Mongol

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Mongol

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Mongol

Amadu Mamadakov, Ba Tu, Ba Yin Qi Qi Ge, Deng Ba Te Er, Honglei Sun, Khulan Chuluun, Odnyam Odsuren, Tadanobu Asano, Ying Bai

"Mongol" delves into the dramatic and harrowing early years of Genghis Khan, who was born as Temudgin in 1162. As it follows Temudgin from his perilous childhood to the battle that sealed his destiny...( read more  read more... ), the film paints a multidimensional portrait of the future conqueror, revealing him not as the evil brute of hoary stereotype, but as an inspiring, fearless and visionary leader. "Mongol" shows us the making of an extraordinary man, and the foundation on which so much of his greatness rested: his relationship with his wife, Borte, his lifelong love and most trusted advisor.

Id: 10887720

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Mongol Recent Reviews
  • Sssabee
    August 17, 2009
    Sssabee
    Mongol is the first part of a planned trilogy following the life of the great Genghis Khan. It?s a pretty ambitious project, by any means, and watching the film you can tell that the budget has been pretty well spent. Being something of a history geek, naturally the film caught m...( read more)y interest, not to mention the fact that it starred Tadanobu Asano, an actor I have quite a bit of respect for after seeing him in one of my all time favorites, Last Life in the Universe.

    *spoiler alert*

    I particularly enjoyed the first 20 minutes or so of the film, after which the film started gradually losing me. The problem I had with the film is that despite its format (the life of the Khan is supposed to be shown across three films, which means approximately 6 hours of film), it still retained the trademark jumpy/compacted nature of most biopics. Now, don?t get me wrong, I understand that jumping less smoothly from one event to another or from one stage of the protagonist?s life to another may be necessary in a film that wants to squeeze as much information as possible into a small amount of screen time. It?s the curse of biopics, especially if they choose to follow a more or less literal depiction of the protagonist?s life. The other issue is that of the historical accuracy. If you are trying to adapt someone?s life into a film, some poetic license might be necessary, and I often found that sacrificing some of the details in order to gain more in terms of feel is a good idea. However, if I had not known this film was about Genghis Khan, I would not have picked up on that from the film. In fact, I?d say Mongol is a film about a good natured, extremely lucky individual who by sheer chance manages to have his ass saved on several occasions by friends, his wife and clairvoyant monks. He also then happens upon an army, though we are not shown how, which instead of slicing him up and sending the various pieces to all those who wanted him dead, follow him into a battle that is won, again, by sheer luck (i.e. Temujin was the only Mongol who was not afraid of the thunder, so when it starts raining in the middle of the battle and he doesn?t take cover, the men immediately assume that something must be up with him and follow him with even more zest). Perhaps that?s not necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps the film is supposed to be about the man and not about the historical figure. But if the film was about the man, I would have liked to know more of the whys and hows of his life, and not only witness the events happen. Like this, I can?t say that any of the characters in the film seemed real to me, with the vague exception of Borte, Temujin?s wife. Not even Temujin himself seems anything more than a puppet. We see little of his motivation, we experience little of his inner turmoil, we see little of his drive to become who he eventually becomes. Jamuka is a mere caricature, as is his younger brother. In the end it feels like the cast is wasted on underwritten characters.

    If you want to slap it inside the confines of a genre, Mongol is not a bad film, but outside that, it has very little to show for itself. It has a decent score and good visuals working for it and it?s not unentertaining. It?s likely that my disappointment comes from expecting more than there was to expect, but such is life.
  • benjaminguilbert2
    August 12, 2009
    benjaminguilbert2
    This film is a bit difficult to judge. On the one hand, it's really dreadful, badly shot, intensely boring at times and deprived of the slightest hint of intelligence (the whole "that's destiny, dude" aspect of it made me puke, which almost ruined my computer...). On the other ha...( read more)nd, it's a bit like Apocalipto: seeing these guys in their natural habitat is quite interesting. A bit like an expensive discovery channel piece.
    Overall what I really didn't like about the film is the film that it starts a bit like: "how a gifted tough swordman unified the Mongols" but then suddenly the guy has an entire empire at his feet... really really poor script, a 12th century monk would have done better. That being said, I enjoy violent mindless sword fight as much as the next bloke and that aspect is fairly well done.
  • benpuetz
    June 13, 2009
    benpuetz
    There is one thing that is evident in this film...the cinematography. This has to be one of the more beautiful films to look at. Visually, many of the scenes look like artwork that should be hanging on your wall. It's really too bad the film wasn't on par with that. Mongol ha...( read more)d the potential to be a really good film. Somehow, they made a film about Genghis Khan feel a little tame and boring. There were way too many dead spots in this and it dragged on at times. The story and acting are ok, it just had the potential to far more entertaining.
  • MovieGeek13
    April 30, 2009
    MovieGeek13
    There are scenes of greatness in Mongol. Take for example, the scene where Genghis Khan, known in this movie as Temudgin, tells his son how he chose his mother well. His wife replies, "You did not choose me. I chose you" ti which Temudgin replies after a moment of thought, "Tr...( read more)ue!" Mongol is about the man who would become one of history's greatest conquerers, and this movie focuses on how Temudgin's family life played an essential part in setting him in the path of his destiny. His wife remains his only constant through many ordeals of slavery, clan disputes, betrayal, and brotherhood. The problem is that the film oversimplifies a lot of these events. We never truly understand why after the death of his father, the remaining tribe wanted to hill Temudgin. Nor do we ever really see the Mongol way of life, which the characters speak so highly of throughout the film. In essence, it's an action picture that should have been a grand epic.
    Many of the films scenes are beautifully shot and constructed. But others feel redundant, as if we've seen them in countless Hollywood action epics. Specifically, the battle scenes seem too much like Braveheart. A well made and watchable film. But not a great one.
  • RiderOfTheStorms
    April 14, 2009
    RiderOfTheStorms
    Beautiful film.
  • odonoghuematthew
    November 11, 2009
    odonoghuematthew
    Best Costume Design 2008
  • RoYaLRoHiT
    November 11, 2009
    RoYaLRoHiT
    its a movie of history....nice movie with very nice backgroundscores.
    but boring at times.
    lack of originality and lack of continuity..
    overall average movie & worth watching it....
  • arindamrchowdhury
    November 7, 2009
    arindamrchowdhury
    11/07/2009







    11/07/2009
  • martinberntsson
    October 4, 2009
    martinberntsson
    Unsentimental story about the young Genghis Khan and his growing up in outer mongolia. It was rough times, one particular evil clan actually looks like Slipknot (!) but there are no flaws here. You get to see long scenes of traditional mongolian parenting and here and there gory ...( read more)fights in which blood is pouring out of bodies in a manner I've never seen in a movie before.
    The footage is exellent, and even though it's a very pro-mongolian movie which don't reflect so much over the victims of war, it's still a very interesting movie
  • rylanjp
    October 2, 2009
    rylanjp
    Beautifully Filmed Historical Epic.
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