Despite its notorious last-act scene in which James Bond, legendary secret agent 007, dresses in a clown costume while once again saving the world, 1983’s Octopussy is neither the worst nor certainly not the best movie in the Bond franchise. Honestly, it’s not even the worst of the Roger Moore era. It is, however, perhaps the most forgettable Bond movie. In some ways, that’s even more of a disappointment than just being the worst.
For my own part, as much as I’ve watched and rewatched every other entry in the series, I can’t remember the last time I looked at Octopussy before this latest viewing, or even had a desire to. If anything, that clown getup and of course its double-take title are the main points of interest that might keep the film from drifting completely into the fog of memory.
| Title: | Octopussy |
| Year of Release: | 1983 |
| Director: | John Glen |
| Watched On: | Blu-ray |
| Also Available On: | Amazon Prime Video Various VOD rental and purchase platforms |
To be fair about it, Octopussy is also an intriguing trivia footnote for the franchise. It was the first of two James Bond movies released in 1983. Due to a legal technicality, Warner Bros. was able to obtain limited use of the James Bond name and certain other trappings of the 007 character to produce a remake of 1965’s Thunderball. Given the new title Never Say Never Again, that film had what seemed to be an irresistible marketing hook of starring Sean Connery in a return to the role that had first made him famous, pitting Connery and Moore directly against one another, Bond versus Bond. In the end, both were profitable, but Octopussy came out slightly ahead, suggesting that audiences of the early 1980s may have preferred Roger Moore as Bond over Connery. Or, at the very least, they preferred an official James Bond movie over an unofficial one. The fact that Never Say Never Again was pretty lousy probably had something to do with that as well.
Not that Octopussy was a whole lot better, mind you. Although its immediate predecessor, 1981’s For Your Eyes Only, had served as a necessary return to form after the excesses of Moonraker, Octopussy finds Roger Moore at his jokiest and least engaged. His sixth Bond picture, the star may not have been quite as bored or sick of the character as Connery at the same point in his run (the awful Diamonds Are Forever), but he’d definitely settled into a comfortable groove and was happy to coast through both his performance and the plot. Required to do little more than visit some scenic locations, flirt with a host of beautiful women, and pick up a handsome paycheck for little work exerted, can you really blame the guy? What a life and career!
That aforementioned plot is even looser than usual in this outing. Initially, Bond is assigned to investigate a suspected scheme to auction counterfeit Fabergé eggs, frequently used at the time as shorthand to symbolize the height of wealth and opulence. That leads him to India, seeking out a mysterious female smuggler known as Octopussy, so named because she likes octopuses or something. (Let’s be honest, the name and title were only chosen for the double entendre.) The script tries to throw in a needless misdirect as to the identity of the true Octopussy, but she’s eventually revealed to be played by Maud Adams, a Swedish model who’d already appeared as a different character in Moore’s The Man with the Golden Gun. Somehow, this all connects to a rogue Russian general who wants to blow up an American Air Force base in Germany and start a new World War. I think he needed the Fabergé eggs to finance his plans, maybe?
The specifics of how any of this works don’t really matter. The film has a notable problem of deciding which character is even supposed to be the main villain. Is it Octopussy, or is she innocent in all this? Is it the Russian general with world domination plans, or is he just an extraneous side story? Could it be Octopussy’s second-in-command, who wants the Fabergé eggs and other treasure for himself? The latter is given a clearly Indian name of Kamal Khan yet is played by actor Louis Jordan, who’s hammy as hell but thankfully never pretends to anything other than French. I suspect that casting and rewrite were a result of the movie producers wanting to bypass author Ian Fleming’s egregious racism.
Ultimately, all this is just a bunch of inconsequential nonsense. The story has likely the lowest stakes of any in the Bond franchise. Octopussy is a breezy and lighthearted adventure not meant to be taken seriously. The picture literally opens with Bond launching a minijet out of a (decoy prop) horse’s butt. Octopussy herself lives on an island populated only by women, including a troupe of gymnasts wearing bright red spandex jumpsuits with an octopus logo affixed to the chests. One villainous henchman attacks Bond from a balcony above him with a yo-yo sawblade contraption that seems like a weapon only appropriate for a very specific use-case scenario. And then comes the clown outfit, following right on the heels of an equally ridiculous gorilla costume a couple minutes earlier.
Remarkably, none of this is as offensive or demeaning to the character as it sounds in writing. A couple decent action scenes liven up the proceedings, none that break any particular new ground but are enjoyable all the same. An early bit where that minijet flies into and through the tight openings of an airplane hangar is pretty neat, considering that this was an era before CGI, where an actual stunt pilot had to fly that plane as seen.
The film is amiable enough to score a pass. Its dialogue overflows with a near-constant stream of quips that no other actor in the Bond role could sell, but that Moore delivers with aplomb and a twinkle in his eye. He may not be much of an action hero, but he’s such a likeable presence I’d almost forgive him anything, even the clown suit.
Contrary to its title song, Octopussy is far from an all time high for James Bond, but it’s hard to hate, even if easy to forget.
The Blu-ray
Octopussy arrived on Blu-ray in 2012, both in a standalone edition or as part of the shelf-hogging Bond 50 box set. Unfortunately, although a handful of other titles in the set were fully remastered with new film scans at that time, most others including Octopussy were not. Instead, they were all sourced from older video masters given some (then) new digital clean-up by a firm called Lowry Digital. Results on that were inconsistent from movie to movie.
In brief, Octopussy on Blu-ray doesn’t look too great. The 2.35:1 image has generally soft details and noticeable edge enhancement right from the opening gun barrel. Grain often sticks in place while the action under it moves. The film frequently has a gritty, processed look. Contrast is flat and the brightness seems too high overall, exposing details during the opening titles sequence that would probably not have gotten a PG rating from the MPAA had they been this visible.
In the time since its release, a newer 4K transfer of the movie (though only in SDR) has appeared on some streaming services, mostly for rental or purchase. I suppose I might have tried that, but decided instead to finally watch the disc that’s been sitting on my shelf for 14 years. After this, I’ll just wait for what I hope is an inevitable 4K HDR physical media release.
The primary sound option on the Blu-ray is a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. The original Dolby Stereo mix is also available, though only in lossy Dolby Digital 2.0. I don’t love all the 5.1 remixes in the Bond set, but this one is surprisingly good. It has crisp sound effects and pleasing dynamic range with booming explosions. Directionality to the surround channels is handled very well, especially with zinging bullets and that jet zooming from side to side and front to back.
Bonus features on the disc are the usual bevy of content that should be familiar from other Bond Blu-rays: two audio commentaries, a bunch of featurettes mostly about the stunts, a new documentary from the time of the disc release, a still gallery, and a host of vintage promo materials.
Related
- Film from Z to A Article Index
- Other James Bond Movies
- James Bond Books
- James Bond Parody
