Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Moonraker’

Written by Scott Edwards

Space, the final frontier… well maybe not for long since we are in the early stages of space travel for everyone. This is such a cool idea, and I would like to be on one of these flights before my time is up. Being weightless, floating around and seeing the world from afar might be a good way to put things into perspective overall. Then being able to crush it between your fingers, like what you do with people’s heads. Anyway, it is a great unknown for so many people and I truly hope everyone gets to experience it in one way or another.

007 has been called back into action again, but this time to find out what happened to the Moonraker shuttle craft that was being delivered to the British government. While all signs show to a hijacking, Bond must talk with the head of Drax Industries to find out if anyone has a beef with them. Meeting with Hugo Drax, Bond gets the rundown about how the shuttles are produced and where everything comes from. As Drax tells him, he only uses and recruits the best materials and people from around the world and Bond quickly sees this when Drax’s lady count rivals his own.

Being able to sneak into Drax’s office, Bond snaps a couple shots of blueprints that lead him to believe that there is something more sinister going on behind the scenes. Finding designs for space globes that will house something, Bond takes his investigation to Venice and finds a familiar face. Dr. Holly Goodhead is on the hunt for knowledge as well but will not come clean about what her true purpose is. Seeing that Drax’s air fleet is taking off every hour with full cargo loads, Bond has to find out where the globes are being transported to since they house a very potent poison that can kill upon being released. Pumping Dr. Goodhead for information about where the fleet is going, Bond sees her tickets for Rio in the hotel room and decides to take a sabbatical there as well.

Arriving during carnival, Bond tries his hardest to blend in and he is not alone as Jaws has come along for the ride as well. Finding that Drax is working off of the Amazon River, Bond tries to find the base before Drax, and his band find him. Arriving at an old temple, Bond spies a beauty out of the corner of his eye and follows her. Before he knows it, he is in Drax’s hideout and needs to find a way to escape and race to space and stop the mad man from killing all of the humans on the planet with his toxin. With the help of Dr. Goodhead, the two are able to secure a flight and are transported to Drax’s secret space station where he plans to observe the end of the world from. Bond knows that he and Goodhead cannot take down the villain on their own and disable the radar jamming device that has been hiding the space station from the world. Getting assistance from Earth, a space battle ensues, but they are still in a race against time since Drax has been able to launch several of his globes of death towards the planet.

I know most of the Bond movies have some unbelievable things happening in them and Moonraker is a great example of this. I love the space battle that takes place and how full of spunk Dr. Holly Goodhead is towards her new love. You also get two boat chases back on Earth, one in the Venice Causeways and the other up the Amazon River. I don’t understand the fascination of boat chases, but I do like them, and they work well for the story. Then there is Jaws who looks larger than life and when he actually has a little story of his own that does not involve killing people. “Here’s to us”, he finally had a line! The Q Branch is becoming more of a thing as well with new weapons and gadgets for Bond to keep himself safe and not return in pristine order. As the Bond story continues to grow, so does the production value of the movies. Even though you are sent off to space, you have one of the most dramatic scenes shot back on Earth and even though you do not see the payoff, you just have to leave it to your imagination. Always remember, keep it Shaken, not Stirred.

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