The Man Who Saves the World (1982)

"An unknown force pulls us to itself, we go far away from Earth." - Murat

aka: Turkish Star Wars
aka: Dünyayi Kurtaran Adam
Two space heroes battle an evil wizard to save humankind.
Starring: Cüneyt Arkin, and a bunch of other Turkish people.

Link to IMDB

Surprisingly, I've never watched the movie infamously know as Turkish Star Wars, so it's time for some seriously weird sci-fi exploitation from Turkey!

The movie opens with lots of stolen Star Wars footage of the Deathstar battle, as humans battle an evil space Magician. Earth has been destroyed and humankind was scattered across the galaxy. Except that Earth is also not destroyed, and they need to protect it from the Magician. Wait, is Earth the Deathstar now? Or is the Deathstar the bad guy? It's complete chaos and nothing makes any sense, as the narrator delivers this massive slab of historical events in utter confusion.
Fortunately, this prologue has little to do with the movie. Soon the plot gets to its own unique adventure, because this is not a re-telling of Star Wars in any way.

During the space battle, two pilots (Murat and Ali) crash onto a desert planet. The planet just happens to be the home of the Magician, and soon the guys are attacked by his warriors. This is when I realized the movie was going to be silly. The fights are hilarious and exaggerated, as Ali and Murat punch, kick and jump their way to victory. Luckily, there is lots of fighting, because it's always a good time when they're beating up the sloppy looking aliens, monsters and robots.

"These are too ugly, it would be better if some girls come with mini skirts." - Ali

Space magician guy

The evil Magician wants the brains of the two men, so that he can unlock the mysteries of free will and use the power to destroy Earth. (Okay, so our planet wasn't destroyed.) Murat and Ali meet an old man that explains how this planet is just a chunk of the destroyed Earth... (Wait, so it was destroyed!?) This is so confusing!! It's like the movie is constipated and has diarrhea at the same time, but with ideas!
Ali gets imprisoned by the bad guys, so Murat heads off to find a legendary sword that can stop the Magician, but not before giving us one of the funniest training montages ever. The plot gets rather confusing because it can't decide what it's doing. The excitement survives though, with lots of wild fights, mystical shenanigans and even some romance, as Murat plans to save the Earth that may or may not have been destroyed at some undetermined time in history.

What really weakens the movie are the tedious parts, usually when someone is giving useless exposition about the religious history of everything, or pontificating about man's free will and the dangers of war.
When wacky things are happening it's great fun, so the movie has rightfully earned its cult status, but the boring religious overtones drain some of the fun out of the experience. Best viewed with a group, to keep the dull parts lively.

Be sure not to miss:
- That's the ugliest sword ever.
- The Magician feeds on the blood of children, so a surprising amount of kids die in this movie.
- The translated subtitles could be at fault for some misunderstanding, but sources seem to agree that the original script is just as confusing.

Internet review:
"The sort of thing that will have you trapped, mesmerized by the nonsensical insanity." - Beaumont

Should I watch it?
It is worth watching, just be prepared for some painful parts.

Where can I find it?
Here on YouTube.

Turkish Star Wars gets...