User reviews

Firstly let me get this of my chest I hate Octopussy with an absolute passion. What is so frustrating is that it had so much potential and had a very good opening sequence, unfortunately post the opening sequence it all goes downhill. Firstly there was absolutely no plot to begin with, just an excuse for Moore to tell his corny jokes. Next there are several sequences that would make a Bond fan cringe,for instance the sequence in which Bond turns up to diffuse a bomb dressed as a clown. The villains are pretty poor, Louis Jordon fails to make an impact as Kamal Khan and Bollywood veteran Kabir Bedi is equally poor as his henchman. It's funny that when people debate over what the worst Bond movie is and Octopussy gets overlooked when it can easily give them a run for their money.

Bond Review.

Title: A silly title that has a reason behind it but doesn't make it easier to accept.

Pre-Titles: Bond fails to plant a bomb in an aircraft hangar, but he escapes in his own aircraft and just about avoids a heat-seeking missile which does the job for him. This is another exciting opening to a Moore Bond film and it is always fun to see standalone action like this open the film. The stunt work in the plane is absolutely brilliant and its intense escape is one of the best parts of the film.

Theme Song: Rita Coolidge delivers one of the dullest themes of the series with 'All Time High'. It just moves along so slowly and neither the melody nor Coolidge's vocals are that good. In fact it sounds like something from a cheesy 1970's sitcom not a Bond film.

Plot: When a fellow agent is found dead holding a Faberge egg Bond is sent to track its progress and it leads him to Afghan prince Kamal Kahn. Bond soon discovers that Kahn and a Soviet general plan to blow up an American air base, which forces him to team up with the mysterious Octopussy. The story is well told and moves along fine, but some of it is quite illogical. The reasoning for Kahn wanting to harm the Americans is never made clear and Octopussy herself just comes out of nowhere to side with Bond. The film also drags the longer it goes on, everything is set-up effectively yet the final third with the circus goes on for too long.

James Bond: Roger Moore is starting to look too old for the role here. His suave personality and witty comments are still entertaining, but it's obviously not him in the action scenes and many of the romantic scenes are rather awkward. However he does just enough to keep things enjoyable.

Bond Girls: Maud Adams returns to the series as the title character and she is just okay. She certainly brings elegance to the role and does have a strong screen presence, but the role limply written and she doesn't contribute anything to the film. Kristina Wayborn is very good as Magda. She gets to show off her athleticism and get involved in the action scenes, she also handles her dialogue well and is an entertaining presence when she appears.

Villains: Louis Jourdan brings sophistication to Kahn and makes for a charming villain opposite Moore, but he isn't much of a threat. Sure he gets some fun lines and is classy, but his plan is flimsy and you get the feeling that Bond could defeat him easily. Steven Berkoff hams it up as disloyal soviet Orlov and it doesn't pay off. He delivers all his lines like a maniac and his expressions are laughable, he's never as threatening as he's meant to be. Kabir Bedi as Kahn's hulking henchman is simply a bore.

Support: Desmond Llewelyn is great once again as we see Q doing some field work here which is fun. Robert Brown plays M for the first time and he is very good, retaining the characters stern attitude.

Action: The action again ranges from nicely intense to absurd. A car chase through the streets of India is good fun and making use of their customs is a smart idea. The whole train sequence, though overlong, is enjoyable and well shot. While there is intensity to some parts, such as 009's death and Bond having to defuse a bomb, which is very effective. But the whole elephant stampede is ridiculous, seeing Bond make a tiger sit and doing a Tarzan yell is embarrassingly dumb. The climax on Kahn's plane is sluggish and not very exciting.

Score: John Barry returns and his score is very good. There are some different compositions that add a more tropical flavour to proceedings and at many points the score is fantastic as a backdrop to some of the more intense scenes.

Production Values: John Glen keeps his more low-key direction here and for the most part it works, however given the films locations and its broader tone it certain would have benefited from more visually impressive directing. The pacing and editing is a mixed bag as stated. The film starts off really well and keeps everything interesting or appropriately mysterious, but things really start to drag once we get to the bomb on the train and it never really recovers. Using India as a location was a good idea as it's always fun to see Bond in a new country and it takes a look at the Indian culture. The writing is hit and miss here. Some of the dialogue is fun and snappy, but other times it just feels silly. The more tongue-in-cheek parts don't work either, the scene with Bond in the jungle is borderline painful for how daft it is.

Conclusion: Octopussy is arguably Moore most laid-back and easy to enjoy film. Nothing that memorable happens and it does have many weak points, but it does have a classic adventure quality to it and it is pretty clear that it's simply trying to entertain which it manages to do. By this point Moore looks too old for the part, but he still makes it work. The villains aren't done very well, Octopussy herself is a bit of a bore and there are some annoyingly comic moments. For me it is just okay and on the whole is just isn't very memorable, yet if you take it for what it is then you may well enjoy it whilst it's taking place.

Although there are some stand out sequences like a race against time to defuse a nuclear bomb, the over all film is just very forgettable and a generic attempt at a popcorn thriller.

With his usual sophisticated aplomb Roger Moore saunters right through another way out adventure as 007. A man with a license to kill, James Bond should have given serious consideration to shooting the writers of this film.

Granted that Bond films are not to be taken seriously, I found Octopussy to be completely ridiculous. I'm still not quite understanding the connection between some Russian general played by Steven Berkoff stealing a nuclear weapon and plotting to set off an explosion inside a US Air Force Base and the stolen Romanov Faberge eggs that another agent died investigating.

But Octopussy has the usual Bond gadgets and Maud Adams in the title role as one beautiful Bond girl. The location cinematography, especially in India where the biggest portion of the film takes place is located is stunning. Then again I've always considered India, a visually stunning country from all the pictures I've seen of it.

Octopussy also has Rita Coolidge singing above the titles An All Time High. Why that was not nominated for Best Song of 1983 totally baffles me.

Louis Jourdan plays Bond's adversary, a millionaire of mysterious origins from the mysterious east. The final scene with Moore after Jourdan in the final chase borders on the ridiculous.

I won't say more, but literally it can be said that on land, water, and midair there was no stopping James Bond in Octopussy.

I have no intention of insulting anybody who likes this film, but I disliked this film. The Bond series may have a couple of bad eggs as well as some golden treasures, and I am sorry to say I consider Octopussy one of the bad eggs.

First off, it starts off brilliantly with a great opening sequence, while the locations and cinematography are suitably exotic. Roger Moore is decent as James Bond, apart from some very bizarre moments which I will be describing later, he seems to have toned down a bit, and Steven Berkoff and Louis Jourdan make for a pair of intriguing villains. Oh and Octopussy is sexy.

However, plot wise it is probably the most careless in the series. The plot meanders all over the place and lacks focus, complete with some truly bizarre scenes such as Bond in a clown suit(???) and the Tarzan yell in the jungle was for me unintentionally hilarious. The script is also paper-thin save for a few fun one-liners and the direction is disappointingly flat. The film is also too long and is fairly pedestrian, and I admit I have a love/hate relationship with All Time High. Personally I think the one sung by Madonna is the worst Bond song, but this one is for me one of the least melodious or memorable.

All in all, pretty disappointing and although a lot will disagree I do consider this the weakest Roger Moore Bond movie. 4/10 Bethany Cox

This is the Bond film that sees Roger Moore doing a Barbara Woodhouse impression by telling a tiger to 'sit!'. This is the Bond film that has a crowd watching 'Wimbledon' style as secret agent Vijay (Vijay Amritraj) beats a baddie with a tennis racket. This is the Bond film that has 007 swinging through a jungle on a vine while Johnny Weismuller's famous Tarzan yodel plays on the soundtrack. This is the Bond film that sees James getting fully made up in a clown disguise in under two minutes.

With all of that, plus a boring baddie in the form of Steven Berkoff, a dull and overly complex plot, uninspired direction from John Glen (a shame, after the excellent action scenes he gave us in For Your Eyes Only), embarrassingly stereotypical depictions of Indians and Germans, and a forgettable theme song by Rita Coolidge, and this is the Bond film I doubt I'll ever bother to watch again.

"Octopussy" is full of mistakes. "For Your Eyes Only," its predecessor in the series, returned to the cold war tensions that dominated two of the first five Bond movies and a number of the James Bond stories. "Octopussy" was filmed in the final days of Leonid Brezhnev, the man who reversed previous reforms in the USSR, and was released with the more brutal Yuri Andropov in power. The Cold War was very much on people's minds.

The opening shows a lot of promise that the good momentum from "For Your Eyes Only" will continue. It does not take long for the wheels to start falling off. What starts as a straightforward story about a Soviet conspiracy degenerates in to silliness and self-parody. Several characters are military authorities, but what "Octopussy's" production needed was Graham Chapman to show up in his colonel's outfit and restore sanity.

After the lame opening to the last movie, "Octopussy" provides one of the series' most exciting pre-title scenes; it is so inventive that I will say no more. Rita Coolidge's title song is among the top five to date. Agent 007 (Roger Moore) is called to duty after 009 turns up dead in possession of a phony Fabergé Egg. Since the real egg is about to be auctioned in London, British intelligence suspect the Soviets are using the jewels to fund illicit operations.

The auction scene is brilliant. Bond himself bids for the egg to confirm his suspicion of Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan), one of two lead villains. Later, in India, James uncovers that Khan is working for a sociopath Soviet general called Orlov (Stephen Berkoff) and that a rich benefactor called Octopussy (Maud Adams) may be involved in more sinister dealings than she realizes.

Roger Moore delayed his retirement from James Bond due to Sean Connery's presence in a competing Bond film. He appears to be giving a good effort, but his success is restricted by the frequently humiliating script. Moore is flawless when Bond exposes Khan cheating with loaded dice. The shot where he says, "double sixes, imagine that," without even looking is pure genius. Moore could still make the most of a funny line.

Louis Jourdan is not bad as the unflappable Khan. Berkoff, on the other hand, is an absolute disaster. He speaks his lines in furious jerks and streaks of overemphasis. Berkoff moves his body as if somebody is running electricity through Orlov's rear and he is trying to hide it. His introductory scene breaks eggs all over the movie's face. Gobinda (Kabir Bedi) provides the physical presence, and is another failed Oddjob clone. He even crushes the loaded dice, which is far less believable than a hollow golf ball. Bond is too often docile around him, and he never has a signature action scene.

Only "You Only Live Twice," "Live and Let Die," and "The Man with the Golden Gun" embarrass themselves more often than "Octopussy." An action icon screaming like Tarzan while swinging from vine-to-vine crosses very far over the line of bad humor. The movies keystone sequence is a 25 minute chase covering several miles. It is intercut with circus scenes, which are good to narrate the passage of time, but are far too long. The other moments that are supposed to be funny sabotage the potential for several minutes of hair-raising suspense. Seeing Bond teased by teenagers or dressing as a clown, or being stuck behind a long-talker at a phone booth is all wrong. My mind replayed Simon Gruber explaining, "There was a fat woman on the phone and it took you a minute to get her off!"

The comedic approach worked with "Moonraker" only because the filmmakers went all out with the concept and never made a mockery of their characters. Trying to graft silliness onto a serious story in the context of a serious world-problem transforms good potential into a clashing, inconsistent mess. Roger Moore deserved better.

Aside from a title that's awful fun to say out loud in a crowded dining room, there's not much to recommend this very ill-conceived Roger Moore outing. The villains are boring, the action sequences anemic-except for the tuk-tuk chase of course-and the titular Bond Girl is so forgettable that I can't think of anything to say about her. If there's one saving grace, it's that the plot is fine. Just fine. Not great, innovative, or original, but fine. Honestly, this movie makes me kind of sad. Moore could have bowed out of playing Bond with the above-average For Your Eyes Only, but instead made this, and then another one that I hear is even worse. If you're a Jame Bond completionist, then you might as well suffer through it. For casual fans, this goes in the "skip" column.

While somewhat better than Moonraker, Octopussy still veers too far into the cheese factor. The plot of this movie is actually an interesting one , being centered on a rogue Soviet general who has teamed up with an ousted prince who are going to blow up a US embassy to start WW3 but sadly it's undermined by the ridiculous nonsense of this movie at almost every turn, like that horrendous Tarzan vine swinging scene, that horrid clown disguise and the tasteless Indian stereotypes. This movie is also extremely formulaic that it's ridiculous. It adds to how forgettable it is. The 007 formula is a good one but it needs to be done in interesting ways to make the movie more entertaining. This movie just does it in unimaginative ways.

What has happened to the James Bond franchise? Sure, Roger Moore has had his ups and downs, but it seems as though he has almost lost his touch as to what makes the Bond character so great! This time, auctions, the circus, and train chases are all present and it feels like the most distant bond film of the entire franchise. Again, the cast and action pieces are what sell these films, but when you do very little to make me care about the characters and come up extremely short on the action, it is quite the bore. I will admit, there is a train sequence in the beginning of the third act that had me on the edge of my seat, until I realize I was watching a film that I was not interested in. Overall, this is a very subpar bond flick. I do not like it.

The absolute low point of the James Bond series. Probably even worse than "The World Is Not Enough," you know, the one where Denise Richards plays a nuclear physicist. The series reaches a jokey peak that absolutely ruins the film, which revolves around fake Fabergé eggs, a circus, and an army of female assassins. Absolutely ridiculous. And a minor quibble, but why would a snake charmer play the "James Bond Theme" within the film? If you skip on Bond film, make it "Octopussy"!

Octopussy is another Roger Moore Bond dud. Octopussy is about James Bond, following the death of a fellow agent, trying to stop another deadly plot which could start World War III. Widely regarded as one of the lesser Bond films, Octopussy is without a doubt a 2 star Bond movie. It's far from an unwatchable film. A James Bond film always carries an irresistible sense of escapism and this is no different. The location shooting in India is great and there are undeniably a few electrifying set pieces. A set piece on a train is a particular highlight and the film also features more screen time for Q. The theme song is OK. If you're in the right mood you may quite enjoy it and the plot is moderately interesting. It's also refreshing to see a Cold Ware thriller again, but that's part of the problem. Octopussy is an anachronism and can't decide what it wants to be. It has traces of Ian Fleming, with Roger Moore showing grit and the plot involving the Cold War, but it still goes for Moonraker level silliness. Bond dons a gorilla suit, a clown suit and does a Tarzan yell. With its cringe worthy humour and stupidity, these 2 sides of the film don't fit together at all.

As for Roger Moore, he's looking far too old for Bond by now. The 2 Bond Girls in the film are both played by terrible actresses while the villain will be forgotten quickly. His henchman, who is a Bond cliché on legs, is wasted and not used enough. It doesn't even feel like a Bond film much of the time and undoes all of the good work done by For Your Eyes Only although the next film, A View to a Kill, undoes it even more. Is this a good film in the end? No. It's a flatly executed affair although still watchable. I don't hate Octopussy as it is fun at times, but it just feels anachronistic and it's clear the filmmakers yearn for the past but can't resist throwing in the stupidity that defines the Roger Moore era. The 6th worst Bond film overall, though probably one of the most enjoyable out of worst Bond films. If you don't notice its flaws too much it'll be a perfectly harmless and acceptable action film which still has those escapist thrills.

4/10

Octopussy

I have really mixed feelings on this one, it was the first James Bond movie I watched in the cinema, so I have a certain soft spot for it, but some of it is horrendous.

Roger Moore looks too old to be so easily seducing the gorgeous women and he is clearly not doing most of the stunts. As gorgeous as Maud Adams is, her returning as a new character is as silly as when they did it with Charles Grey. Louis Jourdan is a dull villain and Steven Berkoff hadn't quite learnt how to be the fantastic villain he would be come. Possibly worst of all, the awful humour is back during action set pieces!! Yelling like Tarzan, telling the tiger to "Siiiit" and men looking at alcohol bottles in disbelief etc.

There are some things I like, I love Rita Coolidge's title song All Time High, there are some seriously impressive stunts, although it's hampered by the greenscreen/projection every time Moore's face is shown. It has some stunning locations, but the matte paintings and miniature's stand out a mile. Vijay Amritraj is a joy as Bond's sidekick and Octopussy's girls (whilst I don't like their inclusion in the movies finale) are fun and one of them Carolyn Seaward (the busty blonde) certainly leaves an impression.

Octopussy grossed $67 million at the domestic box office to end 1983 as the 6th highest grossing movie of the year.

I've been watching 007 movies for 30 years and for some reason I never got around to watching Octopussy...now I know why!!! This is Bond at its worst and it's sad to see Roger Moore, a fine gentleman and actor, associated with this farce. Not to mention that Moore has some great moments as Bond during his 10+ year run. I only wish to mention a few bad things, because everything is pretty much awful in this movie: from the preposterous tuk tuk chase, to the disgraceful stereotype of India, to the bizarre humorous twists that only the production team seems to get (swear to god, there's yet a guy looking at his bottle of wine wondering if he's had to much to drink and I bet it's the same actor from all the previous movies). I would only save the fine work done in the stunts, and the theme song is quite ok. There's a difference between a movie being outdated or a product of its time and being just plain bad: Octopussy is the latter