Customer Reviews

OK, could do better - By: SiKim, 20 Nov 2008
I was left imagining what could have been after watching this movie. It had some good parts, alot of mediocre parts & one or two bad parts.

I think having read Conn Igguldens books recently i was expecting more drama, but a lot of it was skimmed overin favour of the focus on the relationship with Borte, Jamukha & the khan of the Kerait. You never really get to see the drama & struggle of Temujin & family after being left behind when the tribe moved on after his father's death, & therefore his killing of Bekter looks more like it was done on a whim, or much of his childhood & the struggle to establish his new tribe once his family had learned to survive alonein the wilderness.

It also fell well short of the full Genghis story by ending as the Mongols approched China, which is really where he established his reputation as a great leader & warlord.

Ultimately i'm hoping that Mongol (and its 2 sequels) will be better or that a big studio will take on Iggulden's books & recreate them.

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To what End? - By: A. Macrae, 08 Nov 2008
Oh dear. I have witnessed School Plays which were more enjoyable than this, "not to be missed epic" The whole adventure was bland, & the leading Japanese cast make the actors of these dreadful Australian Soaps look almost professional.

The main actorsin this movie, without exception, failed miserably to display any emotion what so ever, no fear, anger, pain, love, despair, zilch. Appreciate the Japanese don't like to their show emotions, well,in this movie they are triumphantin that respect.

If only? Spielberg, & his team, or the Director, & his team from, Lord of the Rings.

Then we would have an epic.

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A lot of spectacle, a lot of melodrama, a lot of horses. And Genghis Khan, we're told, is kind of a nice guy, - By: C. O. DeRiemer, 28 Aug 2008
Genghis Khan was one of the great murdering conquerorsin history, dining at the same table with Napoleon Bonaparte & Adolph Hitler. One assumes that their lust for land, power & the deaths of their enemies & victims, along with a practical indifference to the deaths of their own soldiers & people, sprang from how easily bored they could be.

In Genghis Khans' case, if this movie is to believed (not a good idea with most movies' presentations of "history"), the melodrama of Genghis Khan's soap-opera life with Hoelun, his mother; Bolte, his wife; Kulan, his great-looking female bodyguard & occasional bed partner; & his sons & brothers would be enough to drive anyone away from the yurt & onto a horse. This isn't helped when Kulan, while she's wearing a Mongolian soldier's armor & a tufted helmet, looks a little like Leonardo DiCaprio.

The movie tells the tale of the ascent of Temujin as unifier of the Mongols, conqueror of tribes & of vast lands, & leaves us, with Temujin now called Genghis Khan, as he charges toward the Great Wall of China, eager to take on the Jin dynasty.

There is no tension to the story, no gradual building of the drama to match the story of greater & greater conquest. Narration is used to bridge the years & tell us of one more difficulty Temujin will face, which we then see acted for us. The movie is not boring, not with all those thundering horses, backward arrow shooting on horseback & a look at lifein a yurt, but the sameness with which the story is told eventually becomes predictable. At least, even with the family melodrama and, for Western eyes, the overacting of the main characters, the movie doesn't ladle up the creamed corn that was John Wayne as a drawling Temujin & Susan Hayward as a frowning, red-haired Bolte.

The movie settles into a rhythmic pattern early on: A battle, exciting & well managed, then melodrama, overwrought & tiresome. Then, another battle, another drama, another battle, over & over for 136 minutes. This Japanese movie was filmedin Mongolia & features primarily Japanese actors & what looks like most of the Mongolian army on leased horses. The battles get bigger & bigger as the movie progresses. It looked to me like there wasn't much Computer Generated Overkill used. With all the battles, I hope the producers had plenty of veterinarians on hand. A lot of horses took violent falls. There are some wonderful scenes of Mongolia's green, rolling, treeless hills & an interesting look at lifein encampments.

Just before Genghis Khan sets off to take on the Jin, he & Kulan exchange a bit of conquering philosophy.

"I will go on as far as I can," says the man on horseback. "With every land I conquer, more borders between nations will vanish. People will travel freely & trade will flourish. Cultures & customs will be honored & all will live well."

"But make war & there will be bloodshed," Kulan says to him.

Replies Genghis Khan, "That is bloodshed that cannot be helped, to insure that no further blood need be spilled," Oh, brother. How many times has humanity heard that one?