Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Five Minarets in New York Blu-ray Movie Review

Does the truth matter? Does making a good movie?

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 7, 2012

Nothing will ever be the same anymore.

Indeed, every minute of every day brings a new dynamic to the flow of life, and things-a-changing isn't just a result of high-profile events. The old "butterfly effect" argument seems just as valid, not only on paper but also in common sense and a quick look back at any life, when pondering the part of consequence, fate, one small action yielding an avalanche of change, whatever the case may be on the way the old world turns. But it's not the distant flapping of a wing that gets the headlines. No, it's the endgame effect, the earthquake or the tsunami or whatever immediately-evident consequence of that innocent little flap of the wing may be. And it's not the teachings or the beginnings of a plan or even that first moment when mind and seed meet and an idea for a landscape-altering plan is first conceived. No, it's the bullet that killed the Archduke or the image of planes smashing into towers that's written in the history book and burned into the mind's eye, even as the world changed long before -- in those moments when seed and brain became one, and even well before that on the fluid and flowing river of history -- bullet met flesh or television screens captured the chaos of a mid-September morning. But it's against that single backdrop that so much is placed; such events make for convenient and new starting lines in history that are easy to identify but truly little more than another checkpoint on the timeline of past, present, and future. But those fresh and easily-spotted starting and stopping points offer expedient lines of demarcation for storytelling, serving as backdrops for fictional narratives and, indeed, the seen and unseen truths of the here and now and the very real and immediately-evident. Director Mahsun Kirmizigül's Five Minarets in New York makes use of 9/11 as a backdrop to tell a story of paranoia, hate, uncertainty, prejudice, misconception, and violence. But much like the case may be with a photo in a history book or a blurb on a historical marker, the story goes much deeper, both the real and the imagined, but this film is content to simply dabble around the surface where the story may be orchestrated but not fully understood.

In the big city.

The FBI raids the home of Turkish national Hadji Gümüsh, working off a tip provided by INTERPOL. He's held in custody and his family, including his wife Maria (Gina Gershon), isn't getting any answers. Yet despite the absence of information, they firmly believe him to be innocent of any wrongdoings, even as they are given no specific charges or reasons for his arrest. Hard-liner FBI Agent Becker (Robert Patrick) is all too happy to take another Muslim off the street. The Iraq veteran turns Gümüsh over to a pair of Turkish law enforcement officers sent to the United States to bring the suspect back home, where he's better known as, or at least thought to be, the terrorist mastermind "Dajjal." But rather than a smooth operation, Fýrat (Director Mahsun Kırmızıgül) and Acar (Mustafa Sandal) find themselves in the center of international intrigue when Gümüsh is freed in a daring raid on American streets. He's taken in by Marcus (Danny Glover), an American of Islamic faith who helped orchestrate the rescue. But Fýrat and Acar remain determined to complete their mission, and as that mission turns from the routine to the impossibly challenging, secrets are unearthed that will paint a more complete picture of who these men are, what they've done, and all they plan to achieve, all while revealing the true depth of prejudice and social blindness in the years following September 11.

Broad strokes rather than nuance shape Five Minarets in New York, a technically well-made and obviously well-meaning movie that aims to depict and understand the post-9/11 landscape from several perspectives. It succeeds in the "depicting," but not so much in the "understanding." The picture paints a colorless portrayal made of raw emotions and single-mindedness on all sides. The characters are painfully flat, one-dimensional elements in a multidimensional world. The picture settles for merely portraying "good" and "bad" and "reasonable" and "unreasonable" and "blind" and "see" and "past" and "present" as unflappable elements, all linear, by-the-book, paint-by-numbers, immutable ideas and events that define characters who largely recite stereotype rather than represent more organic people defined by a lifetime and not a moment. Robert Patrick's character is the poster child for the film's failures and a convenient catch-all for the picture's ills as a stalwart walking cliché of all things hatred for the "opposition." He sees a title, a color, a nationality, a religion, and nothing more. Of course, the other characters find some breathing space beyond black-and-white formula -- if they didn't there would be no A-to-B-to-C -- but not much. Their motives, back stories, present lives, and possible futures are all saddled with drama of the most advantageous type. The movie lacks flow and purpose as a result, coming off as a dry, almost dislikable picture that dismisses complex reality for convenient cliché.

Even more disappointing, perhaps, is the way Five Minarets in New York efforts to create a broader appeal by wrenching over-the-top action scenes into the film, replete with mediocre special effects, dull slow-motion photography, and a rhythm that would seem more at home in a generic Thriller than a picture striving for deeper drama and political and thematic muscle. The narrative never really gels, the characters never come together all that well inside of it, and the picture comes off as something of a work in progress rather than a finished product. There's no cohesion to the movie, and it plays choppily at best as it veers from strenuous action to intimate character scenes. Such Hollywood-like action seems to work better in Tom Clancy movies, by which the major shootout early in the film seems influenced. The picture meshes a Turkish and American cast to some degree of satisfaction. Of course, the gross underdevelopment hinders any kind of evident cohesion. Patrick mumbles through his phony-tough book of hate-filled cliché, Danny Glover sleepwalks through a terribly underdeveloped character, and Gina Gershon seems content to merely sit around, smile, and watch the movie pass her by. The film's true Turkish leads enjoy a bit more in the way of meaningful dramatic interaction, and it almost seems the American actors are in the movie to lend it some "street cred," some names and faces to plop on the poster. They certainly seem like afterthoughts, but it's not as if the movie stands all that well on its own, even reducing them to secondary and tertiary parts made of a single strand of dramatic cloth. And when the movie reaches its closing shots, a literal crescendo of gross over-dramatization, the picture cements its standing as an overplayed, cliché-happy ramble that just never finds a stride even as it traverses a lofty path of purpose.

Five Minarets in New York Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Five Minarets in New York features a serviceable but occasionally underwhelming 1080p transfer. The picture often appears out of focus; if it's not the entire scene, it's portions of the frame, sometimes off to the sides, sometimes right in the middle. That goes from distractingly soft to downright blurry, and many scenes fall victim. On the plus side, the image can also be razor-sharp, so much so that the contrast is often startling, the two opposing visuals sometimes appearing in back-to-back shots. When it's on, detail impresses mightily. Facial lines are incredibly crisp, and the transfer captures both the smoother New York exteriors as well as the rougher Turkish terrains with equal precision and attention to detail. Colors are vibrant, even when the image takes on a very ghastly, washed-out tone. Gümüsh's prison jump suit, for example, offers a brilliant orange shading, and many other, less vibrant hues enjoy that same precision. Blacks can be a little washed out, and flesh tones often favor a somewhat pale look to them. Banding, blocky backgrounds, and other no-nos are largely absent. The out-of-focus and soft shots are a real downer, a major drawback to an otherwise solid transfer.

Five Minarets in New York Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Five Minarets in New York features a balanced and satisfying Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The presentation is constantly immersive and filling, making use of the entire sound stage to naturally encircle the listening audience in any number of sonic elements, from sharp religious chanting to heavy gunfire. The former is defined by a deep, steady rhythm and strong bass, the latter by a sense of sonic danger as bullets tear through every corner of the soundstage. Those action scenes feature potent explosions, flying debris -- including an overturned vehicle that skids through the middle of the stage -- and a quality sense of aural chaos that might leave some ducking for cover behind the couch, only to be fired upon by the rear speakers. Ambience impresses both in the big-city exteriors and smaller Turkish locales, where passing cars, pedestrians, and natural exterior atmospherics fill the listening area. Dialogue is balanced and remains in the center channel, save for those moments in more cavernous locales where the spoken word naturally bounces around the listening area. Millennium's soundtrack does the movie proud.

Five Minarets in New York Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements specific to Five Minarets in New York are included; only trailers for other Millennium films are to be found on this disc.

Five Minarets in New York Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Five Minarets in New York is a disappointing ride down cliché lane. An admirable effort and an evident purpose are lost under grossly stereotyped characters, a choppy narrative, and a ridiculously over-the-top ending, not in what happens but in the way the movie stylistically handles it. What should have been an involved Thriller with deep characters and deeper thinking is instead a superficial and unfocused experience that will leave audiences wanting a superior movie of the difficult and prejudicial post-9/11 landscape. Millennium Entertainment's Blu-ray release of Five Minarets in New York features underwhelming video, solid audio, and no supplements. Rent it or skip it.