Nomad: The Warrior (2005) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

Kazakhstan, France 2005
Director: Sergei Bodrov, Ivan Passer
Cast: Kuno Becker, Jay Hernandez, Mark Dacascos, Jason Scott Lee, Ayana Yesmagambetova
Rating: R
Language: Kazakh, English
Release Date: 17 July 2005 (Kazakhstan)
Running Time: 1 hour 52 minutes

The Movie Review

Nomad: The Warrior film still 1


NOMAD: The WARRIOR
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

There were some movies that I was happily lambasting them for their quality. But there are also some movie that have given all they could to give a good performance but still could not hold the flag up high. And honestly it breaks my heart to tell the truth about their low quality. One of those movies is Nomad, a movie belongs to the genre that most of them needed big budget and extravagant clothing, the Epic genre. Unfortunately, Nomad could not make full use out of its budget and its support from the government of Kazakhstan.

Actually seeing Nomad these days is a new injection to the already old Colossal or Epic genre that most of the time always revolves around European tale, so that by knowing that another Epic tale from another country was about to be released, made me have higher expectation than I should have had.

Nomad tells the story Kazakhstan a country between Russia and China in the time where all the people of Kazakhstan are under the depression of the Dzungars, the situation is made worse by the fact that the people of Kazakhstan are not united since they are actually consists of so many different tribes. A wise man named Oraz (Jason Scott Lee) knows a prophecy that one day, a child who is a descendant from Genghis Khan will be born and unite the people of Kazakh to fight the invasion of the Dzungar led by the ruthless Galdan khan (Doskhan Zholzhaksynov).

Oraz the Wise finally finds the boy and save him in time from being slaughtered by Sharish (Mark Dacascos) the leader of Galdan's army, since Galdan also knows the prophecy and would do anything to kill the boy while he is still powerless. Oraz then raise the boy who is named Mansur along with other Boys from respective tribes to teach them how to fight the Dzungars when the time comes. Mansur befriends Erali, and both of them excel the other boys. When they're already grown-up, unfortunately, both of them falls in love with the same girl, Gaukhar (Ayana Yesmagambetova; Ulzhan (2007)). At this time also, the Dzungar is back to plunder the nation of Kazakhstan. Could Mansur (Kuno Becker) and Erali (Jay Hernandez) set aside their hidden conflict and serve the country from further devastation.

Even a great king still needs God's help

Sword and Sandal epic movie probably best accepted by the public back in the 50s and the 60s. After that in this millennium era, they are not such hype anymore. Of course with the exception of Gladiator (2000) and 300 (2006). Particularly 300 was released in March 9th 2007 and Nomad was in March 30th 2007, Thus Nomad would have to face a heavy competition. Although one thing for sure that 300 could not match is that 300 is using computer graphic to create the large Persian army, while Nomad is using real people with all the fabulous costumes and weapons thus making every single soldier in Nomad has their own facial expression.

What I'm trying to say is, a movie has to be darn good to try to break the un-supporting trend. And being a series of clichés, Nomad doesn't seem to feel special. Although honestly thinking, Nomad is a great movie that sort of reminiscences of those 60s epic movies. With great cinematography, costumes and interesting culture and the vigorous actors, Nomad should have been produced with more in-depth development in the story and dialogue department. Hopefully in the future there are other movies about Kazakhstan with more improvement and novelty that would make moviegoers entertained and at the same time know more about Kazakhstan.