CHUCK'S ROUNDHOUSE: The Octagon (1980)

The first references in Japanese history to the descendants of a disposed samurai founding a school to train soldiers in guerilla warfare appear around 1160. By the 15th century, the word shinobi-no-mono – literally translated as "one who hides or steals" – had come to refer to soldiers specializing in espionage and stealth. During the Sengoku era, a 150 year period of political instability and civil war between feudal lords, clans and villages devoted to the training of shinobi are said to have existed. They were hired as mercenaries, spies and bodyguards. Actual appearances of soldiers like this in the historical record are uncommon. Details on the techniques they practiced and the tools of their trade – collectively known as ninjutsu, a term that does not seem to have been in common usage at the time – are limited to a few sources. Much of what we think we know about the practitioners of ninjutsu, what you might call ninjas, actually emerges from pop culture. Folk tales, novels, and plays about these mysterious warriors have been popular since the early 1800s, often giving them fantastical abilities and depicting them clad all in black. (A cliché that got started in kabuki theatre.) A series of popular kids books on the subject extended the public fascination with the ninja into the modern age and it's been going ever since. 

That's how the ninja became a pop culture phenomenon in Japan. What about here in stupid ol' America, where we don't know a daimyo from a dip shit? It's mostly James Bond's fault, as "You Only Live Twice" would introduce the world at large to the pop culture conception of the ninja. While a little bit of ninja media would be imported abroad during the seventies martial arts craze, it wasn't really until 1980 that the shadow warriors started to catch on globally. That year saw the release of a best selling novel and, later, a Chuck Norris movie called "The Octagon." That is the humble well from which several Marvel Comics characters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a plethora of video games, thousands of Halloween costumes, Sho Kosugi's entire career, and another internet meme about exaggerated acts of masculine super prowess emerged. But let's go back to "The Octagon" for a minute and consider its worth, apart from the ninja boom that followed it.

Martial arts pro Scott James is invited to a ballet performance, where the prima ballerina incorporates some karate into her dancing. Their date afterwards is ruined by ninja attacking and killing the girl. This is the latest in a series of high-profile assassinations that bear the marks of the Shinobi. Scott knows this because he was raised within a secret camp to train ninjas. There, he formed a bond and then a rivalry with Seikura, his ninja foster sibling who was kicked out of the order for being too bloodthirsty. Seikura has now returned to take over the family business and the increased global presence of ninja assassinations is his work. Scott attempts to get to the bottom of this. His investigation leads him to an heiress with an anti-ninja agenda, his old mercenary friends, a recent disaffected trainee from the ninja school, and to the fortified fortress known as the Octagon. 

As I watch my way through the oeuvre of Mr. Carlos Norris, I'm noticing a frustrating trend. His movies tend to take too long to get to the good shit. Perhaps it was his previously stated desire to make more story-driven action movies at play. In effect, this means we've had to wait through some half-ass attempts to build up a proper story before we get to the ass-kicking. This is definitely true of "The Octagon," a film to which the maxim of "there's too much plot getting in the way of the story" can be applied. The film follows multiple story threads, cutting between Scott's journey, flashbacks to his past, the trainees being molded into professional killers at shinobi boot camp, the behind-the-scenes drama of Seikura seizing control, and the fates of several supporting characters who get entangled with this ninja business. The result is a motion picture that never seems to truly get moving, cutting away to some other event any time the promise of chopping and fighting seems ready to ensue. 

"The Octagon" is thankfully less of a slog than "Good Guys Wear Black" nor as squeaky clean as "A Force of One." In fact, the movie starts with a brutal execution featuring some extra juicy squibs, as if to announce that we are in the eighties now. While all the ninja training does feel more like an extended prologue to the actual action, a demonstration involving a sai and a melon amused me. Strangely, these warriors of the invisible arts seem to do a lot of recruiting among barns and tractor pulls, leading to more than a few scenes of Chuck intimidating some rednecks. There's also a decent car chase in the first half-hour. Much like Norris' previous few flicks, this one also has some recognizable faces in the supporting roles. Chuck has good banter with Lee Van Cleef as his grizzled mentor, one generation of tough guy actor interacting with another. Art Hindle has some nice smart-ass energy as AJ, Scott's sidekick. Mostly, I got a kick out of random familiar faces popping in for some minor parts. Such as Ernie Hudson randomly appearing in two scenes or Tracey Walter doing an above-average Peter Lorre as the creepy recruiter for the bad guys. I'm always happy to see these guys. 

Hindle's role points to another curious reoccurring trope in Chuck's flicks. Once again, a guy younger than Norris' hero, who seems to definitely look up to him, gets brutalized and captured by some bad guys. As in "Good Guys Wear Black" and "A Force of One," Chuck ultimately fails to rescue this surrogate little brother or son figure. Normally, such a plot point would motivate the hero to more extreme measures or make his mission against the bad guys all the more personal. This comes across as especially gratuitous in "The Octagon," as Scott's former foster brother being the villain already makes this a long-brewing vendetta for the hero. Moreover, the death blow occurs right before the climax, just a little extra escalation for the final fight.

 

When you read about the man's personal life, the auteur theory as applied to formulaic action stars seems to ring true once again. Chuck was the oldest of three siblings. His youngest brother, Aaron, plays his character in the flashbacks here. His middle brother, Wieland, died in Vietnam at the age of 27. You would think that, if Norris was going to play-act this formative trauma over and over again in his movies, he would rescue the kid every time and symbolically bring his little brother home. But he frequently doesn't and it adds an intriguing melancholy quality to these movies. Or maybe I'm reading too much into a dumb-ass action movie. Perhaps. However, "The Octagon" does feel a bit more introspective in other ways too. From the red-tinted opening credits, the movie repeatedly gives us a peek at the main character's inner thoughts. This play out as whispered, repetitive phrases that echo in his head during multiple key moments. It's, surprisingly, one of the more realistic depictions of how thoughts and an inner monologue work that I've seen in a film. 

Another interesting reoccurring element is the role of women in these movies. The hyper-masculine ubermensch that would come to dominate the action genre in the eighties rarely had any use for women beyond a token role. While the tough guys in earlier decades, your Bonds and Eastwoods, seem to disregard women in gruffer, openly sexist ways. Chuck is not in-touch with his feminine side and the love interests in his films have yet to truly distinguish themselves. At the same time, the movies do keep playing him as a romantic figure, usually unreachable by women but often desired by them nevertheless. "The Octagon" gives Chuck three ladies to bounce off through its runtime. The cute Kim Lankford exits early on, while Chuck's scenes with Karen Carlson are characterized by a more combative chemistry. Scott James is too focused on his mission to be distracted by a woman's charms... Except when he isn't, as he shares a love interest with Carol Bagdasarian as the ninja deserter. It's a fairly gratuitous moment, surely including for titillating purposes, but moments like these do distinguish Norris from his contemporaries. He was definitely being sold not just as a macho figure of wish fulfillment fantasy for the guys but also obviously as a sex symbol for women. 

But what the hell am I talking about? You don't rent a Chuck Norris tape from your local Ma and Pa video store because you want to see this guy mourn or emote. You wanna see him punch and kick some dudes. For what feels like the first time since he left Hong Kong, "The Octagon" sees the karate champ really showing off his skills. The entire last act of the movie is Scott navigating the titular fortress, fighting and killing every ninja attacker that gets in his way. And it's pretty damn cool, Norris' smooth but powerful fighting moves actually getting a proper display here. It makes "The Octagon" a proto-video game movie, the hero navigating an obstacle course and the enemies within, taking them out with his special moves, before reaching the area where he battles the big boss. In this case, that being decorated martial artist and stuntman Richard Norton. This is his film debut in the memorable role of a hissing, mute ninja in a bitchin' looking mask and he is clearly a good match against Norris. That bout ends in a spectacular manner, worthy of an early pixelated cut scene from a "Double Dragon" or "Final Fight" game. If that isn't enough action for you either, the film also throws in some shoot-outs and a big-ass explosion. 

This means that "The Octagon" does indeed make up for its slow start. If the movie was as awesome as its final third throughout its whole runtime, it would easily be the best movie of the star's career up to this point. Even with a belabored set-up, this one does reveal some quirkier notes than you might expect, in terms of its approach to its hero's inner pain and how that may or may not have reflected on the public image Norris was creating. It definitely needed way more ninja theatrics. Next year's "Enter the Ninja" and its sequels would build much more on the mystique of the stealth killers, eighties ninja-mania getting well underway at that point. (And this one's director, Eric Karson, would later direct Sho Kosugi in "Black Eagle.") However, at least this one is not so timid with the ass kicking once it finally gets around to it. [7/10]

[THE CHUCK OF NORRIS: 4 outta 5]
[X] Facial Hair
[X] Jumps or Kicks Through a Window or Wall
[X] Performs Spin Kick or Spin Punch to Enemy's Face
[X] Shows Off His Hairy Chest
[] Sports Some Cowboy Getup