Film

The Octagon

Name: The Octagon
Genre: Adventure, Action, Thriller
Released: 1980
Cast: Chuck Norris, Karen Carlson, Lee Van Cleef, Art Hindle, Carol Bagdasarian

Martial arts action
Relentless

Chuck Norris plays a martial arts expert protecting a woman from ninja assassins while confronting his nemesis in this 1980 action thriller. It's a straightforward revenge vehicle that functions best as a delivery system for fight sequences and one-liners. Perfect for viewers who appreciate Norris's particular brand of earnest action heroics and don't mind a plot that exists mainly as scaffolding.

TMDb rating

2.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love lean, old-school martial arts sieges where the fights carry the story and the star's stone-faced presence is the whole point.

Skip it if you want a tight plot or sharp dialogue, since the script is thin and the middle stretches out between set-piece brawls with dated staging throughout.

What it asks of you: Just under two hours, with long stretches of talk and scheming broken by bursts of violence; settle in for a slow build rather than nonstop motion.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Missing in Action1984

Norris plays Colonel Braddock, a Vietnam vet hunting for POWs in the jungle. It's tighter than The Octagon, with better pacing, higher stakes, and Norris doing what he does best: being indestructible and righteous.

But The plot is thin even by 1984 action standards, and the geopolitical commentary is the opposite of subtle.

Invasion U.S.A.1985

Norris versus Soviet and Cuban operatives in a high-concept action romp. It's audacious, ridiculous, and committed to both its paranoia and its one-liners in a way that feels almost punk.

But The Cold War politics have aged like milk, and Norris's acting range remains approximately zero.

Bloodsport1988

Jean-Claude Van Damme competes in an underground martial arts tournament. It's got better choreography than Norris's work, real jeopardy, and the kind of earnest weirdness that makes 80s action beautiful.

But It's slower than you'd expect for a tournament film, and Van Damme's accent is... a lot.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Octagon

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Street Fighter1974

Both are built on the fantasy of a single skilled man as problem-solver, but Street Fighter does it with a morality twist that Octagon doesn't attempt—a film where competence doesn't equal righteousness.

Sonny Chiba in the film that accidentally created the anti-hero action star archetype. Raw, brutal, and made for almost no money, it has the texture of something genuine underneath the exploitation.

But It's genuinely offensive in ways that are difficult to defend, with casual racism and sexual violence. The subtitles can be hard to read.

American Ninja1985

Michael Dudikoff brings unexpected charm to the ninja action subgenre. The fight scenes are inventive, the tropical setting is gorgeous, and it's much smarter about its premise than it has any right to be.

But The romance subplot is rote, and Dudikoff's lead performance sometimes confuses sincerity with woodenness.

Enter the Dragon1973

Bruce Lee's only major Hollywood film. It set the template for everything that followed—martial arts, espionage, a martial artist as action hero. It's the real thing, and it's essential viewing.

But It's now fifty years old and the mystique can overshadow the actual film. Some expect more plot than there is.

The Killer1989

John Woo's action masterpiece with Chow Yun-fat as an assassin seeking redemption. The gunplay is balletic, the emotion is genuine, and it influenced everything that came after.

But It's violent and violent in ways that aren't comedic. Also subtitled, which some viewers resist.

Road House1989

Patrick Swayze as a bouncer philosopher who fights his way through a corrupt town. It's absurd and sincere at once, with genuinely great action and a weird wounded grace underneath.

But The gender politics are dated, and the tone wavers between earnest drama and unintentional comedy.

The Long Good Friday1980

Bob Hoskins as a London crime boss dealing with an unknown threat during one nightmarish weekend. It's violent and smart, with real stakes and a performance that makes you understand why casting matters.

But It's a thriller, not an action film—slower, darker, and more interested in paranoia than spectacle.

Gymkata1985

A gymnast becomes a spy and uses gymnastics as a martial art. It's genuinely one of the weirdest action films ever made, and it's weird in ways that are almost impossible to explain.

But The badness is the entire appeal. If you want a competently made film, this will frustrate you thoroughly.

Harakiri1962

Both films are about martial codes and revenge, but Harakiri asks whether those codes are worth dying for, while Octagon assumes they are.

Masaki Kobayashi's masterpiece about samurai honor and ritual suicide. It's formally beautiful and emotionally devastating, with a structure that pivots on a single revelation.

But It requires patience and emotional openness. There's no action, no spectacle, and the ending is uncompromising tragedy.

Enter the Void2010

Both films treat the city itself as antagonist and environment—Octagon's Hong Kong and Tokyo as exotic backdrops for combat, Void's Tokyo as a character unto itself, but the former is action geography while the latter is spiritual geography.

Gaspar Noé's hallucinogenic dive into Tokyo's neon underbelly, told from a ghost's perspective. Visually overwhelming and genuinely unlike any other film, it's mesmerizing if you surrender to it.

But It's nearly three hours of sensory overload with minimal plot and contains graphic sexual content. Many viewers find it exhausting rather than exhilarating.