The Octagon

Some folks apparently have a problem with Norris's lack of personality or capabilities as an action screen persona, but it's too ridiculous to overthink a film like "The Octagon"--it's one of the most exciting action/martial arts films ever made and, despite the fact that many don't care for films based around this specialty, "The Octagon" goes forward with telling a story, and makes the action more than stand up to the narrative thread. It's simple, sure, but the action is complex, inventive, and tough in the extreme. A TV favorite of the late 80s/early 90s, "The Octagon" is the kind of action movie that we simply won't see anymore--low in budget, simple in execution, and extreme in action and choreographed effects. In short, it's a real movie, and that goes a long way for me. I also want to add that Norris seems to work well with the electronic voice over effect here. His internal thoughts and concerns are better conveyed through this device rather than having him try to talk through the whole thing; like Eastwood, he is better at staring than speaking, but it works here better than it has elsewhere. A childhood favorite of mine (mainly for that climactic invasion of the fortress) and still a film that remains enjoyable. It's pure pulp--and won't appeal to those who think that "Titanic" and "Gone with the Wind" are perfect movies--but it works every time, and this DVD transfer is quite good for a print that is this old and underfunded to begin with.One of the best things about the DVD is the documentary footage about the creators of American Cinema. These folks were doing independent cinema before it was officially invented, making films that would really only appeal to special interest groups at the time of their release, but nonetheless managed to gather some mainstream appeal as time went on (and now, for us amateur and even professional archivists, become important cultural documents of note). The documentaries cover the aspects of most of this film, but also of others too. It was interesting to hear about the origins of one of my childhood favorites."The Octagon" may remain a special appeal type of movie (there's not as much straight action as there is in most mainstream genre films, but the climactic battle is super exciting), but to those of us who get it (and appreciate the unusual movie marketing aesthetic from whence its kind stems) it will remain a terrific movie experience.

Like many in my generation I watched all the Chuck Norris movies when they came out, but never thought he was as good as the promise he showed in Return of the Dragon.Then came The Octagon and I was sure that he was at the tip of a new page of excellence in his career. Unfortunately The Octagon turned out to be the high mark in my estimation, and although I'm sure many will disagree with my take on Chuck's movies, it's hard to argue that he seemed far crisper and at a much higher level when it came to movement and believability of execution during his fight scenes. His ground movements during the initial penetration of the fortress are among my favorites.For me, someone who has a high degree of respect for Chuck Norris and his accomplishments, this is the one movie to own.

The actual title for this film is `The' Octagon (1980)...Amazon seems to have left off the `The' part, and it's a minor distinction, but that's how I've always known this film, as The Octagon, rather than just Octagon (the DVD case has it correctly)...for some reason it annoyed me, but I've since gotten over it...it's just that I can't help get the feeling that in terms of Chuck Norris and these DVD releases of his earlier films, there seems to be something of a lack of respect...mislabeled titles on seller sites, and often, the DVDs themselves are rarely presented in the original aspect ratio...perhaps there is a conspiracy...anyway, The Octagon was co-written by Leigh Chapman, who was not only responsible for the atrocious Octaman (1971)...(is there an `Octa' theme here?), but also wrote the classic exploitation film Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974), which I've been patiently waiting for release to DVD. Directing the film is Eric Karson, whose credits also include Dirt (1979) and Opposing Force (1986) and starring is Chuck Norris (A Force of One) in a role we would become accustom to seeing him in as the reluctant hero (I won't fight unless I have to!). Also appearing is Karen Carlson (The Candidate), Art Hindle (Black Christmas, Porky's), Richard Norton (The Blood of Heroes), Jack Carter (Alligator), Ernie Hudson (The Crow), Tracey Walter (Repo Man, Conan the Destroyer), and Lee Van Cleef (Escape from New York).Norris plays Scott James, an ex-martial artist who gets drawn into the world of international terrorism after the death of his would be girlfriend and her family at the hands of a ninja death squad, trained by someone who James has familial ties with...sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? Well, that's the short and skinny of it...the plot is actually much more involved and convoluted (i.e. confusing) as the story is swimming with all kinds of extraneous characters and plot threads including, but not limited to, a publishing heiress threatened by the same death squad, opposing mercenary groups, one lead by Van Cleef (his acts more in the capacity of bodyguards/anti-terrorists, while the other is involved in terrorism), a ninja training camp, and a girl who was once a trainee in the aforementioned camp, but now wants out. Sounds kinda messy, doesn't it? Well it is...Okay, first of all, let me start with the story...it is too long and drawn out, featuring way too many characters and subplots (and let's not forget the numerous flashbacks). All these unnecessary complications only served to drag the pace of the film down, and this is highlighted by the fact there's only one fight scene in the first 50 minutes of the film. Sometimes I gripe about the lack of character development in a film, but here, there was way too much as the writer tries to tie so many characters together with often the loosest of circumstances. When I see a Chuck Norris film, I wanna see some action, and there is some here, but not until much later. Had they cut the number of characters by half (and subsequently the useless plot threads), they could have shaved about 20 to 30 minutes off the bloated run time of 103 minutes, and had a much better film. What was the point of Van Cleef's character? His group was presented as an elite team of bodyguards, but they seemed hardly worth their price, as their clientele would usually end up dead. Hardly good for business, I must say... Something else that annoyed me about this film was Norris' character would regularly have this creepy, whispery, echoic, inner monologue that was often hard to discern, and offered nothing of use, only the fact that he liked to continually state the obvious to himself in his own mind. And the concept of a ninja training camp is cool, but it lost a bit of credibility once I saw the trainees as many of them were hardly what I would deem `ninja' quality, many being overweight, out of shape, and lacking the necessary discipline to even be admitted...I guess secret terrorist organizations have to take what they can get. The real action begins about 15 or 20 minutes before the film ends, as Norris infiltrates the ninja training camp, which is supposedly located somewhere in South America. Chuck takes on a whole load of enemies, using hand to hand combat as well as various weapons. The fight scenes here are excellent, and almost make up for the rest of the film. As far as the acting goes, I think a few did alright, but they were obviously hampered by a lame script, and were probably as confused as I was about what the hell was going on in the film. As I stated before, had they excised about half the characters, gotten rid of a lot of the `touchy feely' junk, spread some more action around, and removed any number of pointless plot threads, I think this could have been an outstanding action flick, rather than a overly long drudge with nearly all the action stacked at the end. To be fair, I'm pretty sure this film did very well when it came out, and a lot of people enjoyed it, but I would hardly call this Chuck's best film.The film is presented in full screen format on this DVD, which is what I was expecting after seeing Trinity Home Entertainment's release of A Force of One (1979), which is also only in full screen format. Why they didn't have access to an original wide screen print I'll never known. I will say the print on this DVD does look very good, and the audio comes through clear available in 5.1 Dolby Digital along with English and Spanish 2.0. There are some extras including The Making of the Octagon (39 minutes). How American Cinema Changed Hollywood Forever (28 minutes), trailers for the film, and an extensive cast and crew biography section.Cookieman108

Chuck Norris died 20 years ago, Death just hasn't built up the courage to tell him yet. Fear of spiders is aracnaphobia, fear of tight spaces is chlaustraphobia, fear of Chuck Norris is called Logic.