Movie Review: Octopussy (1983)

Patrick J Mullen
Sep 4, 2018 · 3 min read

This is the first James Bond film to be released after the emergence of Indiana Jones, and I think there is a noticeable focus on the adventure as a result.

And a lot of it doesn’t quite work.

Octopussy is a pretty unremarkable movie overall. It’s got decent action, but nothing too special. I do like the slightly increased role of Desmond Llewelyn’s Q, though, as he and Roger Moore always had such great chemistry.

And the Bond girls are nice. There’s Magda (Kristina Wayborn), and of course the titular Octopussy (Maud Adams, The Man with the Golden Gun). Octopussy is interesting and mysterious, though I don’t think the movie ever quite lets the character reach her full potential.

The opening action scene is alright, but not great. It has some plane, motorcycle, and car stunts, but nothing as spectacular as the opening stunts to the past several Roger Moore Bond pictures.

In a strange moment, the James Bond theme becomes canon within the film itself, as Indian contact Vijay (Vijay Armitaj) gets Bond’s attention by playing it through his flute. Vijay makes for a fun but not great sidekick. He has a few lines about how he’s been playing tennis recently, which of course he uses in a chase scene.

This chase scene is probably my favorite moment of the movie. It’s more than a little silly, but it has a pretty great moment when Bond gets stabbed, but is protected by a stack of cash that he kept in his jacket.

The climax of this movie notoriously has Roger Moore in clown makeup at a circus. It’s not a great scene, but it doesn’t bother me too much. You can take it as commentary on how silly the Roger Moore movies have gotten, if you want to.

This is one of the more forgettable Bond movies. It’s a little too silly for my liking, but it’s not as bad as it could have been in that regard. Still, it’s just not that great. It doesn’t have a memorable villain, and doesn’t really have an action scene that stands out.

Rating: 5/10

As Vast as Space and as Timeless as Infinity

This blog will be dedicated primarily to horror and sci-fi media, chiefly film and television.

Patrick J Mullen

Written by

As Vast as Space and as Timeless as Infinity

This blog will be dedicated primarily to horror and sci-fi media, chiefly film and television.

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