Mongol
(Warner Blu-ray + DVD-Video)
Picture:
B+ Sound: B- Extras: C Film:
B+
It’s
nearly impossible to make a biopic film without someone complaining on the
accuracy of the film, especially when there is little known about the central
character, in this case Temudjin (a.k.a. Genghis Khan). That being said,
Sergei Bodrov’s 2007 film Mongol
works on many levels as an epic story on the early years of Temudjin’s life, at
least as accurate as possible with certain artistic liberties taken from time
to time in order to fill in the missing blanks of history. Viewing the
film from this perspective, rather than a meticulous History buff will allow
for more entertainment and enjoyment from the film, rather than treating it
like some sort of documentary.
The film
is sweeping, beautiful, epic, and portrays both the rugged backdrop of war
clashing with a love story and results in a short two hour film that never
feels rushed, but at times we will feel that more gaps needed to be filled, the
film could easily run three hours and still not fully accomplish this. I
personally found it refreshing to finally get a fairly accurate portrayal of
this enigmatic figure, but perhaps the reason why so little is seen of him on
the big screen has to do with poorly made versions thus far, like John Wayne’s
1956 film The Conqueror in which he
played the role of Genghis Khan…apparently people are always confusing
gunslingers from the Old West with Mongolian Emperors. Others might
wonder why Tom Cruise didn’t play the main character here.
Mongol was nominated for a 2007 Academy
Award, and while the film did not win, it certainly helps put the film on the
map in terms of people taking it seriously. This Blu-ray and DVD release
of the film should secure that as well.
First,
the bad…
The film
is presented with a Dolby Digital Mongolian 5.1 audio track on both DVD and
Blu-ray; this is a big letdown as we receive no lossless audio track option for
the Blu-ray. While the audio presentation is fairly solid, it lacks the
depth and resolution that Blu-ray lovers have become accustomed to. While
most people will likely be reading the subtitles, the film does implore a great
deal of music and some exceptional effects that are just far too compressed in
the Dolby Digital audio track.
Now for
the good…
Making up
for not having a lossless audio track, the film is presented in a very
exceptional transfer framed at 2.40 X 1 scope and anamorphically enhanced, the
Blu-ray features the film with a stunning 1080p transfer that showcases the
films beautiful landscapes with superb depth, color range, and overall
fidelity. Much of the film is desert terrain and you can instantly see
the limitations of these scenes on DVD as much of the finer detail becomes
flat, whereas the Blu-ray is able to fully recognize the finer details and give
a far more life-like appearance. Skin tones and darker scenes fair much
better on Blu-ray as well.
Unfortunately
there are no extras, but a digital copy of the film is included.
- Nate Goss
