No doubt you've heard that Turkey made a bunch of no-budget ripoffs of famous movies ("The Exorcist", "Young Frankenstein", "E.T."). Çetin İnanç's "Ölüm savasçisi" ("Death Warrior" in English) is not a ripoff of a specific movie, but imitates the style of martial arts flicks. Except that it has ZERO continuity. The entire movie looks like a series of random scenes arbitrarily stitched together. I gave the movie five stars simply because the sheer corniness makes it very enjoyable: sped-up action scenes, bikini-clad women, and a shot that seems to be paying homage to "The Evil Dead". It's a perfect example of bad Turkish cinema from a director who apparently also did a "Star Wars" ripoff. Cüneyt Arkın is apparently a frequent star of Turkish action flicks, and continues to act to this day.
9 Reviews
The last Turkish action hero
sanliizzet8 May 2006
"The death warrior" is one of the most absurd and awful movies of Turkish action actor Cuneyt Arkin (also known as George Arkin)and Cetin Inanc (director) duo. As a matter of fact the movie has similarities with the other Arkin & Inanc movie "Turkish star wars" as the concept is the same: "Copy a popular Hollywood action movie, replace the heroes with Turkish ones, sprinkle some Turkish philosophy and jokes, pump some nationalism...." here you go! The director never bothered with the details as to how the American police force members and Turkish counterparts are able to speak so fluently with each other, why the Americans did not call for help from a Japanese detective instead of a Turkish one, how some 30 ninjas appeared out of nowhere....and whey they are killed they get disappeared...etc...
Apparently the movie is aimed at the lowest grade Turkish audience and they never thought that in the future their work of art would ever be remembered....
Apparently the movie is aimed at the lowest grade Turkish audience and they never thought that in the future their work of art would ever be remembered....
Interesting
charteux14 April 2004
if you watched Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam,and liked it,you probably love this one! its a Masterpiece!Its about a group of invincible ninjas in U.S, and they start killing everybody,so the NYPD chief cant solve the problem,so the mayor thinks 'ONLY a Turkish can handle the situation',so they call for Inspector Kemal for help.. and he comes to U.S. Thats when the action starts! i grew up watching Cuneyt Arkins movies,and i cant recall a movie that i didnt like..thats what i want to mention,in every movie of his,i think he always tried his best as this one. So dont miss!
Wow. A treasure.
superguapo200017 January 2010
Warning: Spoilers
In Ölüm Savasçisi ("Death Warrior"), action hero Cuneyt Arkin saves the world, turk-fu style, from gangs of sadistic ninja doppelgangers who attack defenseless civilians for fun, sometimes assisted by the Yeti. These deadly fighters are the product of a rigorous, almost non-stop training curriculum in which they observe continuous demonstrations by the Death Warrior and sometimes get killed in the learning process. Those who are tough enough to survive the ongoing and never-ending training sessions put their techniques to practice by brutally assassinating random innocent folks while the latter lounge around by the pool or listen to their favorite disco records.
Eventually, this mayhem comes to the attention of super-cop Cuneyt Arkin (star of "Dunanyi Kurtaram Adam"), who takes time off from hanging out at the beach to unleash a deadly can of whoop-ass upon the perpetrators in a fashion that eludes verbal description.
Ölüm Savasçisi is the kind of film that trash lovers dream about. It's the only un-subtitled foreign-language film that I have sat through twice in its entirety, not understanding a single word of dialog yet cherishing every mind-devastating moment. Highly recommended.
Eventually, this mayhem comes to the attention of super-cop Cuneyt Arkin (star of "Dunanyi Kurtaram Adam"), who takes time off from hanging out at the beach to unleash a deadly can of whoop-ass upon the perpetrators in a fashion that eludes verbal description.
Ölüm Savasçisi is the kind of film that trash lovers dream about. It's the only un-subtitled foreign-language film that I have sat through twice in its entirety, not understanding a single word of dialog yet cherishing every mind-devastating moment. Highly recommended.
A must seen
baris-akan20 January 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This movie is a secret treasure for cult fans. There is no real scenario and also there is no connection between scenes. Inspector Murat can wear different clothes in following scenes. You can also see trampoline which actors used to create jump effects. This film is a milestone because you can see how people tried to create a movie but failed indeed. In fact the year the movie has been recorded was an era of Yesilcam which directors was making movies in three or four days. Within these conditions this film can be accepted good and funny :). If Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam is a good movie Olum Savascisi is a masterpiece at its own kind. Don't judge the film without considering the conditions of that time. Some can not accept bad conditions as a reason for this kind of production but I think it is acceptable.
The best movie ever.
Zamul7 November 2007
This movie is most likely the best I've ever seen. Why? Because even though I didn't understand one single word they said during this entire movie (except "telephone"), I still laughed so hard I started crying. Every single part of this movie is just over the top and utterly ridiculous. The sound basically consists of stolen FX from old and crappy Chinese kung-fu movies, which are then looped over and over, often together, to create an unrivaled cacophony. Even in scenes without intended sound, there are popping and crackling noises. (Also, Cüneyt Arkın owns Chuck Norris, even with his hands tied behind his back.)
The movie that delivers with force
tobbe90027 December 2013
Ölüm savasçisi (Death Warrior) brings you on an action-packed journey right from the very beginning. There is no rest, just sick punches and kicks accompanied by the best slap sounds I've ever heard. The scenes are insane, cut with precision and finesse making them well polished for the audience - impressive... really. I would like to add that I have no clue what they said through the movie, yet still, I got amazed and I think I might have figured it out somewhat. Or not. Anyway, I don't think it matters if you get the story or not. It's just a powerful mash-up of action, sick FX and martial-art choreography that blows you totally away. This is THE movie - don't miss it for anything in the world! Cred goes to Cüneyt Arkin for his well convincing acting, well done... really.
My favorite movie I saw so far this year
BandSAboutMovies14 September 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I don't care if you've made it through the collective worlds of Willie Milan, the Shaw Brothers, Godfrey Ho, Takeshi Miike and any number of film directors and creators and think you've seen it all. You've seen absolutely nothing because none of these creators would be able to create a movie quite like the absolutely demented world that Cüneyt Arkin has crafted. Trust me, over the next week, we're going to share so many of his films, but it feels best to start here with 1984's Death Warrior.
Think Godfrey Ho is transgressive because he mashes together two films at the same time? Cüneyt Arkin laughs as he makes every movie he has ever seen all at once, like those insane kids that didn't understand that you can't play with G.I. Joe, He-Man and your wrestling figures all at the same time because they're all different sizes, but grown up and with a camera and a team of stunt people ready to die just to get all this lunacy committed to film.
This is why I love movies.
Beyond writing and co-directing this movie with Cetin Inanc, Cüneyt plays Murat, who is the Death Warrior. Years ago, he learned the ways of the ninja in Korea, after the war, and saved one of his sword brothers, who holds a grudge that this gaijin saved him so he's spent the last few decades creating a gang of other ninjas who are destroying Italy. So the Italian cops decide to bring in Murat and unleash him on his one-time friend.
This plot sounds simple, but instead of delivering this Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow story to you straight, Cüneyt has created a film that mixes the neckbreaking zooms of Fulci, the nightmarish landscapes of Argento, the non-stop brawls of the Hong Kong films and the psychobabble of a 1960's drug film and overfills 65 minutes of time with way too many ideas, like Jack Kirby when he was unleashed upon the Fourth World after a decade of pretty much making everything that made everyone say "Make Mine Marvel."
Even crazier is that most of the footage in this film was originally used in 1982's Arkin and Inanc joint Son Savasci (Last Warrior) but in a more linear fashion. Man, I didn't know that they knew the Dada cut-and-paste technique in Turkey, but at the rate these guys were cranking out movies, I'm not surprised by anything, like how much of this rips off The Enforcer. These guys were making a hundred movies a year. I would have seen every one.
This is a movie that somehow has cars blasting through brick walls, ninjas who can use playing cards as weapons as if they were written by Frank Miller and trained by Ricky Jay, ninjas that are also zombies, evil plants, wizards, women that turn into frog creatures, a melty faced beast that is part vulture and a climax that offers a fight between Death Warrior and ninjas that is literally one third of this movies entire running time.
A normal person would think, "Is this too much?" Arkin and Inanc decided to throw in a bad guy who wipes out his own people just to show how twisted and powerful he is (by the way, in my dreams, he is in a support group with Maizon, the one-eyed cyborg werewolf from Mad Warrior, Velvet Von Ragner from Never Too Young to Die and Alby the Cruel from Nine Deaths of the Ninja and Tarzan from Intrepidos Punks), music stolen from Psycho and that aforementioned last final battle scored with the disco version of the Jaws theme.
The editing in this film is exhausting. You may never be able to watch another movie after this because it's going to destroy your sense of pacing, your attention span and your understanding of how a speedball works.
Just stop reading all these words and watch this on YouTube and please write back to me and tell me just how much you loved this. My absolute highest recommendation.
Think Godfrey Ho is transgressive because he mashes together two films at the same time? Cüneyt Arkin laughs as he makes every movie he has ever seen all at once, like those insane kids that didn't understand that you can't play with G.I. Joe, He-Man and your wrestling figures all at the same time because they're all different sizes, but grown up and with a camera and a team of stunt people ready to die just to get all this lunacy committed to film.
This is why I love movies.
Beyond writing and co-directing this movie with Cetin Inanc, Cüneyt plays Murat, who is the Death Warrior. Years ago, he learned the ways of the ninja in Korea, after the war, and saved one of his sword brothers, who holds a grudge that this gaijin saved him so he's spent the last few decades creating a gang of other ninjas who are destroying Italy. So the Italian cops decide to bring in Murat and unleash him on his one-time friend.
This plot sounds simple, but instead of delivering this Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow story to you straight, Cüneyt has created a film that mixes the neckbreaking zooms of Fulci, the nightmarish landscapes of Argento, the non-stop brawls of the Hong Kong films and the psychobabble of a 1960's drug film and overfills 65 minutes of time with way too many ideas, like Jack Kirby when he was unleashed upon the Fourth World after a decade of pretty much making everything that made everyone say "Make Mine Marvel."
Even crazier is that most of the footage in this film was originally used in 1982's Arkin and Inanc joint Son Savasci (Last Warrior) but in a more linear fashion. Man, I didn't know that they knew the Dada cut-and-paste technique in Turkey, but at the rate these guys were cranking out movies, I'm not surprised by anything, like how much of this rips off The Enforcer. These guys were making a hundred movies a year. I would have seen every one.
This is a movie that somehow has cars blasting through brick walls, ninjas who can use playing cards as weapons as if they were written by Frank Miller and trained by Ricky Jay, ninjas that are also zombies, evil plants, wizards, women that turn into frog creatures, a melty faced beast that is part vulture and a climax that offers a fight between Death Warrior and ninjas that is literally one third of this movies entire running time.
A normal person would think, "Is this too much?" Arkin and Inanc decided to throw in a bad guy who wipes out his own people just to show how twisted and powerful he is (by the way, in my dreams, he is in a support group with Maizon, the one-eyed cyborg werewolf from Mad Warrior, Velvet Von Ragner from Never Too Young to Die and Alby the Cruel from Nine Deaths of the Ninja and Tarzan from Intrepidos Punks), music stolen from Psycho and that aforementioned last final battle scored with the disco version of the Jaws theme.
The editing in this film is exhausting. You may never be able to watch another movie after this because it's going to destroy your sense of pacing, your attention span and your understanding of how a speedball works.
Just stop reading all these words and watch this on YouTube and please write back to me and tell me just how much you loved this. My absolute highest recommendation.
One of the most absurdly entertaining movie ever
msy-20003 January 2020
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