Eight Pussies Is Not Enough

And to think but a few days ago I was as pleased as punch for rediscovering the delights of the big, ludicrous Roger Moore Bond film when I saw Moonraker for the first time in years...maybe even decades. It was such a surprisingly positive experience that it inspired me to watch another Moore effort, 1983's Octopussy.

Well, that certainly burst my bubble. While there's much to like in this grand 007 adventure, there's an awful lot to get irritated by:-

1/ Blimey. Roger looks old here. His hair and clothes are that of an 'older gentleman', he's no longer convincing in a scrap...or a seduction scene for that matter. However, he's still a great leading man.

2/ John Glen return as director and his 70's directing style is coming across a bit stale, especially when you consider Octopussy was made in the era of Donner, Spielberg and Zemekis. The action stuff is very static and Glen has a nasty habit of using crash zooms instead of dolly shots which dates the work horribly.

3/ The production design is flat and uninventive, while the interior sets look fake and hokey. It's not helped by Alan Hume's softy focus photography which seems to cheapen the interior locations more often than not.

4/ Octopussy's got one of the best pre-title action set pieces of the series with it's ballsy miniature jet sequence. Unfortunately, very little of the action measures up to this. The buggy chase through Delhi is fun (although very daft)and Bond's frantic chase to stop the Nuke from going off is tense and expertly staged, but there just not enough of it...or enough of it done well to give the film credit.

5/ Finally, and most importantly, Octopussy is edited with all the energy of a comatose Snail. It's sooooooooooo slow. Boring even. And that's inexcusable. Too much of the narrative gets bogged down in India for the middle act while the plot sees Bond in another one of his leisurely, intrigue-free investigations yet again.

It's not all dull. Maud Adams is one of the few Bond leading ladies from the Moore era who's actually a good actress (no wonder they brought her back after her stint in The Man With The Golden Gun) and barking mad Steven Berkoff is value for money no matter what he's doing.

Hey ho. Maybe in 20 years I'll get round to checking out A View To A Kill once again.