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| Turkish Star Wars |
| aka. The Man Who Saves The World |
| WRITTEN BY, DIRECTED BY, AND STARRING, CUNEYT ARKIN. |
| It's not too often that you see a foreign film without subtitles, not really have much idea about whats going on, but still thoroughly enjoy it , but Turkish Star Wars is one such movie. A freind of mine, a huge Star Wars fan who became dis-illusioned after seeing how much of a stinker Episode 1 : the phantom menace was, saw this in Video Screams' ( see links) catalogue. He said to me only half joking : "That'd be too stinkin' great! like a real Star Wars prequel". As far as I can figure, this movie is about a couple of guys involved in an attack on the Death Star. But I'm not sure, because this first scene is |
| filled with that much actual stock footage from Star Wars that it really doesn't make a lot of sense because a lot of the footage is irrelevant ( stuff like one minute, our heroes seem to be in tie fighters, and x-wings in the next shot). I think Arkin (pictured on the right) thought that including high budget stock footage would increase his dismal production values. The next scene has them shot down, and crash landing on a primative planet that looks suspiciously like Turkey. Everyone gets around on horses, because I guess the meagre budget didn't allow for landspeeders. The two guys, Arkin ( who reminds me of evangelist , Benny Hinn), and his overacting apprentice get in a brawl with a bunch of guys to music from Raiders of the Lost Ark ( I'm not kidding. This movie also steals theme music from Superman, and Battlestar Galactica). We see the lead bad guy, who appears, and disappears thanks to the high- tech turkish special effect of editing. He looks like a Turkish Tommy Chong ! Our two heroes manage to escape, and set about freeing the oppressed people of the planet. |
| This gave me more laughs than Great White. The cantina scene was hysterical. It was intercut with stock footage from the original Star Wars, but was mainly cheap paper mache aliens, dreadful rubber masks, and these big , red teddy bear-like creatures who looked like walking bathmats. I really laughed at the two guys sitting there , casually drinking with all these laughable creatures around. I also loved where Arkin did jedi training, tying huge foam boulders to his legs and jumping around.... what was that all about? Some of the crowd scenes are funny too. Most of the people are cardboard cut-outs. Lucas did the same thing in the pod race scene in Episode 1. Was it a homage to Arkin's version of Star Wars? or just bad filmmaking? I also laughed at Arkins laboured kung-fu, and his plywood sword. Turkish Star Wars takes elements from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Bruce Lee movies to form a cheap, but cheerful movie. I wonder if George Lucas has ever seen it, and whether he realises that it is vastly better than Episode 1 : The Phantom Menace ? |
| Entertainment : 3 out of 4 |
| Watchability : 3 out of 4 |
| Overall : 3 out of 4 |
| Reviewed by Blake. |
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