Review of The Octagon (1980) by Jason D — 30 Aug 2009

The Octagon is about a ninja training compound where terrorists are trained in the art of the ninja. Whomever tries to leave or betray those that run the Octagon are viciously slaughtered along with all of their family.

When all-around smooth character/former martial artist Chuck Norris runs afoul of these terrorists, he realizes the Octagon is run by his greatest enemy. He gets pressured ladies to take down the Octagon, but refuses until his best friend goes in to try to take it down, so now Norris must take the entire system down before more people die.

Lately, I've been enjoying all of the old Chuck Norris films (most of which, surprisingly, I've never seen). All I've seen so far have been met with great appreciation, however, The Octagon seems to be one of the weaker ones.

Aside from the action-packed and entertaining final 25 minutes of the film, the movie prior to the last 25 is a lot of character development and minimal action (save for training camp session action) that goes on a bit longer than necessary, so when the final 25 minutes does come, its a bit rushed and the ending arises a bit unexpectedly.

Supporting characters like Lee Van Cleef, who runs a gung-ho anti-terrorist group provides some fun in the movie, Art Hindle as Norris' best friend, and underused hottie Carol Bagdasarian who sports some top of the line side boob that left me begging for more, but never came.

Good story and performances, though plenty of unintentional humor, but a little on the boring side (especially for a Norris film). Look for future Ghostbuster Ernie Hudson in a very small role.