This movie is disappointing on so many levels, I don't know where to start.. The dialogue is cringe inducing. Characters are one dimensional. Historical accuracy is shaky, even on the simplest-to-get-right-thanks- to-google things like the Polish flag of the time or basic Ottoman court etiquette (you NEVER turn your back on the Sultan).. The battle scenes (this is, after all, a movie about a battle) are so amateurish, the end result is that the victory looks unconvincing. Acting is touch-and-go, but with the script they had, I can't put much blame on the actors.
There is also a not so subtle marketing effort trying to ride on the coattails of post 9/11 emotions. These "triggers" are carefully planted throughout the movie, no doubt with a calculation for profit: The too obvious title (September Eleven 1683 - but history books agree that the battle was decided on September 12th!), the Ottomans being called "Muslims" at every opportunity, the "defend your Christian faith" and "churches will become mosques" one-liners, the subplot about the irrational Turkish guy (with a uniquely Arabic name, of course) who betrays his old Christian friends for the sake of "jihad", Istanbul depicted as an Arab style oasis full of date palms, Karamustafa wearing his turban the Baudouin way, etc. etc.
SPOILER One last beef: Toward the end, a lone Ottoman rider who the Poles believe to be Karamustafa himself is shown charging against the Polish hussars. Instead of sending out a knight to fight him or better yet, capture him alive, the Polish commanders including King Sobieski just shoot the guy dead with their pistols. This Indiana Jones style defense makes a travesty of the chivalric customs of the period and I found it offensive to Sobieski's memory, let alone logic and history. END OF SPOILER
In conclusion this movie takes up a very interesting historical event and strangles it. It is so bad, it makes the Turkish-made 2012 movie "Conquest 1453" look like a classic in comparison! A missed opportunity.. I give it 2 stars instead of 1 for casting the ultra-charismatic Hal Yamanouchi as the Tatar commander.
There is also a not so subtle marketing effort trying to ride on the coattails of post 9/11 emotions. These "triggers" are carefully planted throughout the movie, no doubt with a calculation for profit: The too obvious title (September Eleven 1683 - but history books agree that the battle was decided on September 12th!), the Ottomans being called "Muslims" at every opportunity, the "defend your Christian faith" and "churches will become mosques" one-liners, the subplot about the irrational Turkish guy (with a uniquely Arabic name, of course) who betrays his old Christian friends for the sake of "jihad", Istanbul depicted as an Arab style oasis full of date palms, Karamustafa wearing his turban the Baudouin way, etc. etc.
SPOILER One last beef: Toward the end, a lone Ottoman rider who the Poles believe to be Karamustafa himself is shown charging against the Polish hussars. Instead of sending out a knight to fight him or better yet, capture him alive, the Polish commanders including King Sobieski just shoot the guy dead with their pistols. This Indiana Jones style defense makes a travesty of the chivalric customs of the period and I found it offensive to Sobieski's memory, let alone logic and history. END OF SPOILER
In conclusion this movie takes up a very interesting historical event and strangles it. It is so bad, it makes the Turkish-made 2012 movie "Conquest 1453" look like a classic in comparison! A missed opportunity.. I give it 2 stars instead of 1 for casting the ultra-charismatic Hal Yamanouchi as the Tatar commander.