Sunday, June 8, 2008

The Adventures of Young Ghengis Khan

What I learned from watching yesterday: the Mongols were deathly afraid of thunder. What else I learned: Temüjin, the future Ghengis Khan, spent most of his youth running from people, getting caught, escaping, running again, and getting caught again. How do these two things fit together? I'll leave that to the film. Let me only say that Temüjin, like Lion-O of the Thundercats, must face his fear.

Mongol ticks off several items from the epic film checklist:

  • Grand, majestic vistas? Check.
  • Archetypal characters? Check.
  • Climactic...err ...climax? Check.

What's missing from the film is a compelling characterization of Temüjin himself. There's nothing here to express why he was able to ascend to khan of all the Mongols, why men would follow him, what about his experience set him apart from the other thunder-fearing steppes-men. Wait, there is one thing: his destiny (for full effect, you have to say "destiny" in a deep voice, like the movie guy.)

Early on, and repeatedly thereafter, we learn that the gods favor Temüjin. They break his chains, trouble the dreams old men and monks, and give weathermen fits, all for their beloved Temüjin. With hammer-to-head subtlety. It's too bad the movie doesn't give Temüjin more of a chance to make his own destiny, instead of stumbling into it.

There is a love story here. Temüjin and Borte, Mrs. Temüjin, are loving khan-to-be and wife. It's a good thing to, since Temüjin needs his wife to bail him out of trouble in a big way. It's like Hart to Hart, only more violent.

When Temüjin and his band of merry Mongols do draw blades and go to work, the film comes into its own. The fight scenes are great: well choreographed, well-performed, with enough requisite blood-spattering to keep the kids in the audience happy. I just with there was more of it.

Mongol paints Temüjin as the Mongol of the next generation. Knowing a bit of history, I'm not sure he was so much a new sort of Mongol than the apex Mongol of his age. It's the choice the film makes and, I'm curious, how it will play out if what I heard is true and Mongol is the first film of a trilogy covering the entire life of the great khan. How will the no-woman, no-child killing Temüjin fit in with the city-razing, kingdom obliterating Ghengis Khan? I guess we'll find out in film #2 because there's no hint of that sort of character arc here.

Much more interesting than Temüjin is Jamuka, blood-brother and then rival. The actor, Honglei Sun, does an awesome job with the role. He's great fun to watch and steals every scene he's in. The movie really rises when he's on the screen and sinks down when he's not. I found myself more interested in his story than Temüjin's. That's probably not a good sign.

When we finally get to the great finale of the film, it's not quite as great as the build up would suggest. I won't spoil it but I found the denouement a bit of a bummer. Just as the movie was getting my blood flowing, it fumbles and let's me down. KHAAAAAAAN!

This may have been the worst time for me to see this film. I'm currently finishing a book, Story about building and shaping story arcs and plots (for a project I will discuss later) so I was hyper-conscious about the story elements of the film which I think is it's weakest link. Maybe if I had a lobotomy, the film might work better (that sounds harsher than I mean it to but what the hell!)

After all is said and done, I did have fun with it, but not as much fun as I was ready and willing to have. I was disappointed but it wasn't a complete failure. It'll fair better on video when I'll be able to skip to the good parts. As my friend Chris told me after we discussed the film over some Jameson on the rocks (him) and Diet Coke (me), he said, "I can see your criticisms and I agree but, whatever, I fucking loved it." There you have it.