_**The Origins of the Great Khan**_ As a boy, I had a bit of a fascination with Genghis Khan (meaning Great King) and even drew a picture of him titled, naturally, "Temujin," his actual name. I don't know what it was that attracted me; likely his cool-sounding title and world-conquering exploits. With the exception of Iron Maiden's great instrumental, "Genghis Khan," that ended my flirtation with this historical figure. That is, until I saw the Russian-made "Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan" (2007) yesterday. As the title suggests, the film explores Temujin's origins and what led to him becoming the great king of the Mongols and world-terrorizer. Despite being a foreign film with subtitles the movie successfully pulled me into its world and characters. The Mongols on the vast Asian steppes lived similar to American plains Indians. I've seen numerous photos of Mongols living on the steppes with their yurts, etc. over the years, but I could never relate to them as people. Just as, say, "Dances With Wolves" made American Natives come alive to the viewer so this film does with Mongols. "Mongol" eschews the American "blockbuster" syndrome and simply tells the story of Temujin from his early boyhood to his crowning as the great Khan. Although there's a steady amount of action throughout, there are a lot of quiet lulls with Temujin calmly waiting-out his various imprisonments and s…

Now if you were expecting something along the lines of John Wayne and Stephen Boyd's classic "The Conqueror" (1956) then you are going to be disappointed. This is an altogether more fantastic - and much better acted - adventure telling us of the more mystical rise of "Temujin" (Tadanobu Asano) from the son of a twelfth century tribal leader of goat herders into the master of vast tracts of Asia. It all starts with his friendship with "Borte" (Khulan Chuluun) which leads to their betrothal in childhood. When his father is poisoned and their camp destroyed, he vows to return for her and sets off on some vengeful adventures of his own. Unfortunately for him, though, his nemesis "Jamukha" (Honglei Sun) has made an arrangement with the King of Hell, and that has rendered him immortal so he can kill "Temujin" and deliver "Borte" to the King in return. With the danger ever mounting for the nomadic peoples of his land in the face of this monstrous warlord, it falls to "Temujin" to unite where he can whilst figuring out a way to thwart his determined enemy and his army of creepy-crawlies. Now I did quite enjoy this, but it reminded me of too many other features to smack much of any originality: "Krull" and "Lord of the Rings" seem to have inspired at least some of the cinematography and style of this film, and though the photography of real-life Mongolian yurts looks plausible, to be ho…

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