MONGOL

Sergei Bodrov Written by Arif Aliyev, Sergei Bodrov Starring: Tadanobu Asano, Khulan Chuluun, Honglei Sun, Aliya, Tegen Ao, Amadu Mamadakov, Deng Ba Te Er, Ba Tu, Amarbold Tuvshinbayar Distributed by The Works Film is released in the U.K. and U.S. on June 6th 2008

rating: 4.5

Review by Michael Edwards It's been a long time since there's been a decent historical epic; recent trends have seen Hollywood churn out heavily fictionalised and incredibly over glamourised cinematic junk food like KINGDOM OF HEAVEN and TROY. So imagine my delight when I saw a trailer for MONGOL: THE RISE OF GENGHIS KHAN which looked like a creamy blend of the stylised violence of 300, the intensity of GLADIATOR and the shiny pomposity of classics like SPARTACUS. This really did seem to go to be true. But the good news is that this film goes some way to reaching these heady heights. The film tells the story of young Temudjin, the son of a Mongol Khan. When his father is poisoned by a tribal rival young Temudjin (still only 9) is forced from power and put into captivity until he becomes old enough for his usurper to honourably kill him in battle, thus begins a series of increasingly painful and difficult events for Temudjin, but his physical strength and great mental resolve keep him together and he is eventually shaped into that great medieval warlord whose name we all know so well: Genghis Khan. What is most striking about this film is how visceral it is. The stark landscape of the steppes, the frighteningly variable and perennially vicious ravages of the weather, the striking close-ups of the characters as they suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and, of course, the battle scenes. The choreography of the fighting is astounding, the fog of war is as aggressive and adrenaline-charged as anything 300 had to offer (and with comparable amounts of spurting blood). What's more the movie packs a real emotional punch too, with Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano (of films like ZATOICHI) and Khulan Chuluun delivering standout performances across a spectrum of emotionally charged situations. MONGOL has managed to successfully fuse the emotional poignancy and gravitas of the epic of yore with the fast-paced edginess of their modern counterparts in a way that had me on the edge of my seat for the entire two hours. It is an interesting point that even the length of this movie lays between those characteristic of the eras it alloys! But of course the film has its flaws, and what sort of reviewer would I be if I didn't try and reveal them. Like any account of medieval history, MONGOL has massive holes it. We are presented simply with glimpses of critical moments in the life of Temudjin: formative moments between which times passes imperceptibly but in irreconcilably large chunks. There is not a montage in sight as we jump from his escape from one peril to his facing the next obstacle with a new band of followers. And on the one hand this is seems like a frustrating dodging of issues of reality ("where did he amass that army from??" etc); but on the other hand its actually quite refreshing, I know I'd grown tired of being babied through time gaps that we really could have worked out ourselves ("yes, I know he must have practiced his swordsmanship for a long time to get that good!!" and so on). Another problem is that occasionally things seem a little too convenient, someone decides to help him apparently out of the blue, or there's just another fact that's always been true of Mongols that he can exploit. I mean, I got from the whole movie that this particular brutal warlord cut his teeth in some really tough times but sometimes I think he had a lot of luck along the way! Nonetheless, MONGOL is easily one of the best films I've seen all year. The minor frustrations and sporadic fortuitous twists can easily be dismissed as artistic license in a film with such stunning imagery, amazing choreography and moving acting. It synthesises the best developments in the epic genre with its great traditions in the same way APOCALYPTO did with action films: this is what films should be about.