Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

barreljumpersblog This movie should be the easiest sell for a movie ever...NORRIS V. NINJAS The problem is the concept makes for an exciting movie but the execution is lacking as the movie meanders all over the place never settling on the one area we want to see - NORRIS V. NINJAS! It literally takes 90-minutes to get to the actual Octagon and then when the fights start they are choreographed in a fairly dull manner (as is common when Chuck and Aaron handled all the fight scene choreography). A movie with ninjas needs more flash and better use of weapons and...well...ninja skills.Still, this is Chuck Norris so if I complain too much he'll find me.The podcast Don and his Amazing Friend (www.donandhisamazingfriend.com) just did a thorough review of this movie...so thorough their podcast is almost longer than the actual movie. Give it a listen!

tomgillespie2002 A film that could be easily summed up as simply ninja terrorists and the sexual allure of Chuck Norris' hairy mammoth-chest, The Octagon is a standard martial arts actioner, involving a conspiratorial group of, well, ninja terrorists. Chuck Norris is Scott James (although I was convinced after Norris stated his character name that he was in fact Scotch Eggs), a martial artist who stumbles upon the organisation that is secretly training a hard-core team of terrorists in a camp of unknown location. He has to infiltrate and bring down the clandestine operation before they begin "terrorising". I'm guessing that ninja terrorists would work ridiculously as they would waste all that time stealthily and silently getting into targets, only to make a whole lot of noise on their way out: it just seems reductive to me.Of course Norris gets an entourage collected on his way. From Lee Van Cleef's mercenary to Art Hindle's young martial artist with a case of premature penetration (that's not supposed to be euphemistic), but of course, as suggested by the appearance of his fur covered chest, one flash of this (in almost any Norris vehicle) sends the women giddy. It seems that just previous to any final battle in the action genre of this period, the hero will use his visual tool (here, of course, the suspect, revealing chest), and the usually younger female character will throw herself at him sexually, a clichéd catalyst that empowers the machismo of the hero into ultimate battle.Whilst wholly generic, the acting is inevitably dull. In an early scene the trainees of the oriental organisation are being shown the fighting techniques of the ninja, scythes and swords are shown penetrating watermelons. One trainee says glibly, with the characteristics and delivery of a red-neck on his tenth bottle of moonshine: "It would be a lot better it they used real people". To which is relied with: "They will". For some bizarre reason, when I sit down to watch any late '70's or '80's standard action film, I seem to believe that I am going to enjoy it. That somehow these films are fun and exciting. However, every time I convince myself of this, the film I watch is so incredibly dull. Perhaps it is simply that my movie watching habits have changed since being a wide-eyed youngster, and that these films were always awful. Maybe I will re-watch one from my youth that I will enjoy... Here's hoping, but it ain't this one.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

marines-2 This is a good, all-around movie featuring Chuck Norris. I found the fighting sequences thrilling, the general storyline good, and the background provided about Ninjas just about the correct amount for a viewer to handle (not too much info, not too little). I also thought that the relationship development (what there was) to be fairly adequate for a movie of this genre between Norris & AJ and Norris & Lee Van Cleef. Like I said: In general, this is a good all-around martial-arts movie. I can't wait until this move comes out on DVD. I live in San Jose, and I actually saw Chuck Norris in person at an MMA (mixed martial arts) event in San Jose on March 10 (2006), and it would have been nice to have him sign my DVD disk of The Octagon if it had been available.

infocyde ...You have to take it in the context of when it was written and the age group that it appealed most to. If you some fat goofy ten year old growing up in the early 80ies, seeing Chuck Norris fighting evil ninjas was just brilliant. It didn't get any better. I remember a few years later sneaking up at night just to watch it on HBO. I give it a 10 for being sort of a cult early 80 martial arts classic, not for its production quality or the talent of the actors. On those merits I would give it a solid 4, but screw that, it is a 10 because it is what it is, a cheesy Ninja vs Chuck Norris movie that if you were a little kid at the time seeing it you would have been in complete awe.