Previously to this film, the only other Chuck Norris movie that I'd viewed from this period had been AN EYE FOR AN EYE. This was a fast-paced action movie, with lots of martial arts and even the added bonus of having Christopher Lee as a villain. I automatically assumed this film was a typical early '80s Chuck Norris movie, and that others from the period would be the same. As I had enjoyed it a lot, I immediately bought this two-for-one tape containing THE OCTAGONand A FORCE OF ONE. I sat down, looking forward to a fun night's viewing...and the rest is outlined below. I can only hope that A FORCE OF ONE is more enjoyable.THE OCTAGON is a very dumb, poorly-made action movie. Among the worst I've ever watched, at least up until the action climax. I consider myself as having a high tolerance for rubbish of this variety, but even I have to draw a line somewhere. Maybe it's just the transfer I have, but THE OCTAGON suffers from poor picture quality (so it's difficult to see what's going on) and terrible sound volume. You know, when you can't hear what they're saying but when you turn it up a loud action scene comes on blaring out and you have to turn it down again.The confusing plot starts off with a murder occurring for no apparent reason, with Norris conveniently hanging around to fight off the assailants. The screen is 90% black here, so it's impossible to make out much of what's going on. We learn about a secret training centre in the woods, run by an old Chinese guy and another man who really, really wants to be Bruce Lee. One guy who tries to leave dies when a shuriken is thrown through his neck. This doesn't have much to do with the rest of the plot, though.Unfortunately for us, Norris meets and falls in with a female.. reporter? I can't even remember who or what she is as she serves no purpose. Also hanging around is a barely-used Lee Van Cleef, complete with an earring, who runs a squad of vigilante killers. Van Cleef doesn't even appear in many of this film's action sequences, and his role is a completely extraneous one. Eventually, after what seems like an eternity, Norris goes undercover to infiltrate the ninjas. He then travels to their base and takes all of them on, causing a revolt at the same time.Well what this movie has is cheap-looking sets, stupid music, and poor acting from the entire cast. Van Cleef looks to be slumming it, Carlson is clumsy and irritating as the female lead, and Norris is his usual wooden self (never thought I'd see an actor who makes Steven Seagal look animated). A character (Norris' partner) who has been hiding around in the background for the entire movie suddenly decides to take justice into his own hands at the end and gets slaughtered. The action throughout the film is fairly typical, nothing to get excited about. It's not even that violent. It's worth watching out for one hilarious scene which has a ninja killer abseiling down a brick wall getting shot and falling to the bottom. The way they filmed it makes it a priceless moment and had me in stitches.Now, the only worthwhile part of this movie is the last twenty minutes, so if you have the misfortune to rent or buy this, fast-forward until here. The ending sees Norris infiltrating the enemy base and fighting a hundred or so ninjas. It's great, it really is. One guy gets kicked in a fire but still tries to fight Norris, burning all the while. They all use these fancy weapons but none of them are a match for Norris' deadly hands and feet. Eventually he has to fight the Bruce Lee-wannabe leader, who just happens to be his estranged brother too. You can guess what happens. In these last twenty minutes, the body count is quite high and there's a lot of action, death, and explosions to enjoy. Sadly these cannot make up for the monumental dullness that the rest of the film has to offer. Avoid it like the plague.

It's true that it may not appeal to martial arts movie lovers across the board because it actually has quite an involved, twisty plot and is going to be too slowly paced for some. There's not much in the way of action until the big finish. Still, for an undemanding B action picture, this viewer found the production values to be reasonably good, and there are some fine performances among the supporting cast. What lends "The Octagon" a high amount of unintentional hilarity is Chuck's overdone internal dialogue, all done with an exaggerated echo effect.Chuck stars as Scott James, a former fighter with bad memories, particularly of growing up with a hostile adoptive brother, Seikura (Tadashi Yamashita), who as an adult is now running a training camp for terrorists. A beautiful young heiress, Justine (Karen Carlson), wants revenge against Seikura because her father was one of Seikura's victims, and tries to hire Scott for her purposes. Scott isn't too happy that somebody would try to use him, and doesn't particularly want to get involved, but eventually realizes that he must.This is boosted to a degree by the engaging presence of Lee Van Cleef, who's a gas as an anti-terrorism expert / old friend of Scott's. Art Hindle ("Black Christmas" '74, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" '78) co-stars as Scott's buddy A.J., who makes a mistake in getting interested in a cause and gets in over his head. Sexy Carol Bagdasarian, daughter of composer / songwriter / actor Ross B., plays Aura, a terrorist-in-training who experiences a change of heart. Kim Lankford ("Malibu Beach") is likable during her brief screen time. B movie legend Richard Norton makes his film debut in two credited roles and several uncredited ones as faceless ninjas. (He's joked that he must have died a total of eight times in this movie.) And keep an eye out for people such as Brian Libby (whose next screen role was as Chuck's psycho nemesis in "Silent Rage"), Jack Carter, Ernie Hudson, Chuck's son Mike who plays Scott as a teenager, and an uncredited Tracey Walter.Good production design (by James L. Schoppe), cinematography (by Michel Hugo), and music (by Dick Halligan) help to make this a decent if unexceptional bit of entertainment. Chuck, as always, fares much better when kicking ass than when simply acting, but he still makes for a formidable hero. And the snarling Yamashita is a worthy bad guy. Some viewers may be amused to note how brutal the violence is at times.Overall, this is fun enough to watch.Seven out of 10.

Ah, ninjas. A big part of my childhood, so naturally I love a good movie involving Ninjas, but sadly this is not a good movie. If you don't know what to expect when it comes to early Norris movies, I don't know what to tell you. They're cheap, often very dull, and poorly acted. The Octagon falls under this category as well. I actually don't mind Chuck Norris. He's never been the most gifted of actors, but he is responsible for a few action movies of the 80's that I grew up on. Here is an example, Code of Silence, Delta Force, and Lone Wolf McQuade, but he made some rotten stinkers when he first started out. The Octagon actually has untapped potential. It had a great chance to deliver some powerful family drama, between Seikura (Tadashi Yamashita) and Scott James (Chuck Norris) Instead, we get some cheap flashbacks of the two with little thought or care, and I didn't care one iota about it. Chuck also does this annoying inner monologue throughout the movie, and it made me wanna mute my T.V after a while. The worst part about it, is that it's an exaggerated whisper, and it came across as laughable. I also had a problem with Chuck Norris's character himself. He is rather self righteous, and a know it all. His smug performance tested my patience, and the fact that he performed his role as Scott James very poorly, didn't help matters. His character is more complex than most of his characters, and Norris failed to live up to the daunting task for him He delivers in the action, of course. I won't deny the man has some major moves. Art Hindle is decent as the cocky best friend of Norris's. It was hard to feel sympathy for him as well, because he was such a stubborn idiot at times. Lee Van Cleef is absolutely wasted in his role, and I wondered why he was in this film to begin with. Carol Bagdasarian was my saving grace as Aura. Her gorgeous looks captivated me. Ernie Hudson also has a brief cameo, before he became famous. The finale pours on the action, and it's actually pretty exciting stuff. But the endlessly talky dialogue for most of the film really prevents the impact the finale has. Final Thoughts: It beats watching Breaker, Breaker, but what doesn't? This is a low-budget cheapie, with too much talk, and not enough action. Rent Norris's later stuff, in lieu of this4.2/10

This is a good, all-around movie featuring Chuck Norris. I found the fighting sequences thrilling, the general storyline good, and the background provided about Ninjas just about the correct amount for a viewer to handle (not too much info, not too little). I also thought that the relationship development (what there was) to be fairly adequate for a movie of this genre between Norris & AJ and Norris & Lee Van Cleef. Like I said: In general, this is a good all-around martial-arts movie. I can't wait until this move comes out on DVD. I live in San Jose, and I actually saw Chuck Norris in person at an MMA (mixed martial arts) event in San Jose on March 10 (2006), and it would have been nice to have him sign my DVD disk of The Octagon if it had been available.