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Massawyrm Swears Loyalty To MONGOL!!
Hola all. Massawyrm here.
One of my biggest beefs with the film 300 was that I so loved the comic it was adapted from. But not only did I love the comic, I loved the original historical story. The reason I not only tolerated but embraced so many historical inconsistencies in Miller's original work was his unique take on Leonidas and his 300 Spartans. You're not supposed to like them. Not at first. Despite being some of histories greatest heroes, Miller presented them – Leonidas especially – as a bloodthirsty pack of assholes. When first we meet them we watch as a soldier trips over a rock. No big deal, right? His captain sure seems to think so. The captain walks up and mercilessly begins to pummel the shit out of him. That's when we meet Leonidas. He strides up and with a single punch to the back of the skull knocks his captain out cold. He looks down at the punished soldier and grumbles out the unforgettable phrase "Your Captain sleeps. You will carry him on your back." Then he says "And no food until journey's end. For any of us."
It stuns you. What a prick, you think and continue reading. Leonidas does little to win you back. He's not a nice guy. He's not a killer with a heart of gold. He's a badass. An unrelenting force of nature. But as the book moves along you begin to like him more and more. Not because he's revealed some deep, softer side, but because you understand him. You realize that in order to do what he and his men are about to do, you must be the coldest, toughest, orneriest bastard that ever walked the earth. And he is.
My problem with Zach Snyder's screen adaptation is that he left that element out almost completely. His Leonidas has a heart; he can be tender. He loves his wife. He smiles a lot. He's a badass because the movie says he is. He just turned out that way. They'll gladly show you in slow motion just how badass he is. Just watch. But that philosophy that drives Leonidas? It's more modern and likable. Where Miller's comic was about putting you in the head of a totally alien culture and mindset, Snyder's version is about getting the look of the comic right.
What I love about the film Mongol is that it takes the same approach to telling the story of Genghis Khan as Miller did to telling that of Leonidas. There is no attempt to make apologies for him. No attempt to try to modernize the philosophies of the culture to make it more palpable to audiences. Genghis Khan, or as he is called throughout this film by his given name Temujin, lives in a rather lawless despotism. And for all intents and purposes, he is himself a local despot.
Now don't get me wrong, Temujin has a heart. A big one. He loves his wife, his family, his children. But it is that love, and the cruelty of the separation from them he keeps suffering that drives him to become the man we know as one of histories greatest conquerors. Mongol takes you step by step through his life, giving each victory and each loss equal weight, so that by the time we reach the climax, by the time he is awarded the title Genghis Khan, you understand things from his point of view. When he executes people for a crime that we in our culture would probably not even consider a crime, you don't even flinch. By that point you really see his side of things. Temujin MUST unite the Mongols. He must go to war. Blood must be spilled or this utter lawlessness will continue and his people will be crushed under the boot of foreign aggressors.
And that's the beauty of Mongol. Through the language of film, complete with action, adventure, love and longing, it presents to you an entirely different perspective on a historical figure more often lumped in with Adolph Hitler than he is the likes of Alexander the Great. And it does so without attempting to white wash things. You see that what he's doing doesn't jive with modern sensibilities. But it certainly makes sense to you in context of his time and place.
But how is it apart from philosophical and historical perspectives? Fucking awesome. The battles are brutal and bloody, the action seething and tense. And despite the fact that this film details Temujin's life from childhood to the beginning of his days as supreme ruler of Mongolia, there's almost no fat at all. It is a lean, tightly paced film that is as much a love story as it is a bloody historical epic. This has all the hallmarks of films like Braveheart or Ridley Scott's directors cut of Kingdom of Heaven. Perfect in execution, despite being part 1 of a 3 part trilogy, it doesn't feel like it. It is complete. It feels like Temujin's arc has run its course. And really, it has. He becomes Genghis Khan, and what Genghis Khan does is another story entirely. But there isn't this overwhelming sense of emptiness at the end like there is with most deliberately made part 1's (I'm looking at you Golden Compass and Fellowship.)
The cinematography is epic, the story profound and rich, and every single action beat delivers 100%. Sweeping, majestic, and entertaining every step of the way. This is one of the best things I've seen all year. There are those who were at BNAT that felt thatCharlie Wilson's War was the best thing that played. And I was one of them. Then there were those that felt that this was. And honestly, I have a very hard time arguing with those folks. This film is perfect, and it all really comes down to aesthetics. Either way, this film is a visual masterpiece and will readily top a large number of next years Top 10 lists. If you've ever enjoyed a foreign film, you have no reason whatsoever not to put this on your radar immediately. Mongol is currently slated for a summer release and that cannot come soon enough so I can dig in and enjoy this again. This comes with The Highest of Recommendations.
Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.
Massawyrm
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On a roll today, muthafuckas.
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I'm with the Horde on this one!!
Sounds like it'll ROCK !!! -
How many avatars is this dude going to have. Moriarty's had the same one for years, this guy needs to choose one and stick with it.
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Your great-grandson is awesome.
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Directors, actors, is there an official site? Sounds interesting.
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And I'm just glad someone spelled it right for once. Most idiots spell it "Kahn".
Can't wait to see this. About time my peeps got represented right. ^_^ -
http://www.mongolfilm.ru/site/en/about/
And Ichi the Killer's playing Khan, can't be better than that! -
I just hope there's a seen of some razed village and a man says "who did this?" and another dude goes "KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!"
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...I read it as "Mongul" and thought for a moment something cool was up with a possible Superman Returns sequel. Shoulda known better. Don't really care about Genghis Khan except for the fact that what finally stopped him was... my people, the Poles. Yep... joke all you want about us and lightbulbs, but you'd all be eating sweat-cured horseflesh and drinking fermented mare's milk if it wasn't for us.
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Dude, Alexander himself should be lumped together with Hitler and the rest. He was mass-murdering megalomaniac. Still, always excited about historical epics!
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Saw it at TIFF, and could barely keep awake. And before you say "well you must be one of those MTV generation kids with no attention span".... I've enjoyed the original Stalker/Solaris, and a pile of other films that would require patience. This one was just..... not very good.
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I will be going to see this film. I'm going to investigate this. I assume it's a foreign film?
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if anyone cares, it's on the usual suspects for the torrents with english subtitles on the 'nova. I just went to the website for this flick and it was one of those experiences where it's exactly as you picture it looking in your head - the dark, almost rainy aesthetics. It's almost like an ancient Lone Wolf & Cub with body armor. I'm really stoked this is the first in three films. Such ambition eludes Hollywood these days - this looks like a hard-R film as well.
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am i right folks huh huh?? it's just one of those to-do things
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But "300" was, hands down, one of the best movies of 2007. And I love the graphic novel.
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supposedly, i'm related to temujin..but i got a western sized dick, mongoloia, Siberia, russia and england,so midol or anna valerious.. think of me while you masturbate..cuz i'm a superpimp......what?
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"My problem with Zach Snyder's screen adaptation is that he left that element out almost completely."And why not in this political climate? Especially when the "western" protagonists are clashing with persians. To slaughter them wholesale for nothing other than self-preservation would be... bigotry... in this day and age.And having since met Millar in the flesh, I doubt that he would appreciate this story having been interpreted the way he originally wrote it. It no longer matters the journey of strife and sacrifice against unseemly odds once you start gazing through a politically correct prism. Because, after that, everything is merely racially motivated. Of course.Where I find humor in this is that the point would be made clearer had the source material been adhered to much more finely as Wyrm suggests it should have been. With a Leonidas we are loathe to cheer on, we leave ourselves to examining his inhumanity. And, after all, isn't it inhumane for such a "westerner" to even hazard the thought of doing any harm at all to any persian, anywhere? Wouldn't that have been much more politically expedient... erm, uh... I mean, politically correct by comparison? Wouldn't that have left the viewer with much more to think about after consumption? You know, that whole ART thing?At any rate, it is no large wonder to me why Genghis Khan has been humanized in this flick. In fact, I speculate that he has been humanized for all the same reasons Leonidas was, as well as Che and Hitler before him.
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I really don't know enough about Mongolia's history to know if this is accurate or not. However the movie is a great movie in the artistic and entertaining sense. It seemed that what was being portrayed were aspects of nomadic life in a cultural upheaval. Where the breakdown of their laws and changes within their society structures and traditions where sllowing bully-ish leaders to take the people into petty and brutal wars of vengence using "tradition" for their own self gain and satisfaction. Tamujin is both lost within the upheaval and a victim of it and shapes him into the leader he becomes. I loved this movie. It was my favorite at BNAT.
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Will have to check this out.
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is the definitive Genghis Khan movie as far as i'm concerned, injun, I mean, pal, i mean pilgrim, mean friend.
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...I mean, I know it stars Tadanobu Asano, but I'd like to know who directed the thing...or even the country of origin.=p
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