Review of Octopussy (1983) by Vidyabum — 22 Oct 2021

Having watched 25 Bonds from Dr.No to Spectre, I place **** at 6/25.

Is this really the 6th best movie in the series? Probably not. But I feel this is the top Moore. And it's time to talk about him in detail.

Arriving in the series, Moore very openly showed his disdain for the character and role. He said that it was a silly character, that you couldn't take it seriously and that there was only one way to play it, as a buffoon. He acted upon that, and his first movie was a disaster. The second forced him to be serious, and he found his footing on the third.

His footing was to make a witty, jokey, lighthearted Bond, that rarely entered violence unless forced. He would joke and play and prance around being witty with the characters around him, fought when he had to, he loved having fun, and that was his Bond.

Since his buffoon Bond was that humorous, for good or bad, the movies had to follow suit. His brand of goofy, campy, lighthearted, over the top Bond carried the series throughout the 70s and over half the 80s. And in 1983, **** came out. Near the tail of Moore's era, carrying all of that legacy.

And really, that's all there is to say about this movie. We could talk about the scenery, the villain, the delicious Maud Adams, from Man with the Golden Gun, the minor good or bad points. Villain isn't that great, story is so silly, etc.

But really, even though one might say "it's just another Bond", it's actually a Moore Bond, and the most refined of the Moore Bonds.

Moore set foot in Connery's shoes and took so long to get them to fit him, or rather to get entirely new shoes, a new style, a new Bond out there. Movie after movie, in his very long Bond career, he established himself. He grew.

**** is the peak of Moore's Bond. His masterpiece. It is the most camp, the most funny, the most lighthearted, the most Moore. It is the most over the top, the funniest, the silliest, the most action-packed, and yet it is also capable of being serious when it needs to, it's witty, it's enjoyable through and through.

**** is, alongside Moonraker, the absolute top of what made Moore Bond what it was.

It's a delightfully enjoyable string of jokes and silly situations peppered with action scenes and Roger Moore trying to charm his fellows. From start to finish, it's an absolutely enjoyable Moore-a-gogo, running from elephants, charming snakes, chases in cheap indian minicars popping wheelies, getting shot at by a blunderbuss, fighting them off with a tennis racket, throwing people on nail beds, throwing knives, fooling around at auctions, at meetings, fooling around through and through. It's the movie where he ends up disguised as a clown, and in so many ways, what a sendoff.