A gracefully mounted, stunningly photographed historical account, fascinating in its attention to detail if somewhat unengaging in its story and characters.
Comment
06/05/08
Mongol (2008)
87
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:98
Fresh:85
Rotten:13
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: The sweeping Mongol mixes romance, family drama, and enough flesh-ripping battle scenes to make sense of Ghenghis Khan's legendary stature.
Theatrical Release:06-06-2008
Synopsis: Award-winning Russian filmmaker Sergei Bodrov (Prisoner of the Mountains) illuminates the life and legend of Genghis Khan in his stunning historical epic, Mongol. Based on leading scholarly... [More]
Starring: Tadanobu Asano, Honglei Sun, Khulan Chuluun, Odnyam Odsuren
Director: Sergei Bodrov
Reviews for Mongol
Top CriticWith its breathtaking landscapes, bloody battles, bitter betrayals and an aching love story, Mongol is a sumptuously crafted epic
06/05/08
Top CriticSurrender to its exotic oddity and guttural throat-singing and you’ll be entertained by a sweeping saga that’s like a Mongolian Braveheart.
06/06/08
A beautiful and ambitious film flawed by its dogged determination to cast Genghis Khan in a new light, the best that can be hoped is that Mongol provides a stage for better things in the forthcoming films.
06/06/08
Top CriticMongol is an impressive epic that also captures intimate moments in the early life of the Mongolian leader.
06/20/08
The visuals and performances make it worth it, but this is a wilfully oblique bit of warrior hagiography.
06/20/08
There are plenty of haunting landscapes... along with the sort of warfare scenes that define epics, but also an unexpected take on one of history's most fearsome leaders.
06/20/08
If a hero is to deserve this much spectacle, he ought to be at least a little bit interesting.
06/05/08
Bold, epic battle-happy movie that humanizes the world-conqueror and gives him plenty to be aggressive about.
06/06/08
History's greatest subjugator finally gets the respect he deserves with a no-nonsense drama and an all-Asian cast, shot in the very lands he once ravaged.
06/19/08
Adventure story, love story, history lesson: What's not to like?
05/14/08
Probably the only movie you'll ever see that opens in '1192 -- Year of the Black Rat.'
06/27/08
There's never enough detail to make these historical figures come to life in a compelling way.
06/05/08
A thoroughly rousing hunk of celluloid, a war saga that blends the sturdiest conventions of old-fashioned heroic storytelling with a few pixilated battle enhancements — check out the soaring blood globs — of the kind that spattered across 300.
06/27/08
shows a merging of the random vagaries of time with the divine machinery of myth, to create a truly rounded picture of the factors that can turn a flesh-and-blood individual into a living legend on the very crest of history.
06/02/08
Mongol, for all the intense action and warfare, is also a character study of a great leader and strategist.
06/06/08
Mongol presents a Khan with a spring in his step and love in his heart. And, OK, some wrath.
06/05/08
The real star here is director and co-writer Sergei Bodrov, who largely turns his back on CGI effects and creates stirring battle scenes the old-fashioned way.
06/25/08
Transports us to the faraway past and an exotic place where a legendary warrior is forged into a fierce leader through suffering and hardship.
06/05/08
Give Mongol’s makers credit for taking advantage of the spectacular scenery and creating an almost documentary reality regarding life among Mongolia’s nomads. But as storytelling the film goes nowhere slowly.
06/20/08
Latest News for Mongol
January 08, 2009:
Broadcast Film Critics Name Critics' Choice Winners
The 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards were given on January 8, 2009, to honor the finest achievements in 2008 filmmaking. A list of nominees follows below, with winners in bold: More...
October 22, 2008:
More impressed with its own olden days ready-to-rumble, flesh-ripping Far Eastern beatdowns, than fleshing out with any depth just who these characters were and how they struggled to exist back then. History as a scenic but dramatically sparse travelogue. 
More...
June 05, 2008:
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Two big doses of comedy from a pair of Hollywood's funniest men will hit the multiplexes across North America on Friday in a fierce battle for the number one spot. For family... More...
March 30, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review
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