Genghis Khan
战神纪
China, 2018, colour, 2.35:1, 115 mins.
Director: Hasichaolu 哈斯朝鲁.
Rating: 4/10.
Ancient Mongols meet VFX monsters in an utterly routine action-drama centred on the young warrior.
STORY
Mongolia, c. 3rd century AD. Following a 900-year cycle, the King of Hell rises up and tries to subdue the people of the grasslands but is beaten back to the underworld by Mongolian war god Chi Na (Chen Weiting), the descendant of a grey wolf and white deer from mythic times. Almost 1,000 years later, in the mid-12th century, Temujin is born to Yesugei (Bayaneruul), leader of the Khitan tribe, and as a boy (Li Daixi) grows up with Börte (Gaozhaoqingya), daughter of Dei-Sechen Noran (Baasanjav Mijid), leader of the Onggirat tribe. Meanwhile, in preparation for another assault on the human world, the King of Hell has been spreading war and conflict. When the warrior Kuchuru (Hu Jun) is killed, the King of Hell makes an offer to his wife Dodai (Zhang Xinyi) to make him immortal in exchange for her soul, a deal she accepts. Temujin’s father ends up killed by his brother, Targutai Girildeg (Zhao Lixin), and when Temujin has grown to manhood he is told to go off and marry childhood sweetheart Börte, whom he has not seen for years. After being saved from hostile warriors by the friendly Bo’orchu (Baoyin’gexige), Temujin (Chen Weiting) finally meets Börte (Lin Yun) and marries her. However, their wedding night is cut short by the arrival of Kuchuru, who’s been told by the King of Hell that the Onggirat tribe, with its beautiful women, contains the Blood of Mother Earth that will unlock the Gates of Hell, as well as release Kuchuru’s beloved Dodai who’s been held in suspended animation. Kuchuru and his devil army kidnap Börte and take her back to his mountain fortress. Temujin, later joined by Bo’orchu, sets off in hot pursuit.
REVIEW
The mediaeval Mongol meets VFX monsters in Genghis Khan 战神纪, an utterly routine costume movie that centres on the attempts by the sulky young warrior to retrieve his bride from a disciple of the King of Hell. Claiming to be the first film about the young Genghis, aka Temujin – not true, remember the Russian Mongol Монгол (2007), partly shot in China? – it’s not helped by the lead casting of Hong Kong singer-actor Chen Weiting 陈伟霆, who looks like he got lost on the way to a rock concert. The hawk-eyed but somewhat metrosexual Chen, 32, can be okay in Hong Kong urban fare (Ex 前度, 2010; Hi, Fidelity 出轨的女人, 2011) or even as a half-VFX sci-fi figure (L.O.R.D: Legend of Ravaging Dynasties 爵迹, 2016); but as a young version of the famed warrior he’s neither inspiring nor believable, even in a film that has only a glancing relationship with the truth. Comprehensively out-acted by the rest of the cast, Chen goes down with the ship. Mainland box office was a feeble RMB38 million.
Though it should at least have been called Young Genghis Khan in English, the film is still unavoidably hobbled by a conventional, computer-generated script (the work of five writers) that drags itself from one Mongolian cliche to another – grasslands, brotherhood, horse riding, ethnic stuff – and is given fleeting signs of life only by some of the mixed Chinese and Mongolian cast. China’s reliable Hu Jun 胡军 glowers and mumbles darkly as the King of Hell’s rather fed-up disciple, 22-year-old Lin Yun 林允 (who shot to fame with Mermaid 美人鱼, 2016) puts some occasional life into Temujin’s kidnapped bride, and Li Guangjie 李光洁 (the chief villain in Hanson and the Beast 二代妖精之今生有幸, 2017) adds brief stature as a sworn brother of Temujin, but the rest of the cast (including VFX-draped actress Zhang Xinyi 张歆艺) punch the clock and collect their wages. Mongolian veteran Baasanjav Mijid 巴森扎布, who’s played Genghis Khan himself during his career, lends some mellow gravitas as the kidnapped bride’s father.
Given the lack of any involving relationships or chemistry – least of all between Temujin and his bride – Genghis ticks off the setpieces (sandstorm, snowslide, horse race, various battles) prior to the inevitable VFX onslaught as the King of Hell reappears near the end. The last half-hour is a real slog, not helped by a generic action score that churns away in the background. Other technical credits are solid, from the VFX to the widescreen grasslands photography by Yang Shu 杨述 (The Equation of Love and Death 李米的猜想, 2008; Cock and Bull 追凶者也, 2016), but are given no special bounce by the pedestrian direction of Hasichaolu 哈斯朝鲁, an Inner Mongolian film-maker in his early 50s who’s better at smaller fare (The Old Barber 剃头匠, 2006; Good Earth 大地, 2009) than corny warhorses like this. (The film’s final shot has to be seen to be believed.)
Veteran French director Jean-Jacques Annaud, 74, whose last film was the Inner Mongolia-shot Wolf Totem 狼图腾 (2015), is credited as creative producer 监制, though what his involvement entailed is anyone’s guess. The Chinese title means “Era of the War God”.
CREDITS
Presented by China Film (CN), Inner Mongolia Film Group (CN), Wasu Media & Network (CN), Fundamental Films (CN), Soovii (Hangzhou) (CN), Orient Dadi (CN), H&B Film Investment (CN), Zhejiang Yongkang Classic Film & TV (CN), Guangdong Watts Studio Film Media (CN).
Script: Zhuo Gehe, Hasichaolu, Zhang Zhiguang, Tian Huiqun, Bodelingya. Photography: Yang Shu. Editing: Li Yongyi. Music: Zha Gan. Production design: Liu Minxiong [Ben Lau]. Art direction: Zhou Shihong. Styling: Lai Xuanwu. Sound: Li Zhizhong, Steve Burgess. Action: Wei Yuhai. Horse action: Baoyin’gexige. Visual effects: Andy Wang. Animation: Andy Wang. Executive direction: Yang Wei.
Cast: Chen Weiting (Temujin; Chi Na, war god), Lin Yun (Börte), Hu Jun (Kuchuru), Ni Dahong (old shaman), Li Guangjie (Jamuqa Noran, Temujin’s sworn brother), Zhao Lixin (Targutai Girildeg, Temujin’s uncle), Zhang Xinyi (Dodai, Kuchuru’s wife), Baasanjav Mijid (Dei-Sechen Noran, Börte’s father), Tumen (Hoboyan, Bo’orchu’s father), Bayaneruul (Yesugei, Temujin’s father), Yong Mei (Hoelun), Baoyin’gexige (Bo’orchu), Chen Sixuan (Hawwa), Faraji (Zhawu), Baisiguleng (Harku), Siligeng (Mogan), Li Daixi (young Temujin), Gaozhaoqingya (young Börte), Li Ming.
Premiere: Beijing Film Festival (Closing Film), 23 Apr 2018.
Release: China, 28 Apr 2018.