Eski Dunyanin Ordulari (Armies of the Old World)

Armies of the Old World or Eski Dunyanin Ordulari is a short sci-fi film. Running for a special FX heavy 28 minutes or so and having a budget of mere 3000 dollars, it's incredible the movie looks that decent. Considering the fact that all scenes were rendered on a home computer makes the visuals stand out more. It's clear that the producers were set out to fulfill a certain goal in that matter, and they have achieved it for the most part.

Unfortunately movies also have to tell stories and that's were Eski Dunyanin Ordulari is most vulnerable. The whole story is told by a voice-over and while the writing is good enough, the storytelling isn't. There are almost no dialogs, and that also means there are no characters to speak of either. This gives the feeling of an audio-book being played on a visual medium with some rendered cut-scenes. And while it has a decent enough, albeit unoriginal intrigue, that's not enough to "be" a story. It's a good thing it doesn't last very long, and the plot twist comes at a point the movie is about the get boring.

Overall, this piece feels more like a tech demo than a short movie. Watch it if you want to see how Turkish cinema, whose sci-fi efforts are mostly Hollywood rip-offs (like Turkish Star Wars or Turkish Star Trek) fares on its own. If you want to see self funded-low budget-independent sci-fi movie done more "right", watch Monsters instead.