The Octagon Review

MPAA Rating: R
Released: 1980

The Octagon was one of Chuck Norris' earlier movies, and largely responsible for increasing movie fans' appreciation for this martial artist and 80's action hero. Although possessing a B-movie budget and feel, the movie did have an attractive plot: one of the last surviving ninjas is training mercenaries and terrorists in the dark arts, and it's up to Chuck to stop him.

Scott James (Chuck Norris) is a former world champion martial artist, his skills having been gained by a thorough indoctrination into the arts of the ninja as a child. In fact he's one of the last surviving ninja, the other being his adopted brother, Seikura (Tadashi Yamashita). Unfortunately even as children Seikura was a dishonorable sort, interested in personal gain over tradition or respect.

One day during a not-so-chance encounter with a rich woman named Justine (Karen Carlson), James is offered a job: the assassination of Seikura. Justine isn't the only one that wants Seikura dead, for McCarn (Lee Van Cleef), an old associate of James' that has a penchant for killing terrorists, also insists that Seikura is a menace that must be destroyed. It seems James' former friend now spends his time training mercenaries and terrorists in the arts of ninjitsu.

Other people enter and leave the picture, but really they serve little purpose but to fill in some screen time until James has his final showdown with Seikura and his ominous enforcer, Kyo (Richard Norton).

None of the acting in this film is remarkable, though Chuck Norris certainly possesses the presence that made him one of the decade's premiere action stars. Lee Van Cleef put in an entertaining showing as the hard-edged and passionate "anti-terrorist." Richard Norton deserves applause for his role of Kyo the enforcer, by far a more terrifying foe than Seikura. Tadashi Yamashita was unbearable - nothing like his performance in American Ninja. Luckily Yamashita's screen time is extremely limited.

Unfortunately The Octagon fails to live up to its potential despite its promising plot and inclusion of a couple truly entertaining actors. The script itself is the primary cause for disappointment; it's amazingly sluggish for an action flick! Although there is a scattering of action scenes inserted throughout the film, for the most part the actors meander along blowing time until the final confrontation.

You would think with so much "leisure" time in between action scenes that the characters would be well defined, right? Well, you would be wrong. The Octagon is horrible when it comes to defining its main characters. For example, we're never sure who Scott James really is. Sure, we know that he was trained as a ninja and that he's a former martial arts champion that can kick serious butt now… but what does he do? The movie won't even try to answer that question, as if such formalities are unnecessary in a popcorn flick.

Even some of the secondary characters could have been far more interesting had we gained a better knowledge of them. McCarn and his obviously well trained and well-armed team of "anti-terrorists" made for an interesting plot element since almost everyone can root on a cinematic vigilante. Alas, the cool plot point is thrown out there in a scattershot fashion, so we never truly learn how McCarn operates, his background or why he does what he does.

Luckily the payoff at the end of The Octagon is almost worth the price of admission, for the extended fight sequence between Chuck Norris and Kyo is choreographed well and provides for some excitement. Part of the reason the scene works so well is both actors were true martial artists; Chuck Norris' is an undefeated champion and the first Westerner to be awarded an eighth-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, while Richard Norton received his black belt by the age of seventeen before moving on to opening his own schools, serving as a bodyguard for celebrities and finally acting. There's none of that "wire-fu" that plagues modern movies (The Matrix); the action is all legitimate. (In fact one of the DVD extras discusses how an actor was almost accidentally drowned to death during a fight scene!)

The Octagon is a purely average film (sometimes bordering on downright poor) that is all the more frustrating due to its lost potential. That being said, if you're a Chuck Norris or action film fan then it might be worth going through this film just to see the final showdown between Norris and Norton.

Movie rating : 5 stars

If you enjoyed The Octagon you may also find the following films to be of interest:

Enjoy the Octagon experience in the comfort of your own home with these products!

DVD

Poster

The Octagon
Buy this Mini Poster at AllPosters.com

Movie Sitemap

Wondering if the Netflix service is all
it's cracked up to be? Read our
detailed review and find out!