The Octagon

The Octagon, Has a more complicated plot than most of his films, with more subplots than usual gradually merging together, and an effective inter-cutting between Norris and the Ninja training camp. Particularly effective are the initial scenes with Norris and Karen Carlson. They have a good rapport and her getting him to come back to her house has a mysterious, intriguing quality. Carol Bagdasarian is particularly beautiful, too. The main criticisms are that the women all seem to immediately fall in love with Norris, and he also is way too quick in winning all the Ninjas that he’s fighting towards the end. However, Lee Van Cleef brings a certain authority to his scenes, and Norris delivers a better performance than usual. One of his better films.

The fight scene inside the Octagon between Scott James (Norris) and Kyo the Enforcer (Norton) is one of the most impressive and best choreographed fight scenes I have ever seen in any martial arts flick. No wire works, nor special camera shots…just one fluid scene of swift exchanges of blows combining Katana sword play and hand to hand combat between two badasses. This scene is perhaps the next most memorable Chuck Norris fight scene, besides him duking it out with Bruce Lee in ‘Return of the Dragon’.

I’m not a big Chuck Norris fan, but I consider ‘The Octagon’ Norris at his best.