Nomad
(aka Nomad: The Warrior)
2005; directed by Sergey Bodrov and Ivan Passer

Despite a troubled production that included a total change in directors mid-way through filming, the 2005 Kazhk film Nomad would seem to have the makings of a great historical epic, with sweeping locations and some solid imported action stars in the form of Jason Scott Lee (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story) and Mark Dacascos (Drive, Brotherhood of the Wolf). But it seems to be satisfied in merely touching on the cornerstones of the genre and hoping that'll be enough to leave the audience satisfied, making no effort to set itself apart from the rest of the pack.

The basic story tells the tale of Mansur (Kuno Becker), a warrior who has been destined to bring together the Kazhk people and defeat their oppressors. Most of the running time is unfortunately not dominated by the "one enormous action sequence after another" promised by the blurb on the cover, but rather conventional (and, frankly, quite tired) genre elements like the fact that Mansur is actually a sultan's son, he's in love with his best friend's girl, none of the Kazhk leaders trust him, and so on and so forth. If you can get past the trite nature of the story, you'll have to put aside other elements, such as the savior of the Eurasian Kazhk people apparently being a dude who is so whitebread that he makes Paul Walker look like a hardcore gangsta thug by comparison.

To its' credit, Nomad isn't totally horrible. In fact, there are some parts of it that are quite good. Overall, this is a fabulous looking movie that really showcases the stunning Kazakhstan countryside as well as the gorgeous set designs and costumes. And when there is some action going on, it's generally well-made and exciting. Granted, it's nowhere near the level of the better entries in the genre like Braveheart and Red Cliff, but the battle scenes are suitably stirring, featuring nice cinematography and editing, along with a few welcome dashes of blood to liven up the proceedings.

At the end of the nearly two-hour running time, though, one might tend to get an incomplete feeling, since there's no really huge battle scene or plot twist to give the finale the extra oomph they would probably expect from this type of film. As it stands, Nomad provides some sumptuous eye candy, but that's not nearly enough for the picture to ascend from the realm of the average.

RATING: 5