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Genre
Action | Thriller
Director
John Glen
Country
UK | USA
Cast
Roger Moore, Maud Adams, Louis Jourdan, Kristina Wayborn, Kabir Bedi, Steven Berkoff, David Meyer, Desmond Llewelyn, Robert Brown, Lois Maxwell, Michaela Clavell, Walter Gotell, Vijay Amritraj
Storyline
A fake Fabergé egg and a fellow agent's death lead James Bond (Roger Moore) to uncover an international jewel-smuggling operation, headed by the mysterious Octopussy (Maud Adams), being used to disguise a nuclear attack on N.A.T.O. forces.
Opinion
In his 13th time around, James Bond finds himself in an Indiana Jones-type of adventure and makes me wonder what's up with him and Harrison Ford, and makes me think 13 is not his lucky number since "Octopussy" is easily one of the weaker entries in the franchise.
The story is slower than others, it is not the easiest to follow, you also might get lost a lot of times in the boring process to get to the end, but... wait, there is no but. The Russian/nuclear storyline is overdone - and overused -, the main Bond girl - the one of the title - does not appear until an hour into the film, and serves little purpose in the story.
I was disappointed about Maud Adams's early death in "The Man with the Golden Gun", and I was excited to have her back in here, but it just proves the filmmakers' inability to come up with new twists, including casting different people.
I know what you're thinking, nobody watches a Bond film for a solid story, all they want is action, action and, guess what? Action! Well, the jet escape at the beginning is amazing, but it's so unrealistic - like all the other action sequences - that seems coming straight out of a comic book.
Sure the photography on location in India and Eastern Europe is wonderful, the women are beautiful, and Kamaal Khan is some villain, but I'm not sure this is enough to make a good film.
Roger Moore is starting to show his age, but he does a quite good job as James Bond, still charming and capable to seduce women. Maud Adams once again is pretty much wasted, which is a real shame since she is the title character. Louis Jourdan is great as Kamaal Khan and brings class and charm to the role, but he is not very convincing as an Afghan prince, maybe because he is French and nothing like Afghan. I love Kabir Bedi and I'm glad to say his Gobinda, the henchman, is quite memorable.
I consider this one of the worst films of this franchise. I did like that Q has a little bigger role as I was always fond of this actor and character. Funny, when Roger Moore was on Johnny Carson plugging this movie, he said he has a double even for the sex scenes (when you don't see his face). They showed an outtake where Maud Adams walks up to him and somehow knees the poor double right in the groin. Funny what one remembers
ReplyDeleteI know it's not great, but I really liked this one as a kid, for some reason, so it's always been a nostalgic favorite for me. Although my very favorite (of the old Bonds) is The Spy Who Loved Me.
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