Review of Octopussy (1983) by Kyle20Ellis — 27 Mar 2022

I have no intention of insulting anybody who likes this film, but I disliked this film. The Bond series may have a couple of bad eggs as well as some golden treasures, and I am sorry to say I consider **** one of the bad eggs.

First off, it starts off brilliantly with a great opening sequence, while the locations and cinematography are suitably exotic. Roger Moore is decent as James Bond, apart from some very bizarre moments which I will be describing later, he seems to have toned down a bit, and Steven Berkoff and Louis Jourdan make for a pair of intriguing villains. Oh and **** is sexy.

However, plot wise it is probably the most careless in the series. The plot meanders all over the place and lacks focus, complete with some truly bizarre scenes such as Bond in a clown suit(???) and the Tarzan yell in the jungle was for me unintentionally hilarious. The script is also paper-thin save for a few fun one-liners and the direction is disappointingly flat. The film is also too long and is fairly pedestrian, and I admit I have a love/hate relationship with All Time High. Personally I think the one sung by Madonna is the worst Bond song, but this one is for me one of the least melodious or memorable.

All in all, pretty disappointing and although a lot will disagree I do consider this the weakest Roger Moore Bond movie.