Over the weekend I saw one of the best movies of 2008.

Yes, that's right "of 2008".

What with finals and project I only got to one movie during the whole Dubai International Film Festival, but man, was it the right movie - Mongol.

It's about the early life of Ghengis Khan. And it's just friggin' epic.

It's better than "Braveheart".

Yes, 1995's Best Picture and winner of Best Director, "Braveheart".

Either way, "Braveheart" and "Mongol" share a few key similarities in the 'clan' mentality of violence. Keep in mind that this picture might be too violent for the kids or our more sensitive readers. There's a good amount of sword-fighting and while it's not gratuitous like a Hollywood movie (no flying limbs or lingering shots of downed warriors) of course there's some blood.

And that's the charm of this movie - it takes what I consider the best elements of Hollywood action movies: very well choreographed fight sequences, a rousing score, quality production values, and yes, the driving theme of "revenge" - but adds a nice big layer of indie cred. The fact that the dialogue is in Mongolian is charming, I love that we don't recognize any of the actors (no "hey it's that dude from _______") but they're all excellent performances, and the visuals of Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan are just amazing.

In fact, if Kazakhstan is smart at all they'll promote the heck out of this - while Borat might have made them a household name in the states, this picture will draw tourists in.

It's that beautiful.

I honestly cannot say enough good things about this movie. I just can't wait until this summer when it comes out in the US. I'm dragging all of my friends to it opening weekend.

Until then, I have to find another movie or two by the director, Sergei Bodrov. He's a talented dude.