HottWwjdIam There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Blake Rivera If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

paulclaassen Slow moving, and when it does moves along, it seems to leave out crucial information at times. Not sure if it was Mongolian habit 800 years ago, but half the killings are because of a woman, and half are to revenge one man's brother. Only in the final battle is it for power. One gets a sense of deja vu afterwards with him being captured so many times and all under very similar circumstances.

chaos-rampant I like the story about the renowned Taoist master who was summoned by Genghis Khan in Beijing; missing him there, he had to travel for three years, crossing half of Asia to find him in his camp in Afghanistan, and can you imagine the arduous trek to meet a fearsome man capable of who knows what if displeased. Nothing fruitful came from the encounter eventually, the warlord wanted to know about a secret recipe for immortality, the sage had only Taoism to give. They went their own ways after, one to raid India, the other walked back home. But something did happen. The long journey was chronicled by a companion, giving us a rare glimpse of life from the Great Wall to the Hindu Kush, only possible because an old man set out to go.Journeys can be about who's waiting on the other end or not; but they're always about life glimpsed in the process, ways of traveling. Films too of course.The destination here is a portrait of Genghis, his rise from nothing in the steppe to unify the tribes. It leaves off as he's about to embark on epoch-making history so we don't get the sweeping conquest and atrocity, we get a national hero molded to necessity by a ruthless world. A second film was in the works apparently but scrapped.No matter. It's the lack of real journey that I miss. Oh we do get some glimpse of Mongolian rite and custom along the way, the savagery of life, it was filmed near where events must have taken place, and the faces and dresses on actors look "real" enough, even though the lead is Japanese. But it's always all part of obviously plotted theatrics. The whole shorthand used to jot down this chronicle, the breath that animates it, the eye that looks, none of it feels like it draws soul from another time and corner of the world, none of it jolts from the commonness of "historic epic".I end up with a handful of movie scenes scattered about the steppe, borrowed gestures, poses and silences of somnolence, movie battles, and I'm just not satisfied with airbrushed convention and generic TV- level imagination as ground to walk on. It takes me nowhere.Fun thing to note. This is about a victor who managed to concentrate all this power and then just spilled it over half the known world, leveling and scattering instead of building. The neighboring Chinese were as genocidal as he was (more in fact), but had been cultivating for centuries a narrative of cohesion that creates culture that endures to create abstraction. When they celebrate their treacherous past, it might be Hero that we get.

Kira Yamato The film was quit amazing. While historically inaccurate, it is probably the most authentic film about the mongols and Genghis. (Not in their steppe warfare for sure. for example there was much lack of Archery and some Warriors were not even mounted. i mean come on, on the great steppes, horses outnumber people by a lot) Many might say its pretty much a "good guy Genghis" Movie, because they learned about him as a savage and brutal barbarian. Its true he was quite ruthless, but ruthlessness alone wont grant you loyalty. For me this Genghis Version was not an unbelievable thing. This guy must had definitely some good merits to foster some amazing loyalty from his men. He was likely fair and noble and was a rather interesting guy to hang up. So I overly enjoyed the Movie as a really well made Film and welcome any Sequels. although I think it will be quite controversial if the Sequels show just carnage all over the place. it is somewhat not cool to gloriously slaughter people, as it will happen, if the sequels stay true to Greatest Khans legacy.

museumofdave The Historical Epic is a disappearing staple from Hollywood, but many of them are still made in other parts of the world where it is probably a good deal cheaper to do so--Mongol is a perfect example, a grand, sweeping biographical tale about the development of a leader--this time set in Mongolia in the 12th Century.The scenery in Mongol is incredibly varied and beautiful and the battle scenes, when they come, are stark and brutal, but the main focus here is the development of the main character from childhood to maturity.Tadanobu Asano captures the quiet tenacity of a young man whose loyalties are to a way of life he chooses to defend: he picks out a wife when he is 9 years old (she later claims she chose him), and remains faithful to his idea of family and home no matter what the exterior challenges--it's a humane film about a violent time, charged with mythic resonance and incredible scope.