Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea by Sawai Shinichiro (2007)
20 February 2008A Japanese Epic blockbuster of the story of the great Mongol General, that is an enjoyable popcorn film, but does not seem deep at all. The film feels more like a plastic Hollywood film than a great epic, as the film has an almost all Japanese cast, and is all in Japanese and sounds like a samurai film in the performances and dialogue. And the film never has much depth to it, glossing over emotions, even in things like him meeting his second wife. It fells rushed, but the battles are pretty damn intense, with some amazing horse stunts, and there must have been endless extras (it was the most expensive Japanese film of all time, even if it did bomb). I enjoyed it, but wouldn’t recommend it to many.
In the year 1162 the Mongolian tribes are not united, they all fight with each other, and even steal women from each other, and the leader of the Borjigin tribe Yesugei-Baatar (Hosaka Naoki) steals Houlun (Wakamura Mayumi) from a man of the Merkit tribe, and makes her his wife, though she hopes that her husband will return for her, though he doesn’t. 9 Months later she has a boy and her husband names him Temujin (when grown he will be played by Sorimachi Takashi) and though people think he is Merkit, he takes him as his son. When the boy is 14, and he and Houlun have had more children, he takes Temujin to go and find a wife, and ends up getting engaged to the daughter of a friend of his named Bolte (Kikukawa Rei). He then makes friends with her childhood friend Jamuqa (Hirayama Yuskue), and they make a bond as brothers for life, but then Temujin gets a message that his father has been killed by a poisoned arrow, and he must return home quickly.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS...
Temujin returns to find his tribe leaving, and finds his mother and family, an they set out on their own to make a life for themselves. Temujin’s brother taunts him that he is a Merkit, and he and another brother kill him because he will drive the family apart, breaking Houlun’s heart, but holding the family together. As Temujin grows, more people are drawn to him, and he tries to protect his people. He returns to go find his fiancee, but it has been 7 years, and they thought he was dead, so she is now engaged to his friend Jamuga. Temujin is going to leave, but Jamuga says to let Bolte decide and she decides on Temujin, though she will be poor. They are happy for a bit, but then the Merkit attack and take her. It takes 6 months for Temujin to go to the Khan and get help from Jamuga to go to war and get his wife back, but he finds out that she is pregnant, and he doesn’t think it is his son. She gives birth to a boy, and he wants to kill the child, but Houlun stops him, and he names the boy Jochi (Matsuyama Ken’ichi), though he never treats him right.
Eventually Temujin gets more and more powerful, and he is asked by Toyril Khan (Matsukata Hiroki) to help him join with the Qin to fight the Tartars, and he agrees, and they clean up, but the Khan then tells Temujin that he should take out his friend Jamuga, because he will not honor his agreement, and wants to be the Khan himself, but Temujin will honor his pledge. So the Khan goes to Jamuga to use him to defeat Temujin.
On the way home Temujin runs into some stranglers that they have fought before, and he meets a female warrior named Kulan (Korean actress Ara), who he does not treat as a woman, but as a warrior, and she joins him as a warrior, and because he treats her so well, she gives herself to him, and becomes his second wife.
Temujin sends his son off to fight in the North, and then gets his army together to go fight the Khan and Jamuga, but is badly defeated, and hit by a poison arrow and almost killed, but just before he dies he is saved by his friend, and they go back and defeat their enemies. Jamuga killed the Khan himself, and Temujin takes him, and he wants to be killed by his own hands, so he kills Jamuga and makes himself the Khan.
Temujin becomes Genghis Khan, and he declares that he will go to war with the Jin, but he wants his son to return, but his son begs off sick, so he heads of to kill him if he is faking. He finds his son dyeing, and blind, hit by a poison arrow, and he dies making his father proud, and Genghis Khan heads off to take on the Chinese, sending an arrow in the name of his son.
••••
An enjoyable epic, but it could have been better, and though their is a cast of thousands and thousands, it does not seem like it should be the most expensive movie ever made!