Plot: James Bond (Roger Moore) may have met his match in Octopussy (Maud Adams), an entrancing beauty involved in a devastating military plot to destroy detente. From the palaces of India to a speeding circus train in Germany and a mid-air battle on the wing of a high-flying jet, only Agent 007 can stop the nightmarish scheme!
Firsts: Robert Brown as M, appearance by Penelope Smallbone, and a Bond girl appearing in two films.
Gadgets: mini-jet, pen with acid and earpiece, wristwatch with homing device, wristwatch with TV monitor
Girls Bond slept with: Magda, Octopussy
Elaborate murder attempts that Bond escapes: released into the jungle to be hunted, death by yo-yo saw
Personal review: Bond is literally a clown in this film, which I think is pretty symbolic of the joke that this film is. I guess they felt that For Your Eyes Only's more serious tone failed because they were right back to their wacky hi-jinx in this one. This one may hold the record for eye-rolling one liners. And that's saying something considering the typical level found in a Bond film. And this time it's not just Bond spouting them off, but characters like Vijay and Kamal too.
Speaking of Kamal, he's one of two villains here, which I think is an odd choice. Depending on who you ask, different people will say who the real villain of this film was. General Orlov definitely had the grander scheme in mind, but Kamal is the one who receives the final death and has more screen time. I think this approach really undercut the dramatic impact behind their villainous plot.
That is, if you can decipher the plot. I've seen this film at least five times now, and I still haven't figured out the connection between the jewel smuggling and the nuclear bomb attack. I also could never keep straight which were the real and which were the fake jewels. Maybe they should have just cut out the Octopussy subplot.
Oh but then we wouldn't have the film's clever title or the return of Maud Adams (that's sarcasm, by the way). Adams is sexy enough, but I never understood how see out of all the Bond girls was able to get a second appearance. Her inclusion just reeked of laziness and it just confounded the plot even more than it needed to be.
I will admit that the action sequences on the train and the plane are pretty thrilling, but they deserved to be in a better film. I can find those thrills in any of the Bond movies, so their inclusion here doesn't really boost the films score.
Finally, I just want to point out that the film really insults the viewers' intelligence with the bomb countdown sequence. I know films always take liberties with these type of scenes, but for us to believe that with 5 mins. left on the countdown Bond was able to put on full clown makeup and still stop the bomb from going off is absolutely unrealistic. I like Diamonds Are Forever less than this, but this probably was the low point in the Bond franchise. 5.5/10
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