Cuneyt Arkin as Battal Gazi
Battal Gazi is a series of Turkish historical epic action films starring Cüneyt Arkın and Very Loosely Based on a True Story; the myth of Battal Gazi
, a Muslim warrior, saint, and historical figure based in the 8th century Anatolian kingdom. These movies are often considered classics in Turkish cinema, and are considered groundbreaking at the time, also serving as the Star-Making Role of it's key actor, Cuneyt Arkin.
Four "key" installments are made, all starring Arkin as Battal Gazi, with multiple unofficial spin-offs following suit:
- Battal Gazi Destanı [Battal Ghazi Legend]: The first film of the series to star Arkin, Battal Gazi details the story of Gazi's childhood, witnessing the death of his father to Byzantine invaders led by Emperor Leon of Byzantium, and training himself to someday reclaim the throne. However, he had to contend with Leon's best knight, Hammer.
- Savulun Battal Gazi Geliyor [Look Out, Here Comes Battal Gazi!]: A Continuity Reboot of the series, the second film Retcon events of the first, with Battal Gazi's father Hussein Gazi (also played by Arkin) surviving the invasion of Christian crusaders, this time led by the sinister Black Knight Igor Yanos, and his legion of followers, and Battal Gazi had to embark on a daring rescue mission to save his father.
- Battal Gazi'nin Intikami [Battal Gazi's Revenge]: Battal Gazi had reclaimed his throne and had settled down with his wife Angela and his son Alim. But an old enemy of Battal Gazi, the warlord Sövalye Andrea, decides to invade, had Battal Gazi imprisoned, and steals his son from him. Years later, Battal Gazi will enact his revenge.
- Battal Gazi'nin Oglu [The Son of Battal Gazi]: In the fourth and last installment starring Cuneyt Arkin as Battal Gazi, this time it's a Spin-Offspring where Cuneyt Arkin plays his own son. The legendary warrior turned king, Battal Gazi, is killed by a Christian warlord named Antuan, and it's up to Battal Gazi's son to avenge his father.
Battal Gazi Destanı contains examples of:
Battal Gazi is about to stab you.
- Affably Evil: Emperor Leon is the main villain of the picture, but he's a gentleman with a polite attitude.
- Age Cut: To depict Battal Gazi growing up from a child to an adult after a Time Skip.
- Big Bad: Emperor Leon leads the Byzantine invaders into taking over the Anatolian kingdom.
- Blackface: When Battal Gazi infiltrates Leon's hideout disguised as an Indian emissary.
- Carry a Big Stick: Battal Gazi and the Byzantine knight gets to fight each other with spiked maces while on horseback, the loser being the first to be knocked off their mounts. Battal Gazi wins, of course.
- Climbing Climax: Battal Gazi attempts to infiltrate Leon's hideout, on top of the fortress, by climbing his way up a rope, while dodging arrows from Leon's soldiers. A few soldiers then grabs the tail end of the rope and shakes it repeatedly in an attempt to force Battal Gazi to fall to his death, but Hammer comes to the rescue in time.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Battal Gazi is subjected to being beaten and given A Taste of the Lash in the prison. All the reason to show off Cuneyt Arkin's abs, of course.
- Coup de Grâce: Performed by Battal Gazi on Leon in the final battle; with Leon mortally wounded, Battal Gazi then delivers a Pre-Mortem One-Liner for his father, and plunged his sword downwards into Leon.
- Defeat Means Respect: Hammer, the champion of the Byzantine Knights, after losing a fair duel to Battal Gazi. Not only did he admit defeat gracefully, but he even performs a Heel–Face Turn to support Battal Gazi and subsequently converts himself to becoming a Muslim!
- Duel to the Death: Appropriately enough, the Final Battle is a one-on-one confrontation between Battal Gazi and Leon, without any of their supporters interfering. With Battal Gazi emerging the winner and avenging his father.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- The first movie is set in a different continuity altogether compared to the sequels, depicting Battal Gazi as a prince who lost his father during his childhood. Savulun Battal Gazi Geliyor would instead depict a grown-up Battal Gazi kicking ass with his still-alive father side-by-side, and the third and fourth films follows where the second left off.
- Battal Gazi's Iconic Outfit, his white uniform with a red sash prominently featured in the sequels, is absent in this one.
- The Christian invaders in this one are also depicted as knights clad in armour, instead of the black hooded outfits with red crosses in the sequels (and several Cuneyt Arkin movies with similar themes, like Lion Man and Fearless Warrior)
- Heel–Face Turn: Hammer, although he isn't really a villain other than being a warrior opposing Battal Gazi.
- "Hey, You!" Haymaker: Battal Gazi knocks out a random guard this way while infiltration the palace taken over by Emperor Leon.
- Hiding in a Hijab: Princess Elanora, shortly after breaking Battal Gazi out of the Byzantine prison, is depicted in this attire.
- Horseback Heroism: Battal Gazi, besides being a trained warrior, is also a skilled horse-rider, as shown in the horse race and also in the next three films.
- Human Pincushion: Hussein Gazi right at the start of the film, from the Byzantine archers. He made it as far as the palace as an Almost Dead Guy before succumbing.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Battal Gazi, when it comes to using arrows. He can fire more than three arrows all at once, and all his arrows will find their mark. Applies in this movie, and also Geliyor and Intikami.
- La Résistance: Battal Gazi isn't alone for the final battle, with a legion of resistance fighters opposing Emperor Leon, whose ranks includes Hammer post Heel–Face Turn, who assists in battling Leon's soldiers.
- Master Swordsman: In every film, Battal Gazi is shown to be a devil with a sword, who can take plenty of names easily.
- A Minor Kidroduction: For much of the film's first fifteen minutes, Battal Gazi is shown as a child training himself to be a fighter to avenge his father's death in the hands of the Byzantine invaders.
- Multishot: Battal Gazi constantly displays this skill in all the movies, including skewering four apples with four arrows launched all at once (those apples are placed at least two meters apart by the way) and taking down a whole row of enemies with a single shot from his bow.
- One-Man Army: Battal Gazi can take on entire armies in every one of those films, with an insanely high kill-tally in his hands after each battle.
- Purple Is Powerful: Battal Gazi, the moment he made himself known to Emperor Leon, is clad in a purple shirt while kicking ass. This is the exact same attire he wears when killing Leon in the finale.
- Railing Kill: In the palace infiltration, Battal Gazi flips an enemy soldier off a railing.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Emperor Leon of the Byzantine Empire is a far better swordsman and fighter than any of his soldiers.
- Shirtless Captives: Battal Gazi, while in the Byzantine prison.
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Suspiciously Similar Song: The soundtrack from the movie is lifted from El Cid. - Sword Fight: Most of the action scenes of this film, and also the next three.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Battal Gazi gets to wrestle shirtless more than once.
- Worthy Opponent: Hammer and Battal Gazi considers each other to be equals, even before their penultimate duel halfway through.
- You Killed My Father: Battal Gazi opposes the Byzantine Emperor, Leon, because of Hussein Gazi's death by Leon's soldiers.
Savulun Battal Gazi Geliyor contains examples of:
Battal Gazi is about to arrow you.
- Alternate Continuity: The second Battal Gazi movie seems to be a soft reboot of the first, set in a whole new timeline; not only did Battal Gazi's father Hussein survive the film and gets to kick ass alongside his son, but Batal Gazi is depicted as having a sister named Maria, who doesn't exist in the first movie at all!
- Annoying Arrows: Hussein and Battal Gazi gets hit by arrows fired by Christian archers, but can continue kicking ass without slowing down.
- Beat Them at Their Own Game: Battal Gazi's battle against Igor's personal followers have him using their own weapons.
- Big Bad: Lord Igor Yanos leads the invaders, and is responsible for capturing the Anatolian kingdom as well as the death of Battal Gazi's sister.
- Big Badass Battle Sequence: The film climaxes with Hussein and Battal Gazi leading the La Résistance in a Storming the Castle sequence to defeat Igor's army.
- Chain Pain: After escaping from Igor's dungeon, the unarmed Hussein uses his cuffs and chains to beat up enemy guards.
- Dirty Coward: Igor is all high-and-mighty when his personal bodyguards and soldiers are flanking his side, but when things go south in the final battle he quickly turns tail and flees.
- Driven to Suicide: Maria, moments after being rescued by Battal Gazi, stabs herself out of shame of being gang-raped by Igor's men.
- Dual Wielding: Some of the villains uses two weapons at the same time, including Marcos (twin axes) and Aleksi (twin circular blades).
- Eyepatch of Power: Battal Gazi wears an eyepatch with his hat as part of his disguise while infiltrating Igor's palace as a Christian Emmisary.
- Eye Scream: Battal Gazi, prior to the third act, ends up being blinded by scorpions as part of his Cold-Blooded Torture montage. He spends much of the film recovering, and thankfully heals in time for the final battle.
- Good Hair, Evil Hair: Hussein Gazi has an impressive mob of facial hair, including a beard and 'stache, while the Big Bad Igor Yanos has a wicked-looking goatee. Most of Igor's lieutenants have facial hair as well, including Dimitrios, Chen Yu, Jan the Viking, Anton and Marcos.
- Groin Attack: Delivered In. Spades, as the appropriate Karmic Death of Igor's minions. Well, they raped Battal Gazi's sister and Hussein Gazi's daughter...
- Hoist by His Own Petard: All of Igor's Mook Lieutenant followers ends up being killed by their own weapons. Through the dick.
- Human Pincushion: Oba, the personal archer of Lord Igor, ends up having a dozen arrows fired by Battal Gazi, nailing him into a tree. For good measure, Battal Gazi sets the last arrow on fire, and finish his opponent off by shooting the crotch.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
- Jan the Viking gets impaled through the testicles.
- Chen Yu, at the end of his fight against Battal Gazi, ends up being flung into a spike. He's the only notable villain who didn't get killed by a Groin Attack.
- In a Single Bound: Battal Gazi displays a lot of skills in jumping great heights and distances, notably when avoiding arrows from enemy archers.
- In the Hood: The Christian invaders are often depicted in black hoods, starting from this film onward as well as the next two.
- It's Personal: The death of Maria, after being gang-raped by Igor's followers, had Battal and Hussein Gazi desiring to have Igor and his personal lieutenants killed off one by one.
- Karmic Death: Igor and his lieutenants, after killing everyone in the palace, decide to have Maria gang-raped while Hussein Gazi is Forced to Watch the horrors inflicted on his own daughter. Isn't there a saying, "a genitalia for a genitalia"?
- Jan the Viking, after trying to impale Battal Gazi unsuccessfully, ends up having his own trident shoved through his nuts.
- Marcos, getting mortally injured by Battal Gazi, had his own ax flung into his nuts.
- Oba the archer, having his bow taken by Battal Gazi, ends up having multiple of his own arrows skewering him to death, the last flaming arrow which ends up in his nuts.
- Anton, after being subdued by Battal Gazi, can only watch in horror as Battal Gazi picks up his two-headed mace and using it to crush his nuts.
- Dimitrios and Battal Gazi fought each other to a standstill in a Knife Fight, culminating in Battal Gazi stabbing his opponent through the nuts with his own keris.
- Aleksi after realizing he's no match for Battal Gazi, throws his circular blades at the latter. Battal Gazi catches it, and shoved both blades through his enemy's nuts.
- Igor, mortally wounded and defeated by Hussein and Battal Gazi, had Hussein Gazi delivering his own Coup de Grâce, by stomping his boot on the villain's crotch repeatedly, crushing his nuts.
- Made of Iron: Hussein Gazi keeps on fighting even after being shot by arrows, pinned down by two spears and being subjected to Cold-Blooded Torture in a Christian prison, whereupon being freed by his son he immediately grabs a sword and continues taking names!
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Battal Gazi's attempt to disguise himself as a Christian emissary and infiltrate Igor's ranks include a hat, an eye-patch, and... that's it. He didn't even change his clothing. And somehow, it works!
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: After capturing Hussein Gazi's fortress and killing most of the occupants, Igor then ordered his Mook Lieutenant officers to gang-rape Maria just For the Evulz.
- Scary Scorpions: Battal Gazi is subjected to being tortured by Igor's soldiers via having scorpions released on his face.
- Sphere Factor: Battal Gazi infiltrates Igor's desert mine by rolling in a barrel. Said barrel comes in handy as an impromptu arrow shield.
- Tightrope Walking: In the final battle, Igor tries to flee after the battle goes south, and to catch up with him, Battal Gazi had to take a shortcut on a rope between two towers. Made complicated by Igor's archers firing burning arrows at Battal Gazi, but Battal Gazi made it.
- Title Drop: Near the end of the film, Battal Gazi shouts the film's title, "Savulun Battal Gazi Geliyor!" (Look Out, Here Comes Battal Gazi!) as he jumped into a horde of enemy soldiers, right before killing every one of them.
- Unwilling Suspension: Hussein and Battal Gazi are subjected to being hung from the castle parapets after being captures by Igor's soldiers.
- Weapon Specialization: For Lord Igor Yanos' legion of Mook Lieutenant officers, each of them had their own preferred weapon. Marcos wields twin axes; Oba is an archer; Anton uses a huge, two-headed mace; Aleksi uses twin circular blades; Chen Yu prefers fists and kicks; and Dimitros has a keris and a cross-belt full of throwing knives.
Battal Gazi'nin Intikami contains examples of:
Battal Gazi is about to whack you.
- An Arm and a Leg: During their first fight, Battal Gazi hacks off Sövalye Andrea's arm. The villain is shown having a Hook Hand for the rest of the film.
- Badass Family: By the end of the film, Battal and Alim Gazi are kicking ass together, taking names side-by-side.
- Big Bad: Sövalye Andrea leads the Christian invaders into conquering Battal Gazi's home, killing Battal Gazi's wife and stealing his son from him.
- Big Damn Reunion: At the end of the film, when Alim finally remembers his roots as the son of a legendary Muslim warrior, and embraces his true father, Battal Gazi.
- Burn the Witch!: The fate of Angela Gazi, Battal Gazi's wife, being sentenced to being burned at a stake while Battal Gazi is Forced to Watch.
- Deprogram: This is how Battal Gazi managed to undo the brainwashing Sövalye inflicted on his son in their penultimate battle. Moments before he can strike his father down, a phrase triggers part of Alim's childhood memory.
- Despair Event Horizon: Battal Gazi reaches this state when, from his prison dungeon, he sees his son Alim embracing Christianity, performing the cross symbol, and accepting Sövalye as his new father.
- Eyes Are Mental: The final battle between Battal Gazi and the masked warrior had Battal Gazi about to strike down his opponent, but then he caught a glimpse of the warrior's eyes, and quickly recognized those to be of Alim, his long-lost son.
- Fake-Out Opening: The film opens with Battal Gazi fighting an unseen assailant, and in the peak of battle, the camera pans out... to reveal Battal Gazi sparring with his son, Alim. He's in the middle of a family picnic.
- This however serves as a subtle Foreshadowing of Battal Gazi being tricked into fighting Alim Gazi at the end of the film.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: Combined with Hoist by His Own Petard, in the final battle Sövalye attempts to use his Hook Hand to ambush Battal Gazi, only to have the hero forcing the hook through his own throat and ripping it out.
- Improbable Infant Survival: Played straight for Battal Gazi's son, Alim, who survives and grows up into adulthood, but averted for the villagers when Christian invaders massacre every men, women and child in it. Complete with graphic close-up shots of children killed by the Christians.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Invoked in the final duel, when Battal Gazi is forced to fight his son Alim Gazi.
- Malevolent Masked Men: In the final battle, Battal Gazi is forced to fight Sövalye Andrea's best fighter, a warrior in a metal mask... which turns out to be Alim.
- Men of Sherwood: Unlike the Redshirt Army of La Résistance warriors seen in the previous movies, in this one Battal Gazi is assisted by an elite team of warriors who are capable of kicking plenty of ass, even playing a part in saving Battal Gazi from the dungeon.
- Mind Control: Sövalye Andrea performs this on Alim through the use of a potion, forcing the boy to forget his father Battal Gazi.
- Raised by Rival: Sövalye, after defeating Battal Gazi and executing Battal Gazi's wife, decide to claim Battal Gazi's son Alim and raise the boy for himself to prove his superiority over Battal Gazi.
- Thought You Were Dead: This is Battal Gazi's reaction towards the revelation of Alim's fate.
- Time Skip: Battal Gazi spends a considerable amount of time in prison and working in Sövalye Andrea's mines, long enough for Alim to grow up into an adult.
- Throw a Barrel at It: Used as means to a declaration of war, towards Sövalye. The barrels contains the corpses of Christian soldiers killed by Battal Gazi and members of the La Résistance, the sergeant having a written note from Battal Gazi pinned on his corpse.
- Working on the Chain Gang: After being subject to imprisonment and failing to escape, Battal Gazi ends up working in mines together with numerous captives, with Sövalye's soldiers ready to give prisoners who slacked off A Taste of the Lash.
Battal Gazi'nin Oglu contains examples of:
Battal Gazi's son is... not this time, too busy kicking ass.
- Big Bad: Antuan, who leads a new army of Christians in conquering Anatolia.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Antuan's fate after being pushed into a spiked pit by Battal Gazi Jr.
- Moses in the Bullrushes: Battal Gazi Jr. ends up being adopted by an elderly couple after being set adrift down a basket through a lake to prevent Antuan's soldiers from destroying the Gazi bloodline.
- Retcon: Battal Gazi's son is no longer called Alim, but simply Battal Gazi Jr. And he's played by Cuneyt Arkin, who plays Battal Gazi in the other three films as well as the start of this one.
- Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Battal Gazi, protagonist of the first three films, died rather suddenly early in this one.
- Unwilling Suspension: Antuan subjects his prisoners, including Battal Gazi Jr., to being hung above a pit of spikes, threatening to have them dropped one at a time.
- Wacky Wayside Tribe: The bucaneers that menace Battal Gazi Jr. and the La Résistance doesn't have anything to do with the Christian invaders. They're just in the movie to add another bunch of fight scenes in the third act, before getting defeated.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The Mouse being Alim Gazi, Battal Gazi's other son from the previous film. He doesn't show up in any way, or even mentioned by the characters at all.
- You Killed My Father
