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'Mongol'

Rating:

BY JOHN ANDERSON | Special to Newsday

June 6, 2008

PLOT How Ghengis Khan got that way

CAST Tadanobu Asano, Khulan Chuluun, Honglei Sun

LENGTH 2:06

PLAYING AT Sunshine Cinemas, Lincoln Plaza, Manhattan.

Coming June 20 to Cinema Arts Centre, Huntington

BOTTOM LINE Bold, epic battle-happy movie that humanizes the world-conqueror and gives him plenty to be aggressive about.

Behind every successful leader of a bloodthirsty Mongol horde is a good woman - at least according to this highly entertaining, sweeping historical epic, directed by Russian Sergei Bodrov ("Prisoner of the Mountain").

"Mongol" amounts to the creation myth of Ghengis Khan, the 12th century founder of history's largest contiguous empire, a story replete with highly stylized mayhem, blood rolling through the air like crimson marbles, and, yes, romance: If the objective was to humanize a man synonymous with conquest and invasion, Bodrov does a good job.

As portrayed by Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano ("Last Life in the Universe"), Khan, born Temudgin, was more interested in protecting his beautiful wife, Borte (Khulan Chuluun), than rampaging across the steppes. But his hand is forced, by his blood brother, Jamukha (Honglei Sun), and the seeds of the Mongol Empire are borne. Mostly on horseback.