Here we are with another James Bond film. I enjoyed the last one, For Your Eyes Only, and Roger Moore is back again as James Bond. But there was also another James Bond film released this year: Never Say Never Again. I might review that one, but this one was not only more successful, but also more well recieved. Let's review.
Plot:
After a spectacular opening sequence where Bond flies around and buildings explode and mustaches are torn off and horses race and cars chase, a British agent, 009, is killed by two knife throwers who work in a circus front. He is found dead at an embacy with an egg in his hand, a fake Faberge Egg, which are very highly valued.
Meanwhile, at a USSR meeting of generals during the cold war, one General Orlov suggests a plan of attack on the west, which the other Generals say is impossible. It is also revealed that Orlov has something to do with the egg after meeting with the twin knife throwers.
We skip to an auction where Bond and British agent Fanning bid for the real Faberge egg, and face against Kamal Khan, who bids 500,000 pounds for it, a lot of money. Bond trails him to India where he faces against him again. Little did Kamal know until now that when Bond saw the egg up close he switched it with the fake one. They play a die game in the casino, where Kamal uses die which will always land on 6, and make him richer. Bond uses them and gets the same result, keeping the egg and getting money.
Kahn's bodyguard, Gobinda, chases after Bond and almost kills him. Bond escapes to a secret hideout of sorts and meets up with Q, who gives him a few new gadgets. Bond soon meets Magda, who later steals the egg from him when they share a hotel room and Bond is captured and taken to Kamal's mansion.
Whilst there, General Orlov shows up, and they talk business. Bond overhears and figures out part of the plan. He escapes and is hunted by Kamal the next day before he blends into the tourist group so that they can't shoot him. He is then equipped with a new gadget that enables him to get into the floating palace where he meets Octopussy.
There Bond discovers the whole plot: Orlov smuggles valuables into the countries westword while Kamal smuggles them further to get money for them, and Octopussy's circus front is the traveling use. Bond gets closer to Octopussy, but is then almost killed by assassins. He escapes them and then goes back to London. Octopussy believes he is dead after an encounter with a crocodile.
Bond sneaks into the circus front and finds out that Orlov plans to betray them. He plants a nuclear warhead inside a cannon, which after it will go off explode at a US air base in Germany. Orlov and Bond meet and Orlov runs for it, only to be shot dead at the border by USSR troops.
Bond sneaks aboard the train and tries to figure out how to disarm the bomb. He instead ends up fighting the twins, both of which end up dead. He hijakes a car to take to the circus, and disguises himself as a clown to sneak in. He tells Octopussy that they have been betrayed, and that Kamal was in on it too. Bond then stops the bomb and goes to India to solve the Khan problem.
Together the two forces of Octopussy's girls and Q and his hot air balloon take down the palace guards. Octopussy is kidnapped and Bond tries to save her. He fights with Gobinda one last time before he dies. Bond then saves Octopussy while Kamal crashes his plane into the mountains.
Bond ends up with Octopussy on her boat as the movie ends.
So now through the grading scale:
Acting: 6 out of 10. Very basic.
Entertainment: 9 out of 10. Very good action scenes.
Screenplay: 7 out of 10. The diolague can sometimes be very bad, but it’s not terrible.
Directing: 5 out of 10. Standard.
Technical Credits: 7 out of 10. Pretty good.
Genre Fit: 8 out of 10. Of course it’s action-packed.
MPAA Rating: 7 out of 10. Some spots almost reveal nudity, but otherwise its fine at PG.
Stupid Scenes: 6 out of 10. Whenever the film tries to be funny, it isn’t.
Deeper Message: 2 out of 10. Hardly anything.
Beginning: 26 out of 30. Nice opening and the chases are well done.
Middle: 19 out of 30. Slows down. The jungle chase is standard for Bond.
Ending: 28 out of 30. A very strong ending.
Final Score: 130/180 or 72%. A B, which means it is good, but nothing spectacular.
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