Octopussy (1983)

Genre

Action | Thriller

Director

John Glen

Country

UK | USA

Cast

Roger Moore, Maud Adams, Louis Jourdan, Kristina Wayborn, Kabir Bedi, Steven Berkoff, David Meyer, Desmond Llewelyn, Robert Brown, Lois Maxwell, Michaela Clavell, Walter Gotell, Vijay Amritraj

Storyline

A fake Fabergé egg and a fellow agent's death lead James Bond (Roger Moore) to uncover an international jewel-smuggling operation, headed by the mysterious Octopussy (Maud Adams), being used to disguise a nuclear attack on N.A.T.O. forces.

Opinion

In his 13th time around, James Bond finds himself in an Indiana Jones-type of adventure and makes me wonder what's up with him and Harrison Ford, and makes me think 13 is not his lucky number since "Octopussy" is easily one of the weaker entries in the franchise.

The story is slower than others, it is not the easiest to follow, you also might get lost a lot of times in the boring process to get to the end, but... wait, there is no but. The Russian/nuclear storyline is overdone - and overused -, the main Bond girl - the one of the title - does not appear until an hour into the film, and serves little purpose in the story.

I was disappointed about Maud Adams's early death in "The Man with the Golden Gun", and I was excited to have her back in here, but it just proves the filmmakers' inability to come up with new twists, including casting different people.

I know what you're thinking, nobody watches a Bond film for a solid story, all they want is action, action and, guess what? Action! Well, the jet escape at the beginning is amazing, but it's so unrealistic - like all the other action sequences - that seems coming straight out of a comic book.

Sure the photography on location in India and Eastern Europe is wonderful, the women are beautiful, and Kamaal Khan is some villain, but I'm not sure this is enough to make a good film.

Roger Moore is starting to show his age, but he does a quite good job as James Bond, still charming and capable to seduce women. Maud Adams once again is pretty much wasted, which is a real shame since she is the title character. Louis Jourdan is great as Kamaal Khan and brings class and charm to the role, but he is not very convincing as an Afghan prince, maybe because he is French and nothing like Afghan. I love Kabir Bedi and I'm glad to say his Gobinda, the henchman, is quite memorable.