The 1970's were a tumultuous time for the James Bond franchise. While the films continued to make money and they were still popular, the decade only produced two good films; "Diamonds Are Forever", "The Man With The Golden Gun", and "Moonraker" rank in the bottom tier of the series. With 1981's "For Your Eyes Only", Albert R. Broccoli, writers Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum, and director John Glen managed to bring the spy back to earth (literally) with one of the best entries in the series. The follow-up, "Octopussy", ditched the seriousness of FYEO and returned to some of the usual Roger Moore antics. But while it contains some overtly glossy aspects, the movie's plot is still fairly realistic and not as bad as it's credited as being.
By the time "Octopussy" was made, Moore's recasting had become more and more difficult. He originally wanted to bow out with "Moonraker", but Broccoli was convinced that he had no good replacement and kept on offering Sir Roger bigger paychecks until he agreed for just one more film. Ideally, I would have preferred Moore to step down with the excellent FYEO, but had he not decided to return for "Octopussy", we could've ended up with James Brolin in the lead role, a thought I'm sure every Bond fan dreads. As far as I can see, Moore's only mistake was returning for "A View To A Kill".
The film kicks off with a scene originally planned for "Moonraker", in which Bond flies the Acrostar Mini-jet to escape Latin-American baddies. The sequence has nothing to do with the rest of the film, but like "Goldfinger", proves to be endlessly entertaining. The actual plot begins with the murder of 009, who was holding a rare Fabergé egg at the time of his death. Bond is sent in to investigate and eventually finds a connection between an exiled Afghan prince Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan), an insane Russian general bent on taking over Europe (Steven Berkoff), a jewel smuggling ring, and a nuclear bomb in an air force base.
While it sounds like combining all of these elements would be a recipe for disaster, it all unfolds at a steady pace and the script allows Bond to be constantly looking for clues and watching his back. Along with 1987's "The Living Daylights", it requires multiple viewings to fully understand the plot, but that adds to the complexity of a story where you have to pay attention. As I mentioned earlier, the film is also more down-to-earth for a Moore Bond film; there's no lasers, no space scenes, and the plot is almost entirely plausible. Naturally, there are a few liberties taken here and there, but at least there aren't any invisible cars.
The film also contains a few understated performances. Moore manages to make his Bond as appealing as ever, and while his age keeps him from reaching his peak as he did in "The Spy Who Loved Me", he still proves to be especially effective in some of the more dramatic scenes; these include disarming a nuclear bomb and chasing franticly after the villains in the movie's climax. Maud Adams, returning to the series for her second stint as a Bond girl, plays Octopussy, one of the stronger female leads in the series. She was one of saving graces in "The Man With The Golden Gun" and her chemistry with Moore works in this movie's favor. The usual MI6 team is here, with Robert Brown replacing Bernard Lee as M and Vijay Amritraj as the sacrificial lamb.
Fortunately, Bond is pitted against the usual assortment of insane villains who, nevertheless, have much more realistic goals this time around. Louis Jourdan's Kamal is about as slick and cool as one would expect and the actor brings an unusual magnetism to the role that separates him from most baddies in the series. However, General Orlov, as played by Steven Berkoff, is your token Russian psycho and he doesn't really come across as well developed as Kamal. His limited screen-time is also a disadvantage, but Berkoff does what he can with the material. There's also a fine variety of henchman in the film; from the sadistic twins Mishka and Grishka to the giant Gobinda, Bond is always facing worthy opponents.
"Octopussy" also fares well in other departments: the subplot of avenging a fellow agent is handled nicely ("That's for 009" is the best line in the movie), the locations and "Bond Girls" are suitably exotic, and John Barry comes up with some good cues, even if this particular score isn't his most memorable. Finally, the movie also contains a high action quotient; there's the Acrostar jet scene, a chase in an Indian marketplace, a fight in and on top of a train, and the finale in mid-air. In actuality, the final half hour is one of the most thrilling in the series.
Of course, not everything comes up smelling like roses. The main faults of the film have to do with the overabundance of slapstick humor that prevents "Octopussy" from achieving anything better than an average recommendation. Bond telling a tiger to sit, him swinging from vine to vine ala Tarzan (complete with the Johnny Weissmuller scream), and some of the unfunny one-liners are just some examples of the lame humor (Ironically, the clown costume that Bond dons in the film's climax didn't bother me as much as it does most people). Rita Coolidge's song "All Time High" isn't one of the series' most memorable and the similarities between "Goldfinger" and Indiana Jones are simply distracting.
So despite these reservations, I've always liked "Octopussy" and would still give it a thumbs up. The story is fun and involving and Moore creates an atmosphere where all the plot elements gel together. While the film isn't high art, it's still a good middle of the road Bond film and should be appreciated as such. 7/10
By the time "Octopussy" was made, Moore's recasting had become more and more difficult. He originally wanted to bow out with "Moonraker", but Broccoli was convinced that he had no good replacement and kept on offering Sir Roger bigger paychecks until he agreed for just one more film. Ideally, I would have preferred Moore to step down with the excellent FYEO, but had he not decided to return for "Octopussy", we could've ended up with James Brolin in the lead role, a thought I'm sure every Bond fan dreads. As far as I can see, Moore's only mistake was returning for "A View To A Kill".
The film kicks off with a scene originally planned for "Moonraker", in which Bond flies the Acrostar Mini-jet to escape Latin-American baddies. The sequence has nothing to do with the rest of the film, but like "Goldfinger", proves to be endlessly entertaining. The actual plot begins with the murder of 009, who was holding a rare Fabergé egg at the time of his death. Bond is sent in to investigate and eventually finds a connection between an exiled Afghan prince Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan), an insane Russian general bent on taking over Europe (Steven Berkoff), a jewel smuggling ring, and a nuclear bomb in an air force base.
While it sounds like combining all of these elements would be a recipe for disaster, it all unfolds at a steady pace and the script allows Bond to be constantly looking for clues and watching his back. Along with 1987's "The Living Daylights", it requires multiple viewings to fully understand the plot, but that adds to the complexity of a story where you have to pay attention. As I mentioned earlier, the film is also more down-to-earth for a Moore Bond film; there's no lasers, no space scenes, and the plot is almost entirely plausible. Naturally, there are a few liberties taken here and there, but at least there aren't any invisible cars.
The film also contains a few understated performances. Moore manages to make his Bond as appealing as ever, and while his age keeps him from reaching his peak as he did in "The Spy Who Loved Me", he still proves to be especially effective in some of the more dramatic scenes; these include disarming a nuclear bomb and chasing franticly after the villains in the movie's climax. Maud Adams, returning to the series for her second stint as a Bond girl, plays Octopussy, one of the stronger female leads in the series. She was one of saving graces in "The Man With The Golden Gun" and her chemistry with Moore works in this movie's favor. The usual MI6 team is here, with Robert Brown replacing Bernard Lee as M and Vijay Amritraj as the sacrificial lamb.
Fortunately, Bond is pitted against the usual assortment of insane villains who, nevertheless, have much more realistic goals this time around. Louis Jourdan's Kamal is about as slick and cool as one would expect and the actor brings an unusual magnetism to the role that separates him from most baddies in the series. However, General Orlov, as played by Steven Berkoff, is your token Russian psycho and he doesn't really come across as well developed as Kamal. His limited screen-time is also a disadvantage, but Berkoff does what he can with the material. There's also a fine variety of henchman in the film; from the sadistic twins Mishka and Grishka to the giant Gobinda, Bond is always facing worthy opponents.
"Octopussy" also fares well in other departments: the subplot of avenging a fellow agent is handled nicely ("That's for 009" is the best line in the movie), the locations and "Bond Girls" are suitably exotic, and John Barry comes up with some good cues, even if this particular score isn't his most memorable. Finally, the movie also contains a high action quotient; there's the Acrostar jet scene, a chase in an Indian marketplace, a fight in and on top of a train, and the finale in mid-air. In actuality, the final half hour is one of the most thrilling in the series.
Of course, not everything comes up smelling like roses. The main faults of the film have to do with the overabundance of slapstick humor that prevents "Octopussy" from achieving anything better than an average recommendation. Bond telling a tiger to sit, him swinging from vine to vine ala Tarzan (complete with the Johnny Weissmuller scream), and some of the unfunny one-liners are just some examples of the lame humor (Ironically, the clown costume that Bond dons in the film's climax didn't bother me as much as it does most people). Rita Coolidge's song "All Time High" isn't one of the series' most memorable and the similarities between "Goldfinger" and Indiana Jones are simply distracting.
So despite these reservations, I've always liked "Octopussy" and would still give it a thumbs up. The story is fun and involving and Moore creates an atmosphere where all the plot elements gel together. While the film isn't high art, it's still a good middle of the road Bond film and should be appreciated as such. 7/10