The Octagon
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Movie Reviews of The Octagon
Movie Review: The Octagon.
Summary: 5 Stars
Hears a whisper : The Octagon is a good movie.shh... I am afraid if I don't give the movie 5 stars. Chuck Norris will come and get me(worst than the boogeyman). and What about Lee Van Cleef?? two Legends in this Ninja Killing movie. How can you go wrong? Did I mention Chuck Norris?Movie Review: GREAT ACTION MOVIE
Summary: 5 Stars
THIS MOVIE IS FUN TO WATCH BECAUSE THE FIGHT SCENES LOOK REAL. SOME PEOPLE WILL NOT LIKE THE VOICE OVER BUT I DID. THIS IS ONE OF ME FAVORTIVE MOVIES OF ALL TIME. FINALLY ON DVD TO BAD THERE IS NO DELETED SCENES. OVER WISE A GREAT MOVIE.
Movie Review: The Octagon
Summary: 5 Stars
Another one Of Chuck Norris Martial Arts Movies. If you enjoy martial arts, then you will like this one.Movie Review: "I ran into some ninja last night..."
Summary: 4 Stars
It's bad cess whenever the girl dies on you on the first date. Chuck Norris plays Scott James, once a world-renowned martial arts champion and currently on a date with a beautiful dancer. Scott is invited inside her home, at which point ninjas just erupt out of the woodwork. And just like that, Scott James is dragged back into the world of deadly martial arts and eventually into direct conflict with his sinister adopted brother.
1980's THE OCTAGON came pretty early in Chuck Norris' acting career, but even at this stage he'd already made inroads in establishing himself as a cinematic action star. He'd already laid down that man of few words persona. From jump Norris came across as regular folks, and that, I think, is what made audiences flock to the theater to check out his films. Didn't hurt, too, that he was a legitimate martial arts champion, having won multiple titles in karate before he retired. 183 wins to 10 losses ain't no joke.
I prefer early Chuck Norris to veteran actor Chuck Norris. His films from the late '70s to the early '80s just came with more energy, and I think he hit his peak with CODE OF SILENCE in '85. THE OCTAGON is regarded more as a cult classic. The film's reigning cool factor is, of course, all the ninjas onscreen plying their sly trade of ninjutsu, only to get whacked upside the head by Chuck. I'll admit to this film's being hampered by a sluggish pace and dull flashback sequences (even if there's cool trivia in that Chuck's son, Mike Norris, plays his character at eighteen years old). I'll say that one of the characters, A.J., is borderline intolerable. I'll even agree that the echoplex voice-over plot device - utilized to register Chuck's inner monologue - gets pretty damn silly. I guess the echoplex comes in handy in that it fleshes out Scott James that much more. Chuck Norris really doesn't have a lot of lines in his movies.
Characters keep trying to manipulate Scott, keep trying to pull him back into his old world. He's persistently harried by a beautiful heiress (Karen Carlson) and by a right wing anti-terrorist vigilante (Lee Van Cleef, looking shifty as ever). Later, he's approached by sultry Carol Bagdasarian's character who also wants him to take on the ninjas. Running parallel to Scott's dilemma is a story arc which takes place in a secret ninja training camp, the goal of which is to impart ninja tactics to mercenaries from around the globe. This camp is headed up by Scott's adopted brother, Seikura (Tadashi Yamashita). But keep your eye on the more imposing figure of his enforcer Kyo (played by another martial artist Richard Norton).
The story's shoddy execution in pace is salvaged by the action-packed final twenty minutes, that's when Scott James at last fully commits to taking out the Octagon organization and he sets out to infiltrate the ninja compound. Chuck Norris, in motion, is a whirling dervish. He takes out hapless ninja goons with whiplash combination of strikes and kicks, and when he gets his mitts on ninja weaponry, he uses them to lay waste to even more sucker ninjas. Watch for one scene in which Chuck navigates a series of wooden platforms thru a water hazard area. Chuck performs an impressive forward flip and catapults a ninja in the water, and he keeps that ninja trapped underwater with a leg until he drowns. Except that the stuntman in the ninja costume couldn't draw a breath thru his wet mask and the guy almost really did drown.
The film's absolute highlight is the dynamically choreographed showdown between Chuck and Richard Norton near the end. This is a tasty fighty fight with both cats getting their licks in. It showcases Norris at his best. It makes me rate the film 3.5 stars out of 5, instead of only 3 stars. Never underestimate the influence of an impeccably delivered roundhouse kick.
The film is shown in full screen format, which renders me all kinds of incensed. The DVD's bonus features: The in-depth "Making of THE OCTAGON" documentary (00:39:27 minutes long); "How American Cinema Changed Hollywood Forever" - a featurette chronicling the rise and collapse of the American Cinema Group, an independent film company that revamped how movies were marketed and a company that also produced and distributed a series of box office hits, including several Chuck Norris pictures: A FORCE OF ONE, THE OCTAGON (00:27:57 minutes); Cast & Crew biographies; and THE OCTAGON theatrical trailer and TV promo spot.
Movie Review: An Action Film Before its Time
Summary: 4 Stars
People scoff these days because Chuck Norris had a ridiculous 70's mustache. But keep in mind The Octagon was the film that introduced the Ninja to the American public. This was before James Clavelle's Shogun, this was before all the American Ninja movies, Franco Nero (who?) and all that. If it wasn't for this movie, little kids' ninja dolls would have come a little or a lot later.
When I first saw this movie when I was a kid, the Ninja-thing took me by storm. Now that I've recently purchased the re-release DVD, the film still holds up not only as an action flick, but also as a document to a very exciting time in martial arts movies.
Also keep in mind that American Cinema was at the time a cutting-edge independent movie company that set the standard for releasing and marketing niche movies. But you can see all that in the "How American Cinema Changed Hollywood" documentary in the special features.