Octagon

Rating:
Summary: Octagon is Chuck's Best! Began the Ninja-Mania of the 1980s.
Review:
Ever wonder where all the ninja movies of the 1980s came from?

They all came about as a result of The Octagon. It was the first ninja movie made in the U.S. It was a huge hit and it single-handedly created the ninja-mania of the '80s.

I am a huge Chuck Norris fan and I rank The Octagon as the VEYR BEST movie he has made to date. Not only did the movie make a ton of money at the box office (his most profitable film to date) but it demonstrates Chuck's best karate skills.

Watching this movie, you can really see Chuck's skilled martial arts technique and see what he is capable of doing. YOU SEE WHY THIS GUY WAS UNDEFEATED WORLD KARATE CHAMPION SIX TIMES IN A ROW. This movie doesn't require a bunch of cheesy MTV jump-cut edits to deliver good martial arts action like today's cheesy martial arts movies.

Here's an FYI: the more camera edits you have during kicks and punches, the less skilled the actor is at doing them. The Octagon shows that Norris doesn't need camera edits to execute triple spinning-back-kicks. He does them one right after another, all right in front of your eyes, from one camera angle (!!!)

This movie also features the great Richard Norton in a hidden role as the main masked ninja heavy that Chuck takes on in the final scene.

I am so glad to see that this movie is now out on DVD and with some excellent behind the scenes back-features. Two well-produced over 30-minute long documentaries on The Octagon and American Cinema, as well as trailers and 5.1 and surround sound (!!!)

After The Octagon, Chuck went on to make An Eye for an Eye, another great Chuck flick. But, to me, The Octagon will always be No. 1. If you want to see what Chuck Norris is capagle of doing in peak form. What him kick some serious ninja butt in this one - the ORIGINAL NINJA MOVIE!

Rating:
Summary: An Action Film Before its Time
Review: People scoff these days because Chuck Norris had a ridiculous 70's mustache. But keep in mind The Octagon was the film that introduced the Ninja to the American public. This was before James Clavelle's Shogun, this was before all the American Ninja movies, Franco Nero (who?) and all that. If it wasn't for this movie, little kids' ninja dolls would have come a little or a lot later.

When I first saw this movie when I was a kid, the Ninja-thing took me by storm. Now that I've recently purchased the re-release DVD, the film still holds up not only as an action flick, but also as a document to a very exciting time in martial arts movies.

Also keep in mind that American Cinema was at the time a cutting-edge independent movie company that set the standard for releasing and marketing niche movies. But you can see all that in the "How American Cinema Changed Hollywood" documentary in the special features.

Rating:
Summary: 2 Stars for the DVD
Review: Wow finally available and with special features, but guess what? Not in its original aspect ratio!! Trinity Home Entertainment can shove this addition in its dark hole of useless DVD releases. I'll wait for a widescreen print and entertain myself with a hundred other Ninja flicks meanwhile.