Review of Octopussy (1983) by Liam C — 07 Jun 2014

I've seen this film three times now and the first two times I failed to review it, after I found this out I saw it straight away and I'm glad I did, my appreciation for the film has increased by quite a bit.

It's definitely not one of the best outings, it can hardly be called boring or uninteresting. Moore returns as Bond for his penultimate performance and plays it with finesse and class as is the norm for him, while throwing in some slight lewd humor here and there for good measure.

I must have forgotten how long this film was, or I didn't even look because when I found out this was 2 hours and 11 minutes I was quite taken aback that a 007 film was so long. Even though it was quite long I can't think of a scene that felt out of place, it goes all over the world and offers some really nice visuals.

I do applaud the Moore generation for taking the 007 in a more modern direction with its themes, locations and actors. The humor is well written in this, its not the usual small chuckle/groan level that is sometimes results in an 'oh you' reaction and some of this here is the same but I found myself laughing out loud at some points.

The action scenes are really well filmed and the final chase scene and the plane scene had my heart in my stomach. I love to see the good guy on the run from the people who he is trying to save because of misunderstandings, the whole time I was on the edge of my seat just wanting Bond to get to his destination in one piece and of course he would but its still interesting to see.

The final scene, while a little silly, is pulse pounding and exhilarating. Not one of the best but perfect for a Sunday afternoon and an interesting addition to the franchise.