Mongol Movie Review

byTyrone Dismuke

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The movie “Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan” is a 2007 rendition of the greatness or monarchy of the legend himself. The movie starts with a foreshadowing of Temudjin as a captive adult. After this we are shown Temudjin around the age of 10, traveling with his father and other members of their clan on their way to a lesser clan so that Temudjin can pick a bride. The group is only there for a day as Temudjin choses Borte to be his future wife. After this the Khan, Temdujin’s father, is poisoned by one of their enemies. From here the movie is fast tracked with very few plot points being explained outside of “plot convenience”. At the end of the movie we see that Temudjin has become the most feared Mongol of all time and has taken his reign as Genghis Khan.

Going back to the death of Temudjin’s father. His death was meteoric. We barely got to know him, so his death was meaningless not only to us but also to his own son. The acting in this movie is bad. After smacking Targutai for talking ill of his father, Tedmudjin simply holds his father in his arms as he dies. Not once did he cry or seem to feel any emotion. His father died, and he just went home with the rest of the clan. The scene where Targutai is about to kill Temudjin, Temudjin looks his killer in the eyes waiting for death. I thought this scene was cool, but it just foreshadowed the lack of creativity and the poorly written script the actors were given.

The pacing in this movie is awful. We never dwell on anything too long. Once Temudjin escapes Targutai, he is saved by a child Jamukha from dying in the cold. Because of this they take a blood pact to become brothers before Temudjin is once again kidnapped by Targutai. We barely see any form of connection between Temudjin and Jamukha but they’re sworn brothers. Not only this but Jamukha is foreshadowing events of the two partnering up. Relationships in this movie are very forced just to move the plot along. There is not one single character I can point out and say, “I like this character”.

The story is bland. At times it seems like there is no story but just a chain of reactions. The first half of the movie focuses on Temudjin getting older and escaping Targutai several times before he gets away one last time and Targutai disappears until the final battle. The story skips around collecting characters and time frames as if the directors were playing a game of jax with the story. The death of Jamukha’s brother, Taichar is also very anti climatic. He died trying to steal the horses Altan and Daritai took when they defected to Temudjin’s side. His main goal was to get the horses back and he died doing it. His death wasn’t in vein as it started the war between Jamukha and Temudjin.

Going back to the mediocre characters, on top of most of them having no personality, Jamukha is a good character. I don’t care for him, but I can understand why others would like him. He has personality. He sings, laughs, drink and probably dances as well. He stands out unlike everyone else. Speaking of laughs, majority of the jokes were not funny. The scene where Temudjin picks up Borte after years of not seeing her, Borte asks him if he wants to touch her. Temudjin responds with “my touch will break you”. It was a bad joke.

Though its mediocre in its execution or story and plot, there are several aspects that are enjoyable about “Mongol”. Costume design is amazing. The garb the characters dawn is authentic not only to that time but to the region as well. The embroidery on the water pouches were cool to look at. The hand-crafted swords, whether crafted for the movie or actual old ancient swords, were a nice touched instead of bland swords that would have been easy to find. The landscapes are gorgeous. Each mountain range and valley were scouted perfectly for each scene. My favorite location may be the open field Temudjin and Borte play with their kids before Temudjin’s departure. The cinematography was beautiful here. Seeing a panned out shot of a displeased Borte watching as she may never see her husband again was a bit worrisome. With the lack of a great script, the way that scene was shot made up for it. Another great scene is where Temudjin is sitting in his cage being mocked by the town’s people. Once the rain comes in to scare them off we get a great shot of the rain dripping on the bridge as well as Temdujin’s solace face being shown through the frozen cell bars. The imagery was so pure I could almost smell the rain and feel the cold of the bars on my skin. Watching that scene gave me hope for the rest of the movie, though I was let down.

The last enjoyable aspect of the movie must be the fights. I enjoyed them all. The fight choreography is always on point and never skips a beat. The action is so well done that for a couple minutes, as I watched Temudjin’s men slaughter Jamukha’s soldiers, I was pleased with the story. The strategies Temudjin used to defeat Jamukha were great. I found myself on the edge of my seat getting excited and cheering for Temudjin’s victory. I was very disappointed to find that as soon as Temudjin’s reign was just about to start, the movie ended. It’s almost as if the script was made with a sequel in mind, a sequel I’m glad we didn’t get.

“Mongol” is not a bad movie, but it is also not as great as it may sound. The movie lacks in the plot and character development as well as suffering from horrible pacing, but it has its moments such as the cinematography, costume design and fight choreography. My favorite part of the movie must be me coming to the realization that the man who transported Juchi and Borte to Temudjin went to bed with a family and woke up without one, as Borte escaped with their daughter Mongen in the night.