The Octagon

Scott James, played by Chuck Norris, is a retired karate champion and a bit of a dick. Scott's estranged brother, Seikura, is running a ninja training academy for terrorists somewhere in South America. Everyone in Scott's life is either trying to convince him to put a stop to Seikura and his men or they are actively getting killed by Seikura and his men, sometimes both. If Scott decides to take action (would it be much of a movie if he didn't?) he'll need to get past all of the terrorists and all of the ninjas in order to face his brother, one on one, in the Octagon. ("The Octagon" is a reference to the terrorist training camp, because it's kinda shaped like an octagon. We get to see plenty of the camp throughout the film, but the octagon-ness of it all isn't really something that gets shown or remarked upon until the last twenty minutes of the movie. You would think that, since they decided to call the movie The Octagon, it might be more prominent in the film, but not so much.) Much like JCVD, Chuck Norris is a kicker and he kicks the shit out of a whole bunch of terrorists and ninjas in this movie. The Octagon also features Spaghetti Western legend Lee Van Cleef and Art Hindle from The Brood and the original Black Christmas. I could talk about The Octagon all day long. It feels like a movie that was tailor made for me. I urge everyone to check out The Octagon if, for no other reason, just to hear Chuck Norris's super echoey overdubbed monologue. It's all stilted and whispery. It's great.

Rating: 59%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Fun Fact: Ernie Hudson, of Ghostbusters fame, is in The Octagon, briefly.