Octopussy

Coincidentally watching Roger Moore's next Bond film on the 40th year of its anniversary, Octopussy would mark his penultimate appearance as 007 in 1983. Taking the name from another of Ian Fleming's short stories and merging other bits and pieces from the author's work, this was another James Bond film that almost had free rein to go in any which direction returning director John Glen and producer Cubby Broccoli had in mind but I expected this would mark the eventual tip in quality of Moore's tenure.

After his first two films had their merits here or there while not quite being Bond at his best, The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker were an absolute blast and even the scaled back For Your Eyes Only was highly entertaining as the franchise approached its 20th anniversary at the time. There was increasing talk of the next Bond but Roger returned once more in what many consider should have been his final outing in Octopussy, a film which I had not seen in a very long time.

The story here sees Bond sent to investigate the death of a fellow agent in Berlin which takes him to India where he uncovers a jewel-smuggling operation and plans for a secret Russian attack on the West by a rogue Soviet officer. Much like with For Your Eyes Only, Glen keeps the entertaining stunts and action sequences but everything feels as if it's on a smaller scale. We do get the exotic locations but then there's also the Berlin Wall, a London auction event and surprisingly a circus instead of villainous space/underwater bases. Visually the film is very well put together but lacks the cinematic polish of Lewis Gilbert's Bond films with Moore.

Speaking of, Moore is once again joined by Desmond Llewelyn, Lois Maxwell, Geoffrey Keen and Robert Brown, who has now taken the role of M following his brief appearance in TSWLM. Maud Adams also makes a return as well but now cast as Octopussy and is great alongside Moore who benefits from a more age-appropriate love interest and enjoy a fun dynamic together. As for the villains, we have the excellent Louis Jourdan perfectly cast as Kamal Khan and an appropriately explosive performance from Steven Berkoff as the rogue soviet hoping to make a name for himself. We also get a very fun performance from the professional tennis star Vijay Amritraj as Bond's local ally in India who perfectly rounds out a great cast complementing Moore's effortless turn as the agent once more with material that really plays to his strengths.

As for the film, the opening ballad song really sets the tone to relaxed and, even with some mighty impressive stunts towards the end that would give Tom Cruise pause, Octopussy is a simple dose of entertainment back when the franchise wasn't about the angsty personal trauma we have seen more of late with Daniel Craig. Suffice to say, aside with one or two surprisingly dark deaths, this is middle-aged Bond where the villains are more campy than terrifying. This does come at the expense of any true iconic moments of the franchise and I did find the first act to be a little dry in places but by the end it is an enjoyable way to spend two hours with enough twists and turns to keep most engaged. 

Hardcore Bonds however might scoff at Bond dressed as a clown and argue the film lacks the edge of the films which came before which I would say is a fair argument. The events of Live and Let Die feel far and away from Bond and Q infiltrating a villain's stronghold here by hot air balloon in a comical fashion but if you have been watching all of the films to this point then I think you will be more than ready to enjoy this. Octopussy isn't quite on par with the three that came before but it is still an easy recommendation.