Istanbul (1989) User Reviews

If anybody's actually been able to watch it the whole way through, let me know.

[Chrissie · 3/10 · 11 April 1999]

I rented this one because I thought it might have some good visuals of the city at least. And Timothy Bottoms isn't hard on the eyes either. But it simply couldn't hold my interest. It just looks like something a couple of college students put together with a cam-corder and Daddy footing their travel bill.

This is a good Thriller whit some drawbacks

[huggormen84-124-432424 · 5/10 · 26 December 2017]

This movie has a fantastic story but the script was much better then what the screen is showing you

Twiggy and Emma is best in the movie and saves it from Bottoms lazy performance

The story is thrilling but could have ben more fast here but if the director had let the movie follow the script then this movie would ben much better

But this movie is good enough and watch it

I couldn't make it all the way through this either.

[mandzirm · 2/10 · 26 September 2000]

You can add my name to the list of viewers who, like Ms. Dunigan, could not make it all the way through this. The location shots of Istanbul were this film's only redeeming attribute. (Rent a travelogue instead.) The sound might as well have been recorded with underwater microphones, and the plot (?) is totally incomprehensible. Don't waste your time on this turkey.

A Sluggish Start And Lack Of Coherence Makes For A Somewhat Less Than Taut Melodrama.

[rsoonsa · 1/10 · 25 December 2008]

This film is a Swedish production actually shot in Istanbul, with its supporting cast either Swedish or Turkish, having an audio track in generally dubbed English, while top-billed Timothy Bottoms is American and the female lead is from England, former fashion model "Twiggy" Lawson; additionally, infirm veteran English character player Robert Morley performs in his final role, he dying not long after. These three can do little to salvage a work fettered by virtually complete imaginative vacuity. As action opens, journalist Frank Collins (Bottoms), an American journalist residing in Sweden, is being rushed by ambulance, ostensibly a victim of a heart attack, to a Swedish hospital. Although this is certainly a drastic event, it has little or no relationship to the remainder of a plot line that holds too much of this type of dire occurrence having very little subject at hand. When he returns home from the hospital, his Swedish wife (Lena Endre) informs Frank that her son "Bill", by her previous (Turkish) husband, has sent the boy a videotape. As Frank views the tape, its subject seemingly some form of family assembly, he is startled when an audio message is directed at him, containing a mysterious warning for Collins. His curiosity naturally roused by this, he decides to leave for Istanbul, in hopes of being able to ascertain the secret behind the electronic admonition to him. His wife will not allow young Bill to travel with him, so Frank takes along his daughter Mya, from his own prior marriage. While lodging at the Hotel Harem in the Turkish metropolis, a series of thoroughly unanticipated adventures occur to the pair, none of the nature that vacationers might relish. Included among these is the kidnapping of Mya, an incident that impels Collins to begin lumbering through Istanbul's streets, calling her name and bemusing local residents. He had met another resident of the hotel, an enigmatic Englishwoman, Maud (Lawson), who appears to have some intimate knowledge of Bill's family, but she is of scant assistance in his search for Mya that eventually leads to his discovery of what might never have been expected, including an illicit arms dealing ring, murder, and a Turkish government developed assassination scheme. A highly artificial exercise in suspense melodrama, this film is crippled by claustrophobic settings that are unduly emphasised by unimaginative camera-work and direction. These failings are only aggravated by a weakly created performance from a usually more able Bottoms, his ad libbing here simply serving to make an utterly addled screenplay even more perplexing.

watch only if desperate or drunk or both, or maybe if you are in Istanbul and in need of a laugh

[margavp · 1/10 · 27 October 2006]

This film is truly bizarre, with many levels of awfulness. Correct me if i am wrong, but i remember Timothy Bottoms being able to act at least a little bit. Not here, here he is john ritteresque in a very bad pantomime sitcom drama kind of a way.Lets not even get started on Twiggy, ( tho she was OK in the boyfriend ) i guess the wooden jokes have been made before..., and as for Robert Morley?, i guess he needed the money. What fun to see the same shot of a hazy mosque (the blue one maybe?) every five minutes just to remind us that we are in fact in Istanbul, where i believe you have to keep your eyes open. Oh, and don't forget to fear the burka, it often can conceal a man with kidnap on his mind... There appears to be no logic in the editing, unless it was done by an an angry monkey, and then it makes perfect sense. Finally, let us not forget the fabulous soundtrack, the title song...makes Sly's brother sound like Mozart. Watch it if you dare, if you can keep your eyes open.

Worse than "Manos, Hands of Fate"?

[norockets · 2/10 · 6 May 2005]

I visited Istanbul in the summer of 1989 and rented this film afterwards, hoping to revisit some of this incredible city. Boy, was I disappointed! Virtually no city scenery (or plot or character development, for that matter) Although, I do love the way the hotel desk clerk answers, "I'm sorry" to every question or comment that Timothy Bottoms makes. This film makes "Plan 9 From Outer Space" look like "Million Dollar Baby". I wish I could understand a mind that didn't find this movie boring - it might unlock the secret of how to not be bored in other tedious situations. Save your money and rent "Napoleon Dynamite" instead.

Continental misfire

[lor_ · 24 May 2023]

My review was written in July 1990 after watching the movie on Magnum video cassette.

"Istanbul" is a low-energy, mindless thriller made by Sweden for the international market.

Best thing here is the theme song accounting for its subtitle: "Keep Your Eyes Open".

Timothy Bottoms, soon to be back in A-level movideom in "Texasville", walks through his role as a New York Times correspondent based in Sweden who travels to Istanbul with his preteen daughter (Emma Kihlberg) on a secret mission.

Having received a videotape from the boy's father, he's seeking mysterious information about his stepson of half-Turkish descent (mama is Swede Lena Endre). Preposterous plot gimmick kills the film early on, as Bottoms on his wife's advice takes Kihlberg with him rather than his son, and the young girl is the victim of endless kidnapping attempts.

Equally unbelievable is the appearance in Istanbul of Twiggy with her own daughter. She befriends Bottoms and manipulates him as a part of a murky plot. Robert Morley is also along for a brief cameo to deliver pointless exposition about illegal arms trading.

With this unpromising material, director Mats Arehn bungles the climax which makes no sense as presented.

Acting is weak and the film is further sabotaged by variable sound recording which creates a synthesizer distortion in dialog scenes that is annoying.