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Very disappointing...

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Chuck Norris fans and martial art film fans in general will love The Octagon. He seems to be going for a record number of casualties in dispensing bad guys in this one.As seems to be usual for occidental actors in these films Norris was adopted by a ninja master who raised him as his own and after his blood kin disgraced him in competition with young Norris kicked him out.Now the ninja school is being used to train mercenaries and terrorists and the rules there are mighty strict. Counter terrorism honcho Lee Van Cleef wants to put them out of business. But Norris has to have and gets a personal reason for getting the job done.A little bit of Eugene O'Neill's self analysis and introspection dialog is done by Norris in voice overs. Believe me it worked a lot better in Strange Interlude.Enough action for any martial arts fan here.

The Octagon's premise is simple. Chuck Norris vs Ninjas. That's really about it. Norris is Scott James, a man haunted by memories of his growing up and rivalry with his former martial art brother Seikura, who now heads a Ninja training camp and is teaching international terrorists the ways of the Ninja. James must stop the organization and face off, once and for all, with his former brother.There's little in the way of story, and sadly the film takes it's time in getting to the point where Norris finally takes out the Ninja trash. Like a lot of his movies, the lack of much plot means the film moves pretty slowly between the action. When the action does kick in, it's quite impressive. The real standout though is Norris infiltrating the Ninja base in the film's climax. It's classic Norris.The cast are okay. Lee Van Cleef and Richard Norton pop up in small roles, Richard Norton actually has a few different roles here.I would have rated it an 8 out of 10 if there was a bit more action in the middle half of the film. For the most part, only Chuck Norris and ninja fans will get the most out of THE OCTAGON (1980).Overall worth watching..7 out of 10

This film was laughably bad. Chuck Norris narrated his thoughts as in an echo chamber. Why? His sidekick, A.J., had the worst 70's hair imaginable. His hair resembled topiary. Instead of a haircut, I'm sure he got pruned. The plot was actually so simplistic, it seemed complicated. It seemed that I was always missing something because I subconsciously couldn't handle the fact that this movie was indeed that bad. Norris was more wooden than Sequoia National Park. In one scene, Norris is lying on a cot next to a beautiful woman who is lying on her own separate cot. Norris says nothing in the well lit room. His shirt is off and he looks like a monkey with piles of reddish, stringy hair all over his arms, chest, and back. He's obviously two chromosomes away from an orangutan. He lifts up his arms, revealing massive armpit hair. At this juncture, the woman disrobes, walks to his cot, and climbs on top of him.Everything about this film was ludicrous. The crazy ninja training camp, which looked like a scene from "Hot Shots! Part Deux", the mysterious woman who got killed by blow gun dart, the pointless car chase, Lee Van Cleef's nonsensical character....this movie is classic garbage. A monument to ineptitude.

Personally, I wouldn't say that this is an action movie. It's more of a thriller. The movie is in fact really slow and a bit boring most of the time. The decent action doesn't kick in until just before the end. If it hadn't been for that scene, this movie wouldn't have got more than 3 stars from me. But since the last scene was pretty good, I give it a 6. Just remember that this is an Chuck Norris-movie. Norris isn't exactly the best martial arts actor, he hasn't got any spectacular moves and I get a little tired watching him wear the same type of jeans in almost every movie. There are a bunch of ninjas in the movie. The movie tried to establish them as skilled and feared fighters, but it didn't succeed with that.