The Octagon

...after the 500th repeat on TBS. It involves Norris in his best non-acting minimalist role. But Lee Van Cleef is having a grand ole time hamming it up in a role which seems to have nothing to do with anything. Basically, it boils down to a set piece to A) feature ninjas (they were big in the early 80's), and B) feature martial arts sequences. And...well, it features a lot of ninjas.

The plot seems to have something to do with ninja training terrorists in some kind of summer camp for bad boys. And the head ninja has killed someone in Chuckie's past. Or...something. It's hard to tell, really. Chuck does so little "investigating" that it's hard to figure out what's going on. Nothing really leads to anything.

The martial arts sequences are pretty fun, although you kinda wonder why ninjas (and just some of them) are running in grey robes like oversized Jawas. The main bad-ass ninja is pretty cool, and wields a mean pair of sai. And the main antagonist wields a mean pair of scythes (or whatever they're called - the Japanese term escapes me).

But basically, Octagon is an early Norris showcase. He gets a lot of whispery flashbacks (probably the inspiration for that Airplane bit where Robert Hayes hears baseball announcers in his head), but is pretty much humorless. He does get a couple of cool fight sequences, though, so give it a looksee.

In a world of choices, for one man there is no choice , a hero named Scott James/Chuck Norris must face The Octagon . A martial artist expert (Chuck Norris who sports a bushy mustache in this fourth starring role in a cinema movie of action) must defeat a plan by ninjas to create a worldwide training camp for terrorists . Scott later becomes drawn closer to a vicious crime ring known as The Octagon ruled by Seikira (Yamashita) . Along the way Scott James is helped by Justine (Karen Carlson) , McCarn (Lee Van Cleef) and A. J. (Art Hindle) . At the end takes place a breathtaking combat in arena , an "octagonal training compound of the Ninja cult, a school for terrorists of all types" (the set had a 12' foot perimeter wall and was built north of Los Angeles at a location known as Indian Dunes and spanned the size of an American football field) .

Action star Chuck Norris in this exciting picture filled with thrills , tension , suspense and violent as well as spectacular fights with high Body Count : 40 . The movie displays a plethora of martial arts fights , as Norris cleans up the nasty fighters by means of punches , kicks , bounds and leaps with struggles certainly slick . It's violent, frenetic and hectic and not particularly literary but worthy entry in Kung-Fu genre , although runs out energy surprisingly early . Average Norris-thriller , moving and tense at times with fine fight-work from Norris , Yamashita and Richard Norton . Impressive and fierce combats , as Chuck Norris kills eleven bad guys and beats up another twenty-one of them . The film belongs Norris's early period , during the 80s such as : ¨Code of silence¨ ,¨Delta Force¨ ,¨Silent rage¨ , ¨Forced vengeance¨, ¨Delta Force¨ I,II , ¨An eye for an eye¨ , among others with successful box office at cinemas and video-rentals . In the 90s and 2000s with exception of ¨Walker Texas Ranger¨, the Norris star has gone down .

Fighting Stars Magazine ranked the climactic fight between Chuck Norris and Tadashi Yamashita as #13 on their list of the 25 greatest fight scenes of all time . A few years after this film was made and released, the word 'Octagon' later became in 1983 the name of a caged enclosure used by mixed martial arts matches and the Ultimate Fighting Championship . Nice production design , cost approximately US $200,000 to blow-up "The Octagon" major arena and fortress set. This was cheaper and more cost efficient than dismantling and disassembling the gigantic construction and taking it away to the dump . First major Ninja picture of the 1980s popular ninja movie cycle which was first released in the 1980 year before Enter the Ninja in 1981 , the 1967 You Only Live Twice and Sam Peckinpah's 1977 film The Killer elite had both previously featured ninja characters . Thrilling screenplay by Paul Aaron , in fact the movie's finale was re-written to make the climax of the film a much bigger pay-off .

The movie featured three members of the Norris family in acting roles. These were Chuck Norris , Aaron Norris, and Chuck Norris' character of Scott James at eighteen years of age was portrayed by his real life son Mike Norris . Actor Richard Norton played dual roles in this movie , though he is completely mute and never speaks for the entire picture ; Norton portrayed both the characters of Longlegs and Seikura's enforcer Kyo . The motion picture was regularly directed by Erik Karson . This was debut theatrical feature film directed by Karson , an expert on thrillers and action movies . Action addicts will give this one a passing grade ,all others need not apply . If you're a previous Norris fans ,you'll appeal it but contains enough action and violence for enthusiastic of the Karate genre .

It was one of those nights. I had slept till about...late that day, and thus, my brain was functioning at a very high level, higher than the average 2 in the morning brain at least. I turn to the television for comfort, as i usually do when my friends have all left me, and I'm alone and sad. Amazed I find there's nothing worth watching as I flip through the 4 non-cable-TV channels in my room. The sadness and grudge towards my friends fades away as the opening scenes of The Octagon jump in my face. At this point, I'm wide awake and thrilled. "At least it's good for a few laughs".

And it was. The plot is fascinating:

Chuck's character was adopted by some Ninja master, and a rivalry is born between Chuck and his new fathers son, Seikura. When Seikura cheats in a race between the two, and thus dishonors the whole family, he is vanished by his father.

We meet Chuck's character Scott James, some sort of mercenary. Seikura is now training terrorists in some camp in South-America. And so the plot thickens.

As the end draws near I am vast asleep. The Octagon has served its purpose and dozed me into dreamland. Never mind the sandman. As long as Chuck's around, there's no need to fear insomnia!

Fighting expert Scott James (Chuck Norris) takes an interest in a dancer named Nancy. He takes her to her place where she is attacked by masked intruders. He realizes that they are ninjas although ninjas don't exist anymore. In fact, a ninja group is secretly training international terrorists in their craft. Scott encounters another damsel in distress, Justine (Karen Carlson) who is also being targeted. Meanwhile, his friend AJ (Art Hindle) has been doing his own investigating. McCarn (Lee Van Cleef) is his mentor.

The writing is a mess, but I don't think anybody care, least of all the writers. It's a lot of contrivance, and silly stupidity. It's ninjas. They may as well call this Chuck Norris vs Ninjas. That would be a better title. The training camp is much more interesting than listening to Chuck Norris' inner whisper voice. WTF. This is Chuck camp.

This one just joins that line of Chuck no brainers, but seriously, The Octagon isn't a badly made film at all. It takes itself too seriously, where chop suey kickarse action, takes a backseat between long bores and snores for some, and you can see it that way, but the serious element, only enhances the quality. The Octagon does have a few things going for it, like the extra hot Karen Carlson, a beauty who just sizzles up the screen, and enlists help of badarse bodyguard, Chuck, who doesn't put in a half bad performance, but there's still that stoic acting seeping through, and is outweighed by better actors and performances like Carlson's, and Art Hindle's, but Chuck holds his own. Hindle (Porky's) who plays Chuck's best buddy, AJ, is a real engaging reck-loose, fly off the handle character, and gives the downplayed movie, the buzz it needs. Carlson is on a personal mission of revenge, sort of using Chuck, who's mission here, hits a little too personal, as involving former family members. The Octagon is kind of patchy too, not a total clear path of story, and action fans, will fare better, renting many other Chuck flicks. Some quite heavy blood spilling violence, early in the peace, and again Lee Van Cleef is wasted as Chuck's former protegee, an old buzzard with an iron will, and is underused here. What's bloody annoying here, is the unnecessary use of Chuck's echoing voice overs, that echo that annoyance, I got out of all those QT'S unnecessary V.O'S. in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Here, it just adds self consciousness, and amateur feel, and this flick is a little self conscious. Watch out for fine character actor, Tracey Walter in a scene stealing cameo. Regardless of it's faults and it's restrained, short sheeted volume of action,The Octagon still warrants a viewing, especially Chuck fans, but sexy lass Carlson in that fur coat, a chick with class (Two Marriages) will remain imprinted in memory. Don't believe the way over hype about the end fight. It was saggy, and in no way memorable, like Carlson.