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Badmovies.org Forum  |  Movies  |  Bad Movies  |  Octopus 2: This time they had a better script « previous next »
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Author Topic: Octopus 2: This time they had a better script  (Read 2977 times)
Akira Tubo
Guest
« on: July 16, 2002, 01:09:45 AM »

Octopus 2 is about, of all things, a giant octopus living in New York Harbor.  I like the fact that they didn't try to explain its existence, it was just a really, really big octopus.

Good points:

The script isn't half bad.  Character interaction is pretty good, for the most part, and no one is an unlikable prick.  We have some of the standard cliches but they are handled well.

The actors are better than average.  Each actor does the most they can and says his or her lines with conviction.

The mayor's refusal to "close the beaches", as it were, doesn't come off as completely stupid.  He actually has fairly credible reasons for not believing in the octopus and for not wanting to shut down the harbor once the octopus' existence is proven to him.  Refreshingly, those reasons don't have to do with capitalist greed.

They tried.  They tried, you understand?  The filmmakers did their best with what they had to create a good, polished, product.  That's more than I can say for a lot of movies, particularly of late.

Bad Points:

Editing.  I don't mean editing errors, I mean the kind of editing that leaves out parts of the plot.  A few things seem to come out of nowhere.  Since the script is decent otherwise, I don't think it was just sloppy writing.  More likely, the distributor wanted the movie trimmed to get more action in at the expense of plot.

The tiny budget.  They just didn't have enough money to show the octopus as much as you know they wanted to, or to make it as good as you know they wanted it.  The octopus is pretty crappy looking.  The camera work and editing in the scenes featuring it are all over the place, probably in an attempt to hide how awful the poor thing looks.  Some of the other special effects don't come off very well, either.  But they tried, dammit!

The climax.  The octopus hardly has anything to do with the climax of the movie!  This may be due to the budget again, specifically it not being enough to film a good climactic octopus battle.

Kids.  In a plot thread that feels really shoehorned in, maybe even during post-production, we are forced to endure a busload of kids (and an old lady and her dog) being put in peril.  This is easily the weakest part of the movie.

It starts well, ends up pretty cruddy, but it's worth a rental.  Definite improvement on the original.

And they tried so hard, dammit!  You've got to respect that.
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Foywonder
Guest
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2002, 01:38:59 AM »

As a matter of fact, I've already written a review for it over at Stomp Tokyo. It will be posted in the Bad Movie Report around the end of the month.

OCTOPUS 2 is really, really, really, really, really, really awful and yet its still probably the best giant, killer octopus movie ever made especially when you consider what the other options are. Still, I have the sneaking suspicion it will still prove to be better than CROCODILE 2 and SPIDERS 2 that were previewed before it.
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Chadzilla
Guest
« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2002, 01:41:56 PM »

Foywonder wrote:
>
> OCTOPUS 2 is really, really, really, really, really, really
> awful and yet its still probably the best giant, killer
> octopus movie ever made especially when you consider what the
> other options are.

IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA is WORSE than Octopus 2!?!?!?!
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Foywonder
Guest
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2002, 03:29:11 PM »

IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA is not about an octopus. It only had 6 arms!

Okay, I technically forgot about IT momentarily. I mean giant, killer octopus in the post JAWS era.
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Flangepart
Guest
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2002, 06:15:26 PM »

Uh,huh. Sure........its sounds liveable. But after the brain rot of OCTOPUS......Shields up!                                                                                                             No....no, i'm not hopeful. The first one left me bitter and looking to pick a fight with an Orca. Nope....can't trust it....ain't gonna risk it. Nuke it till it glows, and depth charge it in the dark.
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Foywonder
Guest
« Reply #5 on: July 17, 2002, 03:39:38 AM »

Don't let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise, OCTOPUS 2 is horrendous. Its just not as unwatchable as TENTACLES or the original OCTOPUS. Its just lame in a cheap, JAWS knock-off sorta way. Hell, the last 15 minutes puts the killer octopus on hold so it can rip-off the movie DAYLIGHT.
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Akira Tubo
Guest
« Reply #6 on: July 17, 2002, 12:16:05 PM »

Aw, c'mon guys, it ended up really bad, sure.  But it wasn't so awful as to p**s me off and they really, really tried.
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Tommy
Guest
« Reply #7 on: July 17, 2002, 12:55:50 PM »

I don't even want to see Octopus 2, because the first one was bad enough.  The Octopus should have stayed dead.
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Foywonder
Guest
« Reply #8 on: July 17, 2002, 06:43:47 PM »

That explains all the stock footage from the first film and the big explosion at the end where they edited split second pieces of 6 unrelated explosion sequences. I especially liked the one explosion shot they recycled from the first film where night momentarily became day. Effort? Sorry, this was very Ed Wood-ish. Although, it was still better than the original OCTOPUS and TENTACLES. Of course, so's getting a colonoscopy.
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Akira Tubo
Guest
« Reply #9 on: July 18, 2002, 05:58:46 PM »

Bah.
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