Before the filming of "The Mongol King", I was interested because Sun Honglei wanted to participate in the topic of a foreign film.
Later, after the release of the movie, I suddenly found that the bad image of Sun Honglei's character was probably really not suitable for the words and deeds of the Mongols, but it is undeniable that "The Mongol King" is indeed a good movie.
As a Russian, Mongolian and Kazakh co-production film, it tries to show Temujin's magnificent life. However, Temujin's life is too legendary, and there have been too many battles of all sizes, and there are still many legends surrounding Temujin.
Therefore, this film does not target the production method of Hollywood commercial blockbusters, and uses a slow autobiographical narrative rhythm to deeply present Temujin's spiritual things.
Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano plays the adult Temujin, and Sun Honglei plays Temujin's former brother and later nemesis Zamuhe.
Probably, the director is to highlight the calmness of Temujin, so the performance of Zamuhe' words and deeds played by Sun Honglei always has a feeling of Liu Huaqiang's possession.
The character of Zamuhe was a failure, but Temujin was very successful, especially the mature charm of Asano Tadanobu, which fits Temujin's growth process after experiencing hardships, but he lacks the courage to sweat a little.
The film uses flashbacks and interludes, beginning with Temujin being locked in a cage, introducing the growth of a slave to the Great Khan as a child who witnessed his father being poisoned by his enemies, his tribe being taken advantage of by servants, and his chosen wife having to be temporarily separated.
Historically, Temujin not only unified all the tribes of Mongolia, but even launched many foreign wars to conquer the Black Sea coastal regions of Central Asia and Eastern Europe, so he was also revered as Genghis Khan.
However, if the process of Temujin's eastern expedition to the west is really shown, it will not only cost a lot of money, but even degenerate into the same fate as other character biographies, that is, form is greater than content.
Therefore, the director did not do this, he focused all his attention on Temujin, and limited his grudge to the relationship with Zamu, so that he could also free up more time to spy on and show Temujin's inner spiritual qualities.
A woman is Temujin's lifelong concern, but this love scene is not so bloody, and the love between Temujin and Bo Erti interprets the truth that "behind the success of men there is always a woman silently supporting".
However, this support of Bo Erti was too fierce, and even Berer Ti was taken away several times by the enemy family because of temujin's relationship, and he also gave birth to children for the enemy.
In the movie, it takes a lot of time to show Temujin's upheaval from childhood to adulthood, the first half of his life is almost spent in prison, several times into slavery, and his side, there are always noble people to help, this point, the director filmed too mysterious.
An old servant in charge of guarding Temujin and giving him food to take care of him, an old monk who can predict the future, sending a distress signal to Temujin with his life, and a wife named BoErti never gave up looking for Temujin and eventually rescued him from the cage.
I don't know if the historical Temujin also had noble people to help, but since he was able to unify Mongolia and scare the Eurasian countries, then there must be something superior about this person, and in the movie, his faith and willpower are his spiritual core.
The costumes and props in "The Mongol King" can be said to be very elaborate, almost completely restoring the costumes and living habits of the Mongols in the eleventh century.
Probably, it is difficult for the audience to accept this kind of rough costume, but this is the face of history, but many TV series have made Temujin's history either martial arts or idolized with filters.
The climax of the movie is the duel between Temujin and Zamuhe, without gorgeous special effects, which restores the scene of mongolian immediate combat.
However, here Temu really won more with less, and actually added natural factors, that is, the Mongols were afraid of lightning, which eventually led to the defeat of zamu's combined army.
I guess the director is here to use lightning to complete the end of the war, presumably to echo the discussion between Temujin and his father about lightning when he was a child, and also to reflect temujin's bravery.
Although there are only a few battles in "The Mongol King", the scenes in the first half of this war are still hot and boiling, especially Temujin's heavily armed iron horses against many enemies with primitive weapons, which is quite enjoyable.
It can also be seen from here that Temujin really has military talents, and he was the first to realize the principle of forming an invincible iron horse, so it is inevitable that he can unify Mongolia.
Sun Honglei's portrayal of Zamuhe is not good, even if he won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the 2008 Asian Film Festival for this role, it really can't be compared with Asano Tadanobu, who played Temujin.
The publicity of the bad guys can be there, but Sun Honglei's too many small actions in the movie expose the weakness of the heart when shaping the role.
The film "The Mongol King" has a low degree of attention in China, almost no decent battles for more than two hours, and it is more literary, but it is indeed a good movie, and it may be better to be able to extend this and make a TV series.