64 replies to this topic

[Shaun Forever]

My favourite Moore Bond.


The pace is excellent, really fun film, nice exotic score, great villain, interesting
Bond girl.

What's not to like?

[marktmurphy]

Watched a bit this weekend and noticed a blooper I'd no seen before: in the pre-credits, as Bond is flying towards the hangar, there's a shot of Toro rushing out to see Bond's plane heading straight at him and we get his point of view of the plane coming. Only for some reason it's not actually Bond's plane; it's some twin engine job.

I might be mistaken; didn't rewind it to check, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't.

[Miles Miservy]

Watched a bit this weekend and noticed a blooper I'd no seen before: in the pre-credits, as Bond is flying towards the hangar, there's a shot of Toro rushing out to see Bond's plane heading straight at him and we get his point of view of the plane coming. Only for some reason it's not actually Bond's plane; it's some twin engine job.

I might be mistaken; didn't rewind it to check, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't.

Interesting... I'll have to go look now. The only blooper I'd ever caught in Octopussy was when the boom mike dropped into the shot, just as Bond was entering the casino, where Khan was cheating at backgammon.

[mattjoes]

i found that the movie thoughout was rife with class & confidence; that is, right up until 007 winds up sporting a clown suit. Very undignified; he may as well have been dressed in drag.

I thought putting 007 in a clown suit smacked of confidence. And it made for a great scene.

Another thing I like about this film is how it highlights the differences between Connery and Moore, perhaps inadvertently. They wouldn't have had the kids drive away from Connery, nor let a woman beat him to a phone, nor dress him in a clown suit. But with Moore, it works, and well at that.

[perdogg]

This is a little better than FYEO in my book, but this is still a real time-waster. I am a big fan of Roger's films LALD through MR and am sad to see him wasted in these 3 John Glen films. This film isn't as original or ambitious as FYEO. Its pretty much as typical a Bond movie as you can get. But its never painful to watch like AVTAK or parts of FYEO.

The story itself is actually a sequel to the short story its named after, which I think is pretty cool (I LOVE the short story). The film is a tame Goldfinger remake set in India with a scene or two taken from "Property of a Lady". Just like Auric Goldfinger, the main villain is a jewelry-loving villain who cheats at gambling, has a super strong ethnic henchman and even takes Bond prisoner! Maude Adams plays a Pussy Galore-ripoff named... Octopussy. Like Pussy, she is a tough woman who works with the main villain and she leads a gang of beautiful women. But Octopussy isn't nearly as interesting or cool as Pussy was. Just as this film pales in comparison to the best Bond films. I really wanted to quit the film when they copied Oddjob's bowler hat with a sawblade thrown on a string. Just obvious laziness in writing. But these unoriginal scenes are the best parts of "Octopussy". And whatdoyouknow? Bond ends up defeating the villain and getting the girl on a plane.

The action is mostly dated stunts and Bond ducking un-menacing baddies

Roger seems to be having fun playing himself here. This is really Bond at his most goofy and un-Fleming, which is fine by me but will probably annoy others (Bond to a snake: "Hiss off"). Its heavy with bad puns and slapstick and has nothing to do with making Bond a realistic character. I rather the absurdity of seeing Bond in a robotic alligator and screaming like "Tarzan" over a pretentious, dark Bond adventure that's boring and too cynical. This film at times feels like Moonraker II.

I have to compare this to NSNA, as they both came out in the same year. This film has none of the quirk, steamy romance, innovation, genuine wit or style. But this film was more successful, supposedly because this was a Summer film and NSNA came out in the Fall. And it is great light fun, mostly because Roger is so likable. Can you imagine seeing 2 new theatrical Bond films in a year?!

5/10

I thought the script was good, very Flemingesque, but John Glen totally mucked it up.