OVP: Mongol (2007)

Film: Mongol (2007)
Stars: Tadanobu Asano, Sun Honglei, Chuluuny Khulan, Amadu Mamadakov
Director: Sergei Bodrov
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Foreign Language Film-Kazakhstan)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

I sometimes sort of question what I'm going into a film for, as reviewing movies is not an exact science.  Frequently I find that plot and consistency is what I'm most looking for in a film.  I love, for example, Fantasy and Science Fiction, but I want a plot that's realistic to that world-I don't want someone to just make something up and say "well, he's an alien!" as an excuse.  However, I can appreciate other aspects of films and occasionally have them hold sway over my initial thoughts about the plot.  Mongol is a thinly-plotted movie, in my opinion, frequently falling into heavy-handed dialogue, repetitive battle scenes, and the same three plot points over and over and over again until the two hours has dragged for days.  It is also, however, a beautifully-lensed film, wildly expensive for its country of origin, and one with some magnificent cinematography.  As a result, I suppose I'll have to write a review to figure out exactly where my opinions lie.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film is about the rise of Genghis Khan as a military leader who created the Mongol Empire, eventually the largest contiguous empire in human history.  The film starts in his childhood, when he finds his young bride Borte, and then erupts into a series of battles as an adult, as he fights both his sworn nemesis (Targutai, who killed his father) and his blood brother Jamukha, who slowly becomes his chief rival for the rulership of the slowly consolidating empire.  As we'd expect (no one has heard of Jamukha outside of a history class), Genghis Khan ends up winning and becoming a highly-powerful ruler, but in the process we find ourselves hampered down by a lot of traditional tropes that stain such historical epics.

For starters, the plot is ludicrously repetitive.  The film could essentially boil down to Temudjin (Genghis Khan's original name, which is used exclusively throughout the film) leaving his beloved wife Borte even though they claim to be soulmates, then going off to battle against improbable odds, finding himself captured even though he fought more bravely with less resources, and then randomly escaping through the help of loyalists or his wife.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  This is literally the entire plot of the film, but it's spread over and over and over again cinematically.  As a result, it becomes pretty pointless, particularly since the film is based-on-a-true-story, and we know that Temudjin does in fact end up winning in the end.  This has long been my problem with true stories-fiction is always stranger than truth because you can actually create things that history hasn't already taught us, and the film never really has the sharpness that makes history you already know more compelling.  Some films can make you nervous about what you know will happen (Argo, 12 Years a Slave) or can investigate a life in a unique way that feels genuinely fresh (The Social Network, Wild), but this isn't one of those films.  This film, likely made under tight control considering its budget and multi-country investment, is intent on creating something extremely populist and full of ROI (ie love scenes, battle scenes, and 2-dimensional characters), and that's what it delivers.

The film, it's worth noting, isn't all bad.  The fight scenes are occasionally epic, and the cinematography is lovely.  It's rare that we see a land that is both desert and mountainous, but that's true of this region of Asia and Rogier Stoffers and Sergey Trofimov both made strong use of this in the film, as well as some great natural light.  But the writing and the pacing of the film overshadow any stronger elements-it might be fun to look at, but it's not interesting to behold.  And as a result, I can't get onboard here.

If you've seen it, what were your thoughts on Mongol?  Are you with me that it's too repetitive and inside-the-box to ever be interesting, or are you overcome by those gigantically-staged battle scenes?  And where does it rank on your 2007 Foreign Film ballot (mine is slowly getting filled up)?  Share your thoughts in the comments!