The 13th Warrior (1999)

The 13th Warrior (1999)

6/10

Starring:
Antonio Banderas
Diane Venora
Omar Sharif

Directed by John McTiernan

Dark, gritty and enjoyably atmospheric.

Based on the novel Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton, 13th Warrior tells the tale of Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan, an Arab ambassador, as he travels to a faraway land on an errand for his king. Along the way, he encounters the men of the north, pagan warriors who are enlisted by an oracle on a quest to save a kingdom from legendary, mysterious creatures that consume every living thing in their path. Somehow, Ahmed is enlisted among them, becoming the titular 13th warrior.

The movie is arguably not as good as the book, due to the fact that the story was easier to follow in the book than on screen, but the movie is one for the movie fanatics.

McTiernan is credited as director, but in reality Disney fired him, they had different ideas on the way they wanted to movie to flow. Now if the decision is good or not, we will never know, there is no director's cut.

John McTiernan, known for his action films (Die Hard, Die Hard with a Vengeance, and Predator), made sure this movie would not be for the squeamish, as it preys on decapitation, blood, and sword fighting.

The thing that jumps out at you while watching is the score. The music and sound effects capture the tone of the adventure and blend impressively with events. The movie and production were so intense that two horses were injured during filming.

Antonio Banderas' performance in the movie dropped a little from the year before, when he played Alejandro Murrieta/Zorro alongside Anthony Hopkins in the Steven Spielberg-produced Mask of Zorro. He felt wrongly cast, with his accent not helping, and I felt his acting was not on the same level as the other cast around him.

The movie also stars Omar Sharif from Lawrence of Arabia.

With all the violence and blood that plagues the TV screen, you would expect that the movie would be a commercial success, but it was not. The main reason is that the script has no soul. It lacked some very needed depth in character and purpose to make the whole thing matter. It seemed I was watching fantastic scenes after another, with a thin plot holding them all together.

I felt the movie tried to take advantage of the violence in the book and went overboard, as there was an overload of violence, which did not add to the thrill. I felt the movie could have toned that down a bit, for more story.

Lastly, I did not like how it ended either, but that said, it is a choice to see this movie and I will say, do.