Russian director Sergei Bodrov has made a magnificent epic which evokes some of the greats of the past, including Lawrence of Arabia.
Comment
06/13/08
Mongol (2008)
87
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
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.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Jun 19, 2008 Wide
US Box Office: $5,621,596
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 CriticYou might wonder how Bodrov could fail to make every minute of Genghis Khan's extraordinary life near edge-of-the-seat involving, but there are some dull stretches before the pace picks up again.
06/13/08
Top CriticEven the most intense human drama is somehow reduced by the landscape.
06/20/08
Top CriticTemudgin is so single-minded that Asano has trouble suggesting much about his inner life.
06/20/08
Top CriticThe visuals and performances make it worth it, but this is a wilfully oblique bit of warrior hagiography.
06/20/08
Top CriticGenghis Khan's lost decade fuels a handsome fantasy.
07/10/08
Top Critic'Vast landscapes, savage battles, sparring blood brothers and a poignant love story form the essence of Sergei Bodrov's spectacular epic, among whose achievements are its extraordinary sense of place and time.
06/12/08
Top CriticMongol is a big, ponderous epic, its beautifully composed landscape shots punctuated by thundering hooves and bloody, slow-motion battle sequences.
06/05/08
Top CriticJapanese indie idol Asano smolders as maverick Temudgin [Khan].
09/19/07
Top CriticA 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 is an impressive epic that also captures intimate moments in the early life of the Mongolian leader.
06/20/08
The film, a foreign-language Oscar nominee, is epic in scope, in scale, in story, in everything. It has as much action as any brain-dead Hollywood blockbuster, but Mongol also has heart and intelligence.
06/19/08
Mongol is a Far East Braveheart, charged with the same sense of pseudo-history, movie heroics and inspirational grandeur.
06/06/08
I liked it, even though the one-bloody-battle-after-another deal is not my sort of thing. If it's your sort, I bet you'll like it even more.
06/20/08
While the historical accuracy may be dodgy, Mongol is a sweeping and quasi-mythical epic that recalls Lawrence of Arabia.
06/13/08
Top CriticFor anyone even slightly interested in Mongolian history or in the life of the man who would conquer a fifth of the Earth's landmass, "Mongol" is a movie that demands repeated screenings.
06/02/08
Mongol is the first film of a proposed trilogy that charts his conquest of half the known world. If the sequels match this one, they can't come soon enough.
06/19/08
If reading subtitles or trying to understand historical figures aren't among your lifelong ambitions, "Mongol" features some first-rate eye candy.
06/17/08
This is a historical epic like Mom -- or David Lean -- used to make. It's got transgenerational blood feuds, galloping steeds, lucky talismans carried for years by separated lovers, and steppes -- lots and lots of steppes.
06/06/08
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:
Box Office Guru Preview: Black vs. Sandler in Comedy Showdown
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
More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Fresh Links
Featured
40 Best Films of the 2000s
Last week, Moviefone offered us their worst films of the 2000s. Now see their 40 best!
Competitions
Win Funny People on DVD
We're giving away copies of Judd Apatow's latest.
RSS Feeds