Mongol Reviews

[Highly rated reviewer]

Its a docudrama without the voice over

This really frustrated me. I saw it before the reviews came out, so I had no preconceptions.

The problem with it, is that is is empty... the set pieces are grand but.. there is nothing linking them.. Genkis' tale is one of apparent birthright arrogance... there is no insight into how he raised his massive armies... they just appear with him the leader, he doesn't really proving his worth on screen.

The love story feels like it was written by a monk who may have once had a prepubescent romance and the performances are un-emotive (which no reviews picked up on).

Don't believe the hype the only thing this managed to do blow a lot of russian culture incentive bucks. The only reason I believe it had award nominations was to fill a quota to assist east-west relations.

It's the kind of thing you should expect to see in a docu-drama. I was half expecting the start of every episodic chapter to have a beardy historian pop up ,and run me through a documentary style CGI family tree and tactical war strategy.

I gave it two stars because it's better than Nightwatch...

An amazing watch!

I don't really watch foreign films much because I find reading subtitles rather tedious! BUT after a few minutes into the film I completely forgot that I was reading the subtitles. The film is by no means perfect: there are several gaps in the film that spoil this film that could so easily have been a masterpiece: for example, the rather unromantic,clumsy relationship between him and Borte, his wife:the other gap was when he goes off after being with his family (after Borte saves him from slavery) and the next thing we see is him fronting a massive army. We don't get to see how he managed to get together that army. Personally,I feel that this gap was a huge mistake, because if this is indeed the first of several movies to come (I wasn't aware of that when I saw it, so didn't feel it was the introduction of more to come, but rather a long story compacted into one movie)the viewer needs to understand the rise of the Khan, because that will explain so much about what motivated and ultimately molded the legendary Genghis Khan. But all that said, I thought the movie was beautifully cast, with excellent performances from all concerned. Temudgin from a kid to an adult had a certain confidence and fearlessness about him which I thought was brilliant, it wasn't so much what he said or did, it was the manner he carried himself, how self aware he was of himself and the decisions he felt he had to make. So I don't agree with what a previous reviewers said, that he came across with an arrogant right to inherit his father's throne of Khan: I did not think that was the case at all. It's really refreshing to see the humane part of a man that was considered a ruthless brute.He went on to unite the Mongols and conquer half the world so there had to have been redeeming qualities about this leader,and this movie goes a long way to exploring that.But it's a shame about the gaps because I would've been quite happy to sit through more time watching this movie, because it was simply a really absorbing watch!

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[Highly rated reviewer]

A taste of things to come...

From director Sergei Bodrov comes this semi-fictional telling of the early life of Ghengis Khan. The film aims high, attempting epic style story-telling, but doesn't quite achieve what it ambitiously aims for. That is not to say the film is not good, it is a damned fine film. However it feels too much like a set-up for later films that mean that it cannot be properly appreciated as a solo film.

The story is set in the early years of Khan's life, drawn upon from legends and myth surrounding the early life of the feared, and fearsome leader. Here he is known as Temudgin, born into a Mongol clan, and dragged through turmoil, beytrayal, and slavery, each event changing the will of the born leader and determining the laws and rules he will introduce to unite the different tribes of the Mongol nation, and create a formidable force that would eventually conquer half the known world. As these early years are not recorded, what the film draws on is the folklore of the period and builds a convincing portrait of what may the true basis of the legend, much in the same way that the King Arthur film did when it drew upon the Roman soldier myth. Some stunning set pieces help keep the audience hooked, and the tale itself is a strong on. Unfortunately it does jump quite a bit, and many events are simply skimmed over in a race to get to the big-battle-scene when he finally becomes Ghengis Khan. At this point the story would get really stunning, but we must wait for the proposed second and third films to hear that aspect of the tale of his life.

That is the biggest problem with this film, it is just a taster of what is to come, and just as it really finds its mark, it is over. Nontheless it is still a stunning film to watch, and showcases the talents of yet another epic scale Russian director.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Worth forking out for

Really good epic film. As it has been mentioned though, it's just a set-up for the next films and not really the complete tale in itself.

If you're into Crouching Tiger, Hero or House of Flying Daggers etc this is a film for you. The cinematography is second to none and characters are very convincing.

This is a difficult story to tell because it spans a large amount of time, so you find yourself being skipped forward 5 years or so at a time. The creators must have had some difficult decisions to make when deciding what to include whilst minimising the length of the film in total. Not quite as ass-numbing as some epics I could name but it's close!

Def worth a watch if you don't mind the subtitles.

mongol

ok cant say much about this one

[Highly rated reviewer]

Let down

As someone who has studied the man, un-like a previous review, it was a let down, he is either a prisoner, or a prisoner, then suddenly has a army which in the final battle you don't see his military gensis or how he came to have this army it is a big let down, never have ben so bored at the cinema, this isn't a good movie, but it could of been if they looked abit more into his life and gave a a glimspe of how this man took a nation of separte tribes and brought them under one banner, let alone taking on and winning against the Chinese, never mind.............

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[Highly rated reviewer]

The best film I've seen this year

I am really surprised by some of the criticism of the other reviewers. Perhaps some of them were hoping for more of a swashbuckling adventure movie. I thought this film was superb. It was worth seeing for the cinematography alone. The Mongolian Steppe was beautifully and evocatively filmed with the the soundtrack to match: no over the top dramatic music, just the sounds of nature.

The film takes the revisionist view that there was much more to Ghengis Khan than just a brutal imperialist: it tries to establish what made him the person he was. We see how he respected his wife and how he shared out the spoils of war fairly with his followers. This is crucial to our understanding of how he managed to unite so many disparate tribes.

The acting was brilliantly understated, as was the love story between the two main characters. The fact that Temudgin admired Borte for her strong character, which was unusual in a society where women were treated like possessions, was essential to our understanding of his personality. If their on-screen relationship had focussed on sexual attraction, it might have ignored the other aspects of their relationship that were more important to the story.

We also see how Temudgin's unimaginably harsh childhood led to his rejection of tradition and instilled in him a belief in law and basic human rights. My only real criticism is that in its efforts to show us his positive side, the film is perhaps too kind to him, glossing over his character flaws and focusing too heavily on his good points.

There is talk of a sequel, which seems likely considering how abruptly the film ends. Personally, I enjoy a film that leaves me wanting more. But, if you like all the loose ends to be tied up and all your questions answered, you may be frustrated by the ending of Mongol, as it only tells Ghengis Khan's life story as far as the uniting of the Mongol tribes. Then again, this is indicated in the title, Mongol: The Rise to Power of Ghengis Khan.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Great looking, but...

Mongol is a great looking movie - fabulous cinematography in stunning settings; great colours; nice choreography in battle sequences. A technically excellent film. The only problem is the story.

Simply put, Mongol couldn't quite hold my attention. The story dragged, and it started to get boring in spite of its beauty - coming to life momentarily during battles, then dying away again.

I think the big problem is that Temudjin wasn't a particularly compelling character in this film. He wasn't terribly interesting, charismatic, terrible, terrifying - anything. He must have been all this and more in real life to have conquered a good portion of the known world, but we don't see this or precursors to these attributes in this story of his early years.

A shame.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Impressive

Gorgeous to watch and thoroughly entertaining. Don't expect a documentary - just watch it with an open mind...

Ghengis at his Best

A truly first class movie about the early life of Ghengis Khan.