When it comes to the Roger Moore James Bond movies, The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker are my two favorites. With For Your Eyes Only, they tried to go back to basics and not have Bond be as much of a sci-fi action hero as he was in the previous two movies, I would also argue that it was a little more serious. With Octopussy, it is like they tried to find a middle ground between the last couple of movies and for me, they did not really find it.
How to Download Octopussy
Octopussy was released on 6 June 1983. You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice.
The Movie Review
The plot this time around revolves around two Bond villains that I do not hold in all that high regard. We have General Orlov who is a Soviet General that wants to destabilize the West and have the Soviet Union invade. He steels priceless artifacts from Russia to help make this happen and this is where our other villain for the movie comes in.
While Steven Berkoff as Orlov is regarded as one of the worst Bond villains, mainly due to the hokey performance, Louis Jourdan as Prince Khan is much better, not just because the performance is better, but the character is better too. They have a devastating plan and that is that they have a nuclear warhead they plan on unleashing on a US airbase!
Who is Octopussy?
Then there is the titular Octopussy who is played by Maud Adams. Octopussy is a big time jewel smuggler who starts off as bad, but she eventually aids Bond when she finds out she has been tricked. I have to say, I can take or leave her, to be honest with you, I get the impression that when they were making this movie, they thought she was going to be a much bigger deal than she was.
Action and Over-the-Top Locations
The best thing that this movie has going for it is the action scenes. They have some pretty insane and fun action scenes in the movie and that is the major highlight, the ending sequence in particular is fantastic and very exciting. The floating palace headquarters of Prince Khan was something that I thought was really cool as I felt that the last movie was missing a cool and over the top location like this.
The Humor Problem in Octopussy
Now, the biggest issue with Octopussy for me is the humor. The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill moved away from the more silly humor that some of the Roger Moore James Bond movies had. I would say that Octopussy is up there as the worst in this regard. He dresses like a clown and there is one scene where he is like something out of Tarzan and he even does the Tarzan yell! It comes across as more cringy than it does funny.
Final Verdict on Octopussy
I have to say that Octopussy is not one of my favorite Bond movies. It comes in at a little over two hours, but it feels much longer. The movie does have some exciting action scenes, but there are some scenes that last way too long and some attempts at humor that make you feel like you are watching a James Bond parody than an actual James Bond movie. Hey, I am not saying this is a bad movie, but when there are so many better Bond movies, I see no reason to watch this.
