Mongol (Blu-ray) (2008)

Entertainment Weekly
"Russian filmmaker Sergei Bodrov contrasts images of sweeping landscape and propulsive battle with potent scenes of emotional intimacy..." -- Grade: B 06/13/2008 p.53

Los Angeles Times
"Full of stunning views of China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan and showing an unexpected side of Genghis Khan, MONGOL feels like an old-fashioned epic." 06/06/2008

New York Times
"[A] big, ponderous epic, its beautifully composed landscape shots punctuated by thundering hooves and bloody, slow-motion battle sequences." 06/06/2008

USA Today
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "MONGOL is a sweeping and quasi-mythical epic that recalls LAWRENCE OF ARABIA....It combines a sprawling adventure saga with romance, family drama and riveting action sequences. 06/13/2008

Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- "[Bodrov] benefits immeasurably from his leading man's performance, with Japanese actor Asano Tadanobu bringing a confidence and quietude to the part, which in turn adds gravitas to his epic journey." 07/01/2008 p.64

Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "There's a lot of action, intrigue and local colour....Director Sergei Bodrov also shows the despot's sensitive nature..." 12/01/2008 p.135

Reel.com 10 of 10
While American filmmakers flog the CGI action to drunken extremes (300, Beowulf), Russian director Sergei Bodrov spits at shortcuts (although he still digs CGI) and recalls the great movie spectacles of the old school, invoking the invigorating spirits of Abel Gance, Sergei Bondarchuk, and Samuel Bronston, in his rousing, grand, and old-fashioned epic Mongol...The first film in a trilogy, Mongol charts the course of the young nine-year-old Temudjin, beginning in 1172 on the barren and unforgiving Mongolian steppes, and his ensuing trials and tribulations after his father's murder until 1206, when the adult Temudjin (the great Tadanobu Asano) becomes the legendary Genghis Khan, uniter of the Mongolian tribes, and soon to be conqueror of the world, all set to an incredibly rich musical score by Tuomas Kantelinen...Based upon an ancient Mongolian epic poem written after the death of Khan, the film takes a favorable look at Genghis Khan and treats him, not as a bloodthirsty monster, but as an astute and able political and military leader and a man with love and devotion to his wife and child. There is no wrath in this Khan...Mongol is a less film narrative than a hagiographic film diorama. But Mongol is presented with such vitality, passion, and intensity that as an object of cinematic contemplation it cuts across critical prevarications like a head-lopping saber. - Paul Brenner
 
Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
Sergei Bodrov's "Mongol" is a ferocious film, blood-soaked, pausing occasionally for passionate romance and more frequently for torture. As a visual spectacle, it is all but overwhelming, putting to shame some of the recent historical epics from Hollywood. If it has a flaw, and it does, it is expressed succinctly by the wife of its hero: "All Mongols do is kill and steal"...She must have seen the movie. That's about all they do in "Mongol." They do not sing, dance, chant, hold summit meetings, have courts, hunt, or (with one exception) even cook and eat. They have no culture, except for a series of sayings: "A Mongol does, or does not ..." a long list of things, although many a Mongol seems never to have been issued the list, and does (or does not) do them, anyway...As a result, the film consists of one bloody scene of carnage after another, illustrated by hordes of warriors eviscerating one another while bright patches of blood burst upon the screen. At the center of the killing is invariably the khan, or leader, named Temudgin (Tadanobu Asano), who is not yet Genghis Khan, but be patient: This film is the first of a trilogy...The nuances of an ancient and ingeniously developed culture are passed over, and it cannot be denied that "Mongol" is relentlessly entertaining as an action picture. - Roger Ebert