Baskin (The Raid) is a crime-drama of the acclaimed Turkish director Atif Yilmaz (Kibar Feyzo, Ne Olacak Simdi, Sekerpare, Degirmen). As a weak attempt comparing to the directors later output, it sticks out like a sore thumb in Yilmaz's impressive resume.
The movie is told in two main segments. The first one introduces us the protagonist, Murat (Cüneyt Arkin), an important name of the Istanbul crime scene and narrates how he deals with the rising threat of the newly appointed, hard-line police inspector Sahin (Ekrem Bora). After managing to evade his adversary for a long time, Murat decides to pull off one last job before giving up crime for good, for the sake of his pregnant wife Nilgun (Necla Nazir) and agrees to partake in a drug deal. When the drug deal which has already gone awry was raided by the police, Murat is forced to leave the town with his wife. Tragically, during their escape his wife dies in childbirth. Murat gives the child to Sahin while he got captured.
The second part opens years later, when Murat is released from prison and focuses on how he tries to find repentance for his acts in the past and to build a relation with his estranged son, who was raised with the belief that Sahin is his biological father. Little did he know that Sahin moved up on the career ladder and became a target for the angry criminals seeking revenge. Later, Murat's son will be caught in the middle of these events and he will be trying to keep him out of the harm's ways.
The film starts promisingly with setting two heavy-weights of Turkish cinema, Arkin and Bora, against each other as arch-rivals but falls short of creating a dramatic tension between them. The dynamics between Arkin and his wife Nazir do not work smoothly either, due to the artificialness which emanate from the cheesy dialogues. Dialogue writing is weak throughout the movie; especially the dialogues in the second part of the movie are totally cringe-worthy.
Action scenes which lack any kind of conviction do not help the film, either. Arkin is once again, indestructible on a level only equal to a mythic hero. The scenes in which he get shot at for multiple times, get beaten up, stabbed and injured but somehow manage to remain alive, quickly dissolves any tension the film raises and puts the movie deep in the schlock territory.
As for the performances, Bora is solid as usual and Arkin once again proves that he has got the range to play relatively complex characters but the script does not provide them much to do. The supporting cast (Kadir Savun, Orcun Sonat) delivers as well, but the real surprise and the historical significance of this otherwise forgettable movie is the blink-and-you'll miss it appearance of a very young Ilyas Salman who would eventually become a superstar of Turkish cinema. This is his first (or second) movie and first collaboration with Yilmaz. One can only speculate if Yilmaz noticed his talent while directing him in this tiny part and later decided to give him significant roles in classics Kibar Feyzo, Dolap Beygiri and Sekerpare.
4/10.
The movie is told in two main segments. The first one introduces us the protagonist, Murat (Cüneyt Arkin), an important name of the Istanbul crime scene and narrates how he deals with the rising threat of the newly appointed, hard-line police inspector Sahin (Ekrem Bora). After managing to evade his adversary for a long time, Murat decides to pull off one last job before giving up crime for good, for the sake of his pregnant wife Nilgun (Necla Nazir) and agrees to partake in a drug deal. When the drug deal which has already gone awry was raided by the police, Murat is forced to leave the town with his wife. Tragically, during their escape his wife dies in childbirth. Murat gives the child to Sahin while he got captured.
The second part opens years later, when Murat is released from prison and focuses on how he tries to find repentance for his acts in the past and to build a relation with his estranged son, who was raised with the belief that Sahin is his biological father. Little did he know that Sahin moved up on the career ladder and became a target for the angry criminals seeking revenge. Later, Murat's son will be caught in the middle of these events and he will be trying to keep him out of the harm's ways.
The film starts promisingly with setting two heavy-weights of Turkish cinema, Arkin and Bora, against each other as arch-rivals but falls short of creating a dramatic tension between them. The dynamics between Arkin and his wife Nazir do not work smoothly either, due to the artificialness which emanate from the cheesy dialogues. Dialogue writing is weak throughout the movie; especially the dialogues in the second part of the movie are totally cringe-worthy.
Action scenes which lack any kind of conviction do not help the film, either. Arkin is once again, indestructible on a level only equal to a mythic hero. The scenes in which he get shot at for multiple times, get beaten up, stabbed and injured but somehow manage to remain alive, quickly dissolves any tension the film raises and puts the movie deep in the schlock territory.
As for the performances, Bora is solid as usual and Arkin once again proves that he has got the range to play relatively complex characters but the script does not provide them much to do. The supporting cast (Kadir Savun, Orcun Sonat) delivers as well, but the real surprise and the historical significance of this otherwise forgettable movie is the blink-and-you'll miss it appearance of a very young Ilyas Salman who would eventually become a superstar of Turkish cinema. This is his first (or second) movie and first collaboration with Yilmaz. One can only speculate if Yilmaz noticed his talent while directing him in this tiny part and later decided to give him significant roles in classics Kibar Feyzo, Dolap Beygiri and Sekerpare.
4/10.
