Harry Lags The Octagon's premise is simple. Chuck Norris vs Ninjas. That's really about it. Norris is Scott James, a man haunted by memories of his growing up and rivalry with his former martial art brother Seikura, who now heads a Ninja training camp and is teaching international terrorists the ways of the Ninja. James must stop the organization and face off, once and for all, with his former brother.There's little in the way of story, and sadly the film takes it's time in getting to the point where Norris finally takes out the Ninja trash. Like a lot of his movies, the lack of much plot means the film moves pretty slowly between the action. When the action does kick in, it's quite impressive. The real standout though is Norris infiltrating the Ninja base in the film's climax. It's classic Norris.The cast are okay. Lee Van Cleef and Richard Norton pop up in small roles, Richard Norton actually has a few different roles here.I would have rated it an 8 out of 10 if there was a bit more action in the middle half of the film. For the most part, only Chuck Norris and ninja fans will get the most out of THE OCTAGON (1980).Overall worth watching..7 out of 10

tomgillespie2002 A film that could be easily summed up as simply ninja terrorists and the sexual allure of Chuck Norris' hairy mammoth-chest, The Octagon is a standard martial arts actioner, involving a conspiratorial group of, well, ninja terrorists. Chuck Norris is Scott James (although I was convinced after Norris stated his character name that he was in fact Scotch Eggs), a martial artist who stumbles upon the organisation that is secretly training a hard-core team of terrorists in a camp of unknown location. He has to infiltrate and bring down the clandestine operation before they begin "terrorising". I'm guessing that ninja terrorists would work ridiculously as they would waste all that time stealthily and silently getting into targets, only to make a whole lot of noise on their way out: it just seems reductive to me.Of course Norris gets an entourage collected on his way. From Lee Van Cleef's mercenary to Art Hindle's young martial artist with a case of premature penetration (that's not supposed to be euphemistic), but of course, as suggested by the appearance of his fur covered chest, one flash of this (in almost any Norris vehicle) sends the women giddy. It seems that just previous to any final battle in the action genre of this period, the hero will use his visual tool (here, of course, the suspect, revealing chest), and the usually younger female character will throw herself at him sexually, a clichéd catalyst that empowers the machismo of the hero into ultimate battle.Whilst wholly generic, the acting is inevitably dull. In an early scene the trainees of the oriental organisation are being shown the fighting techniques of the ninja, scythes and swords are shown penetrating watermelons. One trainee says glibly, with the characteristics and delivery of a red-neck on his tenth bottle of moonshine: "It would be a lot better it they used real people". To which is relied with: "They will". For some bizarre reason, when I sit down to watch any late '70's or '80's standard action film, I seem to believe that I am going to enjoy it. That somehow these films are fun and exciting. However, every time I convince myself of this, the film I watch is so incredibly dull. Perhaps it is simply that my movie watching habits have changed since being a wide-eyed youngster, and that these films were always awful. Maybe I will re-watch one from my youth that I will enjoy... Here's hoping, but it ain't this one.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

TOMASBBloodhound If ever there was an action movie that seemed to have all the right pieces and couldn't fit them together, The Octagon is it. Chuck Norris, in the prime of his fighting days, plays some type of Karate exhibitionist/merc/counter terrorist who is recruited by a wealthy woman to defeat an army of ninjas being trained at a secret camp. But there is more going on here than is even necessary. The needlessly convoluted plot has too many supporting characters butting in and causing the final conflict to feel almost anti-climatic. This is a shame because though it is under-lit, the action is still very rousing.Maybe it was also the forced plot line of having the man in charge of training the ninjas also be Chuck's long lost brother? Or why was Lee Van Cleef's character needed? Maybe the most unneeded character was that of Art Hindle who supposedly plays Chuck's partner at the karate dojo. I don't recall him doing much other than talking tough and getting taken prisoner at the end. Hindle himself admits during the DVD commentary of Black Christmas that this film embarrasses him to this day.The acting is pretty much non-existent, but I've often been able to overlook that when it comes to action films. If something is billed as an action, then I expect the fight scenes, stunts, and explosions to win me over more than anything else. Most of the action here takes place over an hour into the film, and the screenplay seems to be going around in circles more often than moving forward. Also laughable is Chuck's recurring inner monologue that echoes as we hear him ponder details made to sound compelling but are often ponderous and go nowhere. Maybe they just thought it sounded cool as he whispers things like, "Ninjas...ninjas...ninjas.... has to be....be...be.... But they don't exist....exist....exist..." It gets tedious. Anyway, the final 15-20 minutes are exciting if not at least interesting. So, I'll be a good sport and give it 5 of 10 stars.The Hound.

poe426 I learned early on (when I saw BREAKER! BREAKER! at a local drive-in) that one of the premier point-fighters in tournament karate was not going to be confused with the likes of Charlton Heston or Lawrence Olivier. Without Bruce Lee to guide him (as he had in WAY OF THE DRAGON, wherein Norris pretty much played himself as an international hatchet man flown in for that spectacular duel in the Roman Coliseum), Norris seemed ill at ease. His performance in GOOD GUYS WEAR BLACK wasn't much better- but he finally seemed a little less stilted in A FORCE OF ONE. (Bill Wallace, the real-life middleweight full contact karate champion, played a coked-out psychotic whose deer-caught-in-the-headlights stare suited his role. The hand-to-hand combat in and out of the ring helped make A FORCE OF ONE worth seeing.) Without a doubt, THE OCTAGON is Norris's showpiece: boasting more action (and less acting) than any of his other films, it's the perfect vehicle for the man and is still, after all these years, worth a look.