With Skyfall dropping in theaters in just a couple months, along with the 50th anniversary of the James Bond series, a close friend and fellow film nerd, Brandon Peters, has generously offered to do a comprehensive review of the entire 007 film franchise. Today is the thirteenth entry, with a full review of Octopussy. I hope you enjoy what is a pretty massive feature leading up the November 9th release of Skyfall. I'll do my best to leave my two-cents out of it, give or take a few items I have up my sleeve (including a possible guest review from my wife as she sings the praises of her favorite 007 film, you won't believe what it is). But just because I'm stepping aside doesn't mean you should. Without further ado...Octopussy
You must be joking!007 on an island populated exclusively by women? We won't see him till dawn!
STATS
Octopussy marks acomplete step in the opposite direction of its predecessor. Gone is the gritty reality and in comes thegoofball. On paper, Octopussy could have been a notable achievement in the series. In execution, Octopussy is an effort fueling the Roger Moore era as a laughingstock or embarrassment in the series. Soviet General Orlov, exhiled Afghan prince Kamal Khan andjewel smuggler Octopussy are running a series of Faberge Egg purchases andswapping them with fakes. Somehow thiswinds up in Orlov and Khan plotting to set off a nuclear warhead at a US AirBase in West Germany during a circus, making it look like the US did itthemselves. James Bond is on the job,per usual, filling in for 009 who is killed after recovering one of the fakeeggs from the circus.
This is the type of James Bond I was afraid the entire RogerMoore era was going to consist of. Thefilm as a whole is completely ridiculous in its execution. The plot is pretty confusing and doesn’treally make a whole lot of sense. JamesBond’s presentation is a complete embarrassment. The man villain, I guess, last villainstanding, stinks. This is a long cryfrom For Your Eyes Only and evensomething as extreme as Moonraker. Roger Moore finally fills the expectations I was waiting 5films for here. He doesn’t appear to betaking the whole film seriously. Hisquips (a strength of Moore’s) feel like scripted quips. Bond himself has plenty of sillymoments. In one scene he dresses like agorilla, in another a clown. Dressinglike a clown is almost a perfect analogy for how Bond comes off in thisfilm. There’s another scene where Bondis cornered by a tiger, to which he tells it to sit…and it works. During the same chase, Bond grabs a vine andnot only swings like Tarzan, but screams like him too. Yes, it’s this movie goes to theselengths. It even breaks the fourth wall,in which Bond’s contact make acquaintance with him by playing THE JAMES BONDTHEME!
We’ve talked about the borrowing from other genres multipletimes here. I couldn’t help but feel alot of this was an answer to Raiders ofthe Lost Ark. The scenery, theaction, the search for these treasures/artifacts definitely felt ripped fromit. Oddly enough, though it came a yearlater, there’s a lot of Temple of Doomfamiliarity here as well. Especially thescene when Khan eats the sheep’s head. Also, was he named Khan due to the popular Star Trek character from the year before? Octopussy featuresplenty of action scenes. But, they’rehandled so carelessly there’s nothing to write home about. There’re stupid details like crowd reactionskeeping from the enjoyment. We even geta camal’s reaction. All the guys Bond isrunning from/fighting are over the type stereotypes from any sort of children’stales. Racially, this can definitelycome across as the Indian version of YouOnly Live Twice. There’s also a lotof going too far with believability that just comes off as offensive. And a big one comes in the final showdown onthe plane. It’s almost insulting when you’vebeen watching for over two hours and are treated to it for your finale.
The trios of villains given to us are lame. Orlov is just your stereotypical Sovietbaddy. Khan looks like a complete Dr. Noclone and his performance is rather groanworthy. Octopussy is a villain in this whole, whethershe’s involved with the bomb or not, but is allowed to go free at the end? I really didn’t understand this. She WAS a part of this whole scheme, butbecause she likes 007’s Quantum of Penis, she’s scott-free at the end. Maud Adams does deliver a much betterperformance this time. Good thing, too,she’s had nine years to practice. On paper, Octopussyshould have been known for its 40 minute chase to stop the bomb at theend. The idea of this soundsfantastic. In the end, and following thefilm leading up to it, it’s just poorly executed and you just don’t care. Had a better movie come prior to the point,it might be cool. But with the overalldopey feel of Octopussy, it justfeels excessive and like too much at this point.
To continue the running theme of “lame”, let’s talk aboutthe theme song. For one, this didn’tfeel like a title Bond song at all. Itfelt like a rejected theme for an 80’s television series. Like a rejected theme for the show Moonlighting. Its just kinda lazy sounding and nothingreally sticks out. The opening sequence isn’t too bad. It’s kinda fun. It revolves around Bond in a mini airplanedodging a heat seeking missile. It’s theweakest of the Moore “stunt” openers, but still fun. But in a way, it’s a bit of foreshadowing ofwhat’s to come in the movie.
Octopussy isregarded in 007 fan circles generally as favorably mediocre to middle of thepack in terms of where it stands. I cannotsee where people are getting this. Thisone is really bad. This is the one filmgiving the entire Roger Moore era a bad rap. Man with the Golden Gun wasboring, but it didn’t flat out stupefy the series. This one is never mentioned (aside from Bonddressing as a clown) when discussing the series. It should be. Roger Moore was ready to retire from Bond after For Your Eyes Only, but was begged back due to wanting to keepfamiliarity with these series in competing for Never Say Never Again. Itshows that he just doesn’t give a rip at this point. His performance is just that stereotypicalRoger Moore that people seem to think about when thinking back on theseries. Scott Mendelson once told me “Icouldn’t tell you six things about Octopussy”. He’s right. And maybe that’s whyits never looked back on negatively, people instantly want to wipe their brainsof it following their viewing.
Brandon Peters will OFFICIALLY return in From a View to a Kill (but we’ll get ridof that pesky “From”).
Brandon Peters will UNOFFICIALLY return in Never Say Never Again.
Follow me on Twitter – www.twitter.com/@btpeters
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