Now Turkish cinema really seems to going somewhere as we're seeing much bigger budget movies and directors trying different topics bravely.
Well, I'm writing this just after watching this thriller, am I satisfied "yes pretty much", will I remember the movie one week later "I don't think so"...
Pars: Kiraz operasyonu (Operation Cherry) is about (almost)cliché drug trafficking and mafia-police story.
We've got a young police sergeant(Atilla) working as leader of narcotic-team Pars (this is actually the name of extinct Anotolian Panthera) they're giving hard time to drug dealers who are mainly using Turkey as a bridge to Europe for drug trafficking but also trying to build a local market for themselves as building schools as charity(pretty lame way to do this you would think, but the movie make us to remember that an actual drug dealer build schools as a charity in Istanbul). The drug dealers' leader is also Atilla's parents killer but he's also got some other enemies.
One nice aspect of the movie is that it's versatility and it tells different stories tied each other but also leading new stories. I must tell this is also happened to be the weak point of the movie, as many of other examples, if you try to tell many thing at the same time some of the things are either misunderstood or not understood at all. None of the stories goes deep enough and at many times it feels as if we're watching a serial movies' first part (like The Matrix) but no other version is announced so far.
I think main actor (Mehmet Kurtulus) is promising, but I wish he could speak Turkish more clearly (he was born and grown up in Germany). I can honestly say that I barely understood what he said in the movie. Supporting actors and actresses are good too but again I wish we could get chance to know more about their characters as the movie goes on, despite it's long runtime still the director (Osman Sinav) had to use direct conversations to tell some details about characters..
And there are also some scenes seem to be cut during the film editing and left stub story parts, one of the examples is when Attilla learns that his most loved brother is death and he goes to morgue, this happens so suddenly and contradicts with rest of the movie's bold and realistic story telling theme.
And here we come to special effects and action scenes. I think, if anyone who's not Turkish, watches "Pars: Kiraz operasyonu" probably would think this is B class movie (maybe it really is ?) but for Turkish cinema goers no Tukish movie has portrayed this kind of police story (their offices, operations etc. -some of the scenes seem to be shot in real police premises like MOBESE(Istanbul video surveillance center)) and I don't remember any car chase scene in any other Turkish movie like this one. And again this aspect of the movie can also be the point of criticism as it sometimes really looks like a Hollywood police-mafia flick...
The movie has got a long runtime, but at no point I felt bored. Actually it was pretty much entertaining too. I liked that it gives some strong messages about drug dealing and it's horrible background and what it does to people (again I wish that messages were not that obvious and were told by cinematography not by words) etc.
As a last word, I hope it gets good box office and Osman Sinav gets chance to direct second part of the Pars: Kiraz operasyonu - Best Turkish Action Movie, but not necessarily the Best Action movie :)
Well, I'm writing this just after watching this thriller, am I satisfied "yes pretty much", will I remember the movie one week later "I don't think so"...
Pars: Kiraz operasyonu (Operation Cherry) is about (almost)cliché drug trafficking and mafia-police story.
We've got a young police sergeant(Atilla) working as leader of narcotic-team Pars (this is actually the name of extinct Anotolian Panthera) they're giving hard time to drug dealers who are mainly using Turkey as a bridge to Europe for drug trafficking but also trying to build a local market for themselves as building schools as charity(pretty lame way to do this you would think, but the movie make us to remember that an actual drug dealer build schools as a charity in Istanbul). The drug dealers' leader is also Atilla's parents killer but he's also got some other enemies.
One nice aspect of the movie is that it's versatility and it tells different stories tied each other but also leading new stories. I must tell this is also happened to be the weak point of the movie, as many of other examples, if you try to tell many thing at the same time some of the things are either misunderstood or not understood at all. None of the stories goes deep enough and at many times it feels as if we're watching a serial movies' first part (like The Matrix) but no other version is announced so far.
I think main actor (Mehmet Kurtulus) is promising, but I wish he could speak Turkish more clearly (he was born and grown up in Germany). I can honestly say that I barely understood what he said in the movie. Supporting actors and actresses are good too but again I wish we could get chance to know more about their characters as the movie goes on, despite it's long runtime still the director (Osman Sinav) had to use direct conversations to tell some details about characters..
And there are also some scenes seem to be cut during the film editing and left stub story parts, one of the examples is when Attilla learns that his most loved brother is death and he goes to morgue, this happens so suddenly and contradicts with rest of the movie's bold and realistic story telling theme.
And here we come to special effects and action scenes. I think, if anyone who's not Turkish, watches "Pars: Kiraz operasyonu" probably would think this is B class movie (maybe it really is ?) but for Turkish cinema goers no Tukish movie has portrayed this kind of police story (their offices, operations etc. -some of the scenes seem to be shot in real police premises like MOBESE(Istanbul video surveillance center)) and I don't remember any car chase scene in any other Turkish movie like this one. And again this aspect of the movie can also be the point of criticism as it sometimes really looks like a Hollywood police-mafia flick...
The movie has got a long runtime, but at no point I felt bored. Actually it was pretty much entertaining too. I liked that it gives some strong messages about drug dealing and it's horrible background and what it does to people (again I wish that messages were not that obvious and were told by cinematography not by words) etc.
As a last word, I hope it gets good box office and Osman Sinav gets chance to direct second part of the Pars: Kiraz operasyonu - Best Turkish Action Movie, but not necessarily the Best Action movie :)