The story of Genghis Khan, from the loss of his father when he was a little child to the moment where he defeated his enemies and managed to unite all Mongols under his banner.

Sumptuous but rather flat biopic that despite the earnest efforts by all people involved never manages to catch fire and become a truly epic experience. Sergei Bodrov is a competent director, no question about that. He gives us some majestic shots of the Eurasian steppes and stages a couple of exciting battle scenes. But overall he is betrayed by the unfocused script and his not-so-charismatic stars. The film is also hurt by its abrupt ending, which is somewhat expected since "Mongol" was supposed to be just…

Dull, tedious & overlong isn't what one expects when diving into a fable about the greatest & most fearsome conqueror to have ever lived but Mongol is exactly that. More a prequel than a full-fledged account of Genghis Khan & his conquests, this historical epic comes rife with myriads of issues and is disappointing by all means.

Mongol narrates the early life of Genghis Khan, then known as Temüjin, and covers a series of events during his formative years that lead him to become the legendary conqueror. The plot covers his childhood, abductions, marriage & relationship with a blood brother who would ultimately become his chief rival & final hurdle to his rise to the top.

Co-written & directed by Sergei Bodrov, the film is shot…

"Не презирай слабого детёныша -- он может оказаться сыном тигра" -- монгольская пословица

"Если я начну нарушать обычаи, мир перевернётся" -- цитата из фильма "Монгол"
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Посвящаю этот обзор моему горячо любимому покойному дедушке
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На 9 мая я посмотрел два фильма: "Иди и смотри" Элема Климова и "Монгола" Сергея Бодрова-старшего. Данный обзор будет посвящён второй картине.

По традиции выпишу несколько цитат из фильма, а затем продолжим разговор:
1) "Очень важно не ошибиться и правильно выбрать невесту. Лицо у неё должно быть плоское, как поверхность солёного озеоа, а глаза -- узкие: в большие глаза злые духи ныряют и она с ума сводит, видит не то, что есть на самом деле, а самое главное -- не забудь посмотреть на её ноги:…

In the DVD extras, they say he's seen as heroic in the east. Which from our end is funny, considering he brought on the Black Death and wiped out so many people the Earth's temperature cooled for a century or two. But hey - Oppenheimer won all the Oscars, right?

Too bad this is all so familiar from Conan, because John Milius ignored Robert E Howard to rip-off this guy's life story instead. Tadanobu Asano is badass until he come across impassively smug, but there's enough bloodthirsty action and nomadic clan intrigue to keep it exciting. Must confess I couldn't help humming the notorious Devo song every time ol' Genghis got into gear. Problematic? The film celebrates oriental Hitler as…

The Rise of Genghis Khan is perhaps the most well-known film to take a look at the life of Genghis Khan. A sprawling historical epic with monumental and glorious landscape shots, this international co-production between Russia, China, Mongolia, Germany and Kazakhstan is flashy, but not very meaty, if that statement makes any sense: From a visual viewpoint, the impressive cinematography and beautiful images are splendid, but from a storytelling viewpoint, the film leaves a bit to be desired.

Notably intense battle scenes, impressive depictions of war strategies and surveying representations of cultural aspects describe this film in the most fitting way, and to an extent that puts most modern historical epics to shame. This feels like a very old-fashioned production,…

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Film #24 of 30 in my March Around The World | 2017 Challenge (Kazakhstan)
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This epic film from writer-director Sergei Bodrov was Kazakhstan's official submission in the Foreign Language Film category for the 80th Academy Awards. Filmed primarily in Kazakhstan and China over a period of 14 months, it reportedly required a crew of 300 Chinese and 100 Russians, employing over 1500 extras and using an equal number of horses.

The film opens in the Tangut Kingdom in 1192, the Year of the Black Rat to show us a caged man named Temudjin (Tadanobu Asano), before flashing back immediately to the Mongolian steppes 20 years earlier. Temudjin then narrates how when he was nine years old (Odnyam Odsuren),…