Genghis Khan was one of the great murdering conquerors in history, dining at the same table with Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolph Hitler. One assumes that their lust for land, power and the deaths of their enemies and victims, along with a practical indifference to the deaths of their own soldiers and people, sprang from how easily bored they could be.
In Genghis Khans' case, if this movie is to believed (not a good idea with most movies' presentations of "history"), the melodrama of Genghis Khan's soap-opera life with Hoelun, his mother; Bolte, his wife; Kulan, his great-looking female bodyguard and occasional bed partner; and his sons and brothers would be enough to drive anyone away from the yurt and onto a horse. This isn't helped when Kulan, while she's wearing a Mongolian soldier's armor and a tufted helmet, looks a little like Leonardo DiCaprio.
The movie tells the tale of the ascent of Temujin as unifier of the Mongols, conqueror of tribes and of vast lands, and leaves us, with Temujin now called Genghis Khan, as he charges toward the Great Wall of China, eager to take on the Jin dynasty.
There is no tension to the story, no gradual building of the drama to match the story of greater and greater conquest. Narration is used to bridge the years and tell us of one more difficulty Temujin will face, which we then see acted for us. The movie is not boring, not with all those thundering horses, backward arrow shooting on horseback and a look at life in a yurt, but the sameness with which the story is told eventually becomes predictable. At least, even with the family melodrama and, for Western eyes, the overacting of the main characters, the movie doesn't ladle up the creamed corn that was John Wayne as a drawling Temujin and Susan Hayward as a frowning, red-haired Bolte.
The movie settles into a rhythmic pattern early on: A battle, exciting and well managed, then melodrama, overwrought and tiresome. Then, another battle, another drama, another battle, over and over for 136 minutes. This Japanese movie was filmed in Mongolia and features primarily Japanese actors and what looks like most of the Mongolian army on leased horses. The battles get bigger and bigger as the movie progresses. It looked to me like there wasn't much Computer Generated Overkill used. With all the battles, I hope the producers had plenty of veterinarians on hand. A lot of horses took violent falls. There are some wonderful scenes of Mongolia's green, rolling, treeless hills and an interesting look at life in encampments.
Just before Genghis Khan sets off to take on the Jin, he and Kulan exchange a bit of conquering philosophy.
"I will go on as far as I can," says the man on horseback. "With every land I conquer, more borders between nations will vanish. People will travel freely and trade will flourish. Cultures and customs will be honored and all will live well."
"But make war and there will be bloodshed," Kulan says to him.
Replies Genghis Khan, "That is bloodshed that cannot be helped, to insure that no further blood need be spilled," Oh, brother. How many times has humanity heard that one?
In Genghis Khans' case, if this movie is to believed (not a good idea with most movies' presentations of "history"), the melodrama of Genghis Khan's soap-opera life with Hoelun, his mother; Bolte, his wife; Kulan, his great-looking female bodyguard and occasional bed partner; and his sons and brothers would be enough to drive anyone away from the yurt and onto a horse. This isn't helped when Kulan, while she's wearing a Mongolian soldier's armor and a tufted helmet, looks a little like Leonardo DiCaprio.
The movie tells the tale of the ascent of Temujin as unifier of the Mongols, conqueror of tribes and of vast lands, and leaves us, with Temujin now called Genghis Khan, as he charges toward the Great Wall of China, eager to take on the Jin dynasty.
There is no tension to the story, no gradual building of the drama to match the story of greater and greater conquest. Narration is used to bridge the years and tell us of one more difficulty Temujin will face, which we then see acted for us. The movie is not boring, not with all those thundering horses, backward arrow shooting on horseback and a look at life in a yurt, but the sameness with which the story is told eventually becomes predictable. At least, even with the family melodrama and, for Western eyes, the overacting of the main characters, the movie doesn't ladle up the creamed corn that was John Wayne as a drawling Temujin and Susan Hayward as a frowning, red-haired Bolte.
The movie settles into a rhythmic pattern early on: A battle, exciting and well managed, then melodrama, overwrought and tiresome. Then, another battle, another drama, another battle, over and over for 136 minutes. This Japanese movie was filmed in Mongolia and features primarily Japanese actors and what looks like most of the Mongolian army on leased horses. The battles get bigger and bigger as the movie progresses. It looked to me like there wasn't much Computer Generated Overkill used. With all the battles, I hope the producers had plenty of veterinarians on hand. A lot of horses took violent falls. There are some wonderful scenes of Mongolia's green, rolling, treeless hills and an interesting look at life in encampments.
Just before Genghis Khan sets off to take on the Jin, he and Kulan exchange a bit of conquering philosophy.
"I will go on as far as I can," says the man on horseback. "With every land I conquer, more borders between nations will vanish. People will travel freely and trade will flourish. Cultures and customs will be honored and all will live well."
"But make war and there will be bloodshed," Kulan says to him.
Replies Genghis Khan, "That is bloodshed that cannot be helped, to insure that no further blood need be spilled," Oh, brother. How many times has humanity heard that one?