After loving Killing in Istanbul, I was eager to check this sequel out. Amazingly, it’s only forty-eight minutes long. Even more incredible is the fact that half the running time is devoted to a recap of the first movie! In fact, I’m not even sure you need to see the original (although I highly recommend it) in order for this to work. If anything, it plays like one of those condensed feature length versions of old serials (which makes sense since this already draws heavily from those films, especially given the cliffhanger ending of the original).
As for the new scenes, it’s all pretty standard stuff. Our hero… uh… Superhero, goes to a remote island to save his family and friends from the clutches of master criminal, Killing. Superhero must also stop his arch nemesis from threatening the world with his deadly death ray.
The addition of a comic relief boat captain was unnecessary, but Killing remains as cool and intimidating as ever (and his ever-expanding roster of eye candy are hot too). Add that to the rapid pace, and it all makes for a zippy good time. Not to mention the Rat Pfink a Boo Boo level production values (the three-second flying scene is a hoot), which once again gives the film a DYI charm.
The most baffling thing though is the ending. It seems like it’s setting the table for another entry where Killing will swindle a princess out of her jewels, accompanied by a series of production photos and narration. Then, the narrator tells us (Spoiler) Killing and Superhero had a big fight and Killing fell to his death!!! I don’t know if the ending was filmed and lost, or if it was never filmed at all. One thing is for sure, it makes for a nutty fucking third act (of a movie that’s basically a third act to begin with).
Maybe one day someone will do a “Phantom Edit” version and edit the two films into a ninety-minute whole. (Alternatively, someone could probably make a great “serial” cut with chapter headings and cliffhanger endings.) Till then, you can still enjoy these immensely entertaining and captivatingly surreal films. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better way to spend forty-eight minutes, that’s for sure.
AKA: Kilink vs. the Flying Man. AKA: Kilink vs. Superman.
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