Moonraker

When a Moonraker space shuttle vanishes mid-transport, James Bond steps in to investigate the theft. The trail leads him to Hugo Drax, a reclusive billionaire with a state-of-the-art spaceplane facility in California. Bond soon discovers that Drax's ambitions extend far beyond aerospace manufacturing. With the help of Dr. Holly Goodhead, a CIA agent posing as an astronaut, Bond uncovers a plot that threatens all life on Earth.

Director Lewis Gilbert, returning after The Spy Who Loved Me, leaned hard into science fiction. The film's $34 million budget made it the most expensive Bond movie at the time, driven by the post-Star Wars appetite for space spectacle. Roger Moore's fifth outing as 007 takes him from Venice's canals to the Amazon rainforest and, ultimately, into orbit.

Though critics were divided, audiences flocked to theaters. Moonraker grossed over $210 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing Bond film until GoldenEye in 1995. It remains one of the franchise's most audacious entries, a time capsule of late-1970s sci-fi fever. [edit]

James Bond is summoned by M after a Moonraker space shuttle, on loan from Drax Industries to the British government, is hijacked during transport. The shuttle carrier plane is destroyed, but no wreckage of the shuttle is found. Bond travels to the Drax Industries complex in California to investigate. There, he meets the enigmatic Hugo Drax, a wealthy industrialist with a passion for space exploration, and his deadly henchman Chang. Bond also encounters Dr. Holly Goodhead, a brilliant astronaut working for Drax who is secretly a CIA operative.

Bond's inquiries are met with hostility. Drax attempts to kill Bond in a centrifuge chamber designed for astronaut training. Bond survives and is attacked by Jaws, the metal-toothed assassin from a previous mission, who throws him out of a plane. Bond manages to steal Jaws's parachute mid-air and escape. The trail leads Bond and Goodhead to Venice, where Drax is hosting a gala at a Venetian glass museum. Bond suspects the museum is a front for Drax's illicit activities. He infiltrates the gala and uncovers evidence linking Drax to the shuttle theft. A chase through Venice's canals ensues, with Bond and Goodhead evading Drax's operatives in speedboats and gondolas.

From Venice, Bond and Goodhead travel to Rio de Janeiro, where Drax has another facility. They attend a carnival, where Bond is ambushed by Jaws. After a fight, Bond escapes and follows Drax's trail into the Amazon rainforest. There, they discover a hidden launch base where Drax is building a fleet of Moonraker shuttles. Bond learns that Drax's scheme is far more sinister than simple theft. Drax plans to use the shuttles to deploy a deadly nerve gas from space, which will wipe out all human life on Earth. He intends to repopulate the planet with a genetically superior master race, selected from a group of young, physically perfect individuals he has already chosen. Bond and Goodhead must stop Drax before he can launch his attack.[edit]