Me is better though.
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