The Octagon

Whether you can take this film or not will depend on your tolerance for B-movies. The production is very cheap (to the point that you can barely see anything during the night scenes), and the plot is pretty vague (Is Chuck Norris playing a mercenary? An anti-terrorist expert? A former karate champion? All three?), and the fact that we can often hear his thoughts in echoing voice-over doesn't make it any more lucid. But Norris is better than usual here (at least better than anyone else in the cast), and his fighting moves are as sharp as ever. (**)

I just can't see this as a review excerpt - it wouldn't draw a lot of viewers - but it sums up "The Octagon" pretty well.

I actually would have rated this movie much lower, but the final 20 minutes, where Chuck invades the Ninja training camp and confronts his 'brother' almost saves the film. ALMOST.

Aside from Lee Van Clief, Chuck Norris is the best actor in the film, which ought to set off warning bells in your head. Chuck does his usual stoic, quiet-spoken tough guy shtick here. He at least isn't actively annoying as an actor, and he still can move impressively when the time comes for a martial arts smack down. (One thing you can say for Norris, he did improve somewhat as an actor, and by the time 'Code Of Silence' appeared some years after this, he was considerably more expressive.) However, the screenwriter and director apparently never passed Screen Writing 101, because they make poor Chuck narrate almost every scene with intrusive whispered voice-overs (in a layered echo effect, no less) where he endlessly explains his moral dilemmas and his anguish and anger at his estranged brother...to HIMSELF...over and over again. You just aren't supposed to do this, people...you're supposed to SHOW the viewer what's going on, not TELL and TELL and TELL and TELL the viewer.

Also, nothing against Karen Carlson personally, but at this stage in her career, she was one of the worst actresses alive. We are talking 'Hayden Christianson in Star Wars II' bad. To call her performance here 'wooden and stiff' is to insult the concepts of 'wooden' and 'stiff'. Some of this probably isn't actually her fault - she is plays an extremely contrived character with some really awful lines that she has to deliver with a straight face. I kept telling myself this, but it didn't help - every scene she was in made me want to drive to her house and leave a flaming bag of dog poop on her front porch.

There are serious pacing problems here, too. There are moments here and there where something exciting starts to happen, but these moments are smothered in endless, tedious scenes where people stand around and emote at each other. Even the early scenes set in the ninja terrorist training camp, which were probably meant to engage the viewer and keep the interest up, bog down in stupid inane dialog and exposition.

But, as other reviewers have mentioned, things perk up considerably in the last bit, which actually has suspense, atmosphere, and drama. In fact, it is obvious that the last 20 minutes of the film was the real point of the film, and that everything before it was just puffery and exposition. Too bad the whole movie couldn't have been like this, but I suppose that watching 2 hours of Chuck Norris infiltrating a Ninja camp would have been like playing "Metal Gear Solid" without a controller.

3.5 stars out of 10.

The Octagon on the surface is just another in a long line of not-so-great Chuck Norris karate pictures. But wait; there are differences.

Admittedly the quality of production is poor, but the addition of ninja assassins as chief antagonists was interesting. It should have intrigued us, but the film was just not meant to be great. The most entertaining aspect of the film is Chuck Norris' voice over narration of his thoughts. His voice echoes in whisper whenever he thinks of anything. This element may have been meant to be mysterious, but obviously it was just another part of the movie that may have swayed the viewer into thinking this was a comedy. This movie is at best described as a guilty pleasure, or something to watch on a night when you can't get to sleep. But for sarcastically humored people, or just undemanding viewers, The Octagon is fun to watch.

The Octagon's premise is simple. Chuck Norris vs Ninjas. That's really about it. Norris is Scott James, a man haunted by memories of his growing up and rivalry with his former martial art brother Seikura, who now heads a Ninja training camp and is teaching international terrorists the ways of the Ninja. James must stop the organization and face off, once and for all, with his former brother.

There's little in the way of story, and sadly the film takes it's time in getting to the point where Norris finally takes out the Ninja trash. Like a lot of his movies, the lack of much plot means the film moves pretty slowly between the action. When the action does kick in, it's quite impressive. The real standout though is Norris infiltrating the Ninja base in the film's climax. It's classic Norris.

The cast are okay. Lee Van Cleef and Richard Norton pop up in small roles, Richard Norton actually has a few different roles here.

I would have rated it an 8 out of 10 if there was a bit more action in the middle half of the film. For the most part, only Chuck Norris and ninja fans will get the most out of THE OCTAGON (1980).

Overall worth watching..7 out of 10

It was one of those nights. I had slept till about...late that day, and thus, my brain was functioning at a very high level, higher than the average 2 in the morning brain at least. I turn to the television for comfort, as i usually do when my friends have all left me, and I'm alone and sad. Amazed I find there's nothing worth watching as I flip through the 4 non-cable-TV channels in my room. The sadness and grudge towards my friends fades away as the opening scenes of The Octagon jump in my face. At this point, I'm wide awake and thrilled. "At least it's good for a few laughs".

And it was. The plot is fascinating:

Chuck's character was adopted by some Ninja master, and a rivalry is born between Chuck and his new fathers son, Seikura. When Seikura cheats in a race between the two, and thus dishonors the whole family, he is vanished by his father.

We meet Chuck's character Scott James, some sort of mercenary. Seikura is now training terrorists in some camp in South-America. And so the plot thickens.

As the end draws near I am vast asleep. The Octagon has served its purpose and dozed me into dreamland. Never mind the sandman. As long as Chuck's around, there's no need to fear insomnia!