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At-A-Glance Film Reviews

Octopussy (1983)

Rating

[3.5]

Reviews and Comments

This series entry could be unfairly referred to as "the backslid" Bond film; after an artistically successful serious Bond film, this one followed it up with a small dose of goofy humor reintroduced. Thankfully, the humor is confined to mere seconds of screen time, but Bond's Tarzan yell makes the single most embarrassingly stupid and juvenile moments in the series, period. But ignoring this and other sparse moments, you're left with an exhilarating, riproaring fun adventure with moments of sheer, unadulterated suspense. The pre-credits scene alone has more action and thrills than a lot of whole movies, the circus scene at the end is one of those rare moments in the Bond series where the audience genuinely feels the worst could happen, and unlike many so-called action films, plot and character are not ignored. A moderately strong villain and not one but two very strong Bond girls balance the cast. The title character is played by one of the better Bond girl actresses, Maud Adams, who was shortchanged by her brief role in The Man With the Golden Gun -- her return is very welcome. Robert Brown makes his first appearance as 'M', continuing in the spirit of the late Bernard Lee.

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