The Octagon (1980) American Cinema/Action RT: 104 minutes Rated R (language, strong violence, brief partial nudity) Director: Eric Karson Screenplay: Paul Aaron and Leigh Chapman Music: Dick Halligan Cinematography: Michel Hugo Release date: August 22, 1980 (US) Cast: Chuck Norris, Karen Carlson, Lee Van Cleef, Art Hindle, Carol Bagdasarian, Tadashi Yamashita, Kim Lankford, Larry D. Mann, Kurt Grayson, Richard Norton, Yuki Shimoda, Redmond Gleeson, Alan Chappuis, Brian Libby, Ken Gibbel, Cheyenne Rivera, Aaron Norris, Jo McDonnell, Jack Carter, John Fujioka, Ernie Hudson. Box Office: $18.9M (US)
Rating: **
Fact, Chuck Norris is an extraordinarily skilled martial artist. They definitely eclipse his acting skills or lack thereof. Sometimes it’s the only reason to watch some of his movies. That’s definitely true in the case of The Octagon, a muddled mess of an action movie involving ninjas, international terrorists and estranged brothers settling an old score.
It opens with the assassination of a Canadian politician in Paris by terrorists. You’d think this would be crucial to the plot since director Eric Karson (Black Eagle) elected to open with it. It’s not. It’s pretty much forgotten by the 15-minute mark and never brought up again. We meet Norris’ character in the scene that follows. He plays Scott James, a former competitive martial artist who quit competing for reasons I’m not entirely clear on. It’s something to do with the last guy he fought. Anyway, that’s not important either.
Scott’s involvement with the unnamed terrorist organization begins when he meets a dancer named Nancy (Lankford, Malibu Beach) after a performance. After a flirtatious late dinner, he takes her home and she invites him in. I need to stop for a sec and explain that Scott has a running interior dialogue that we hear via voiceover throughout The Octagon. It’s supposed to portray his inner life. Apparently, it also warns him of impending danger. As soon as they enter Nancy’s house, he knows something is wrong. That’s when they’re attacked by ninjas. He beats them down rather easily, but it still doesn’t Nancy from being killed along with her entire family. Why is she killed? From what I can gather, her brother was involved with the terrorists and dishonored them somehow. The penalty for this offense is death for the betrayer’s entire family.
So what about this terrorist organization? Terrorists from various organizations are trained in the ways of the ninja at a secret compound in Central America. One of the leaders is a guy named Seikura (Yamashita, Gymkata) who just happens to be Scott’s half-brother. They were raised and trained by the same Asian man (Fujioka, American Ninja) until Seikura was disowned for insulting the family’s honor. Now he and Scott are mortal enemies.
While trying to find out why ninjas are running around hundreds of years after they supposedly ceased to exist, Scott encounters wealthy newspaper owner Justine (Carlson, The Candidate) who tries to enlist his services in killing Seikura for personal reasons. When he turns her down flat, she recruits his best friend A.J. (Hindle, The Brood) instead. At some point, Scott finally grows a conscience and decides to go after the terrorists himself. He tries to infiltrate their organization to no avail. He’s going to have to get Seikura and the others the traditional way, by sneaking into the camp under the cover of darkness and taking them all on single-handedly. Come on, did you really expect The Octagon to end any other way? We’re talking about a Chuck Norris movie here!
Amidst all the ninja nonsense, action vet Lee Van Cleef (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) pops up a few times as McCarn, an old mercenary friend of Scott’s. Although he does lend assistance in one scene, he’s mainly there for expository purposes.
The main issue with The Octagon is one of coherence. The plot doesn’t make a lot of sense. It isn’t forthright with crucial information. Sometimes it withholds it altogether. Why was Scott raised by the Asian guy? What happened to his own family? And exactly what happened in the ring that made him quit the game? It has to be important as it still seems to haunt him. The storyline isn’t easy to follow with all the bad guys running around and multiple change-ups of the female lead/potential love interest. In addition to Nancy and Justine, Scott also gets involved with Aura (Bagdasarian, Charge of the Model T’s), a female terrorist who defects and switches sides. She must have grown a conscience too.
Some of The Octagon is just plain silly. How come it’s so easy for A.J. to find the secret location of the compound? And if it’s so easy, why hasn’t law enforcement raided the place? The group’s existence isn’t exactly the best kept secret. You’d think that some country’s government would try to shut them down at some point. But why am I even trying to apply logic to The Octagon? It’s merely a dopey martial arts actioner that allows Norris to strut his stuff.
As it nears the end, The Octagon finally gains its footing and becomes a routine revenge tale. That’s when it gets interesting even if it is predictable. You know that Scott will take down a few dozen ninjas before finally facing off against his brother in a fight to the death. You know that the trainees in the compound will help Scott by taking care of the guards. It’s still cool even if the outcome is a foregone conclusion. In addition, it’s always great seeing an old pro like Lee Van Cleef in action.
Norris gives his usual taciturn performance, but I have to say the voiceover is distracting, especially with its whispering echo effect. It’s annoying and makes little sense. It’s as unclear as pretty much everything else in The Octagon. What is clear is that Karson is incapable of assembling a coherent narrative. Part of the blame falls on Paul Aaron and Leigh Chapman for their underwritten screenplay. Certain scenes are great. The fight choreography is right on-point. The problem is the movie doesn’t hold together and work as a whole. The acting isn’t especially great either. It’s hard to say which female lead is worse, Carlson or Lankford? Neither one delivers their lines convincingly. Also, it runs too long at 104 minutes. It’s too bad because I see the makings of a decent martial arts flick here.
Oh, I almost forgot to explain the title’s meaning. The Octagon does NOT refer to the group; it refers to an area where students are put to the test by the leaders to see if they have what it takes. Oddly, it doesn’t come up until the last 15 minutes begging the question why the movie is named after it.
ANYWAY, The Octagon is an okay action movie. It has some great fight scenes, but gets taken down a few notches by a dumb, convoluted plot that needs exposition and tightening up.
