Dünyayi Kurtaran Adam'in Oğlu

And unexpected and quite pleasant surprise. While the legendary prequel, Turkish Star Wars, was entertainment for most hardened masochists, visually repulsive, ripping off the possible and the impossible, from Star Wars to Indiana Jones, including shamelessly cutting footage from the Lucas saga and Williams's music, this sequel looks like from another universe, as if Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish state, had been haunting his subjects, in this case Turkish filmmakers, saying "You assholes, you will not bring this kind of shame on me!". The Turks have really learned their lesson and approached things from a completely different angle. Whereas the prequel played on a deadly serious note, this one is a thoroughbred comedy that doesn’t take itself seriously at all. The humour is underhanded at times, but, surprisingly, sometimes really funny, with the Turkish filmmakers often making fun of themselves in a nice, self-deprecating way, just like they make fun of some sci-fi classics. Said humour, of course, is not very sophisticated by the most part, but I didn’t expect that. The script has something that at least resembles a story, and thanks to the not-quite-low-budget production design and frequent change of locations it doesn't resemble a cheap TV production; also, Mehmet Ali Erbil is a pretty funny guy. I expected utter shit and got a harmless piece of bollocks, whose low rating here I attribute to the well-deserved scorn received by its infamous predecessor. It's a pity that most of the reviewers don't appreciate the self-reflection of the creators, which I perceive and welcome – it’s so lacking in some of our filmmakers, starting with Troška and ending with Magnusek. PS: watched with English subtitles (a must!). PPS: the main star of the prequel, Cuneyt Arkin, only appears for a few seconds. Fortunately. (02.05.2013)

The Man Who Saved the World is such a bizarre movie that it's hard to watch, but it's so silly and so shamelessly derivative that you end up watching it just for that reason. Turks in Space is meant a bit more seriously, in the sense that they're not just ripping off Star Wars anymore, but on the other hand, it's still so silly that it hurts. (19.07.2017)