The 13th Warrior

Rating:
Summary: Antonio Banderas in a Micheal Crichton movie, awesome
Review: I have always enjoyed Banderas in all of his works. I like him in Desperado and I knew I would in the 13th Warrior. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. Micheal Crichton wrote a great script and it almost follows along with the book. I loved the premise, 'An Arabian in a foreign land forced to do battle with a mortal enemy alongside a band of Northmen'. Beside having a strong character of Ibn Fabian, all of the other character were just as good and well played. I definitely recommend this one.

Rating:
Summary: Too much fighting, not enough common sense
Review: This is a classic example of a movie that had almost no thought put into its plot. It is a series of fights, interrupted from time to time with scenes of dialogue that raise more questions than they answer.

The 13th Warrior begins with a scene of Ambassador Ahmet (who existed in real life) headed north after being sent away so he won't fool around with the king's wife. He and his small retinue bump into a passing Viking gang, and for reasons never explained (oooo, a mystic!)Ahmet must join a band of 13 Vikings in a mission to help a semi-feudal village that is under attack. Even more odd is Ahmet's decision to join the Vikings. He already has a mission, and doesn't seem to be under any duress to join. Even a throw-away line along the lines of, "I decided to go, so I could learn more about these North People who I will need to understand as ambassador" would have helped provide a reason for his leaving his band of courtiers and traveling with the Vikings.

Along the way Ahmet learns how to speak the Viking language by, apparently, watching the Vikings talk. Never are we shown a Viking saying a word and tying it to an item, so that an observer might be able to attach meaning to the words. Yet somehow our hero learns the language. What are the odds of that?

At this point The 13th Warrior becomes a sort of a Viking "Seven Samauri," with our Viking heroes gathering the village people (the serfs, not the disco group, though if *those* Village People appeared it would not have surprised me) to defend the town against a band of cannibals who are (again) never fully explained.

During the ensuring battle scenes, there is an attempt to show a juxtaposition between the culture of Ahmet the Muslum and Rennaisance Man and that of the crude but effective Vikings. For example, Ahmet has trouble wielding a Viking broadsword but once he has a curved scimitar made to order he is ready to rock (of course, later, when the band sorties on a mission to attack the cannibals, Ahmet has a Viking broadsword tied to his back and the scimitar is nowhere in sight). Also, just before a big battle, Ahmet suddenly drops to his knees to pray as Muslims do five times a day (though we never see him do it at any other time). Anyway, you can *almost* feel the threads of a plot here revolving around Ahmet as an observer of another culture, but it never is clear nor develops (just like the rest of the movie).

There are many instances where events make no sense. The cannibal tribe at one point early on seems to have kicked the Vikings' butts and are burning the village, then withdraw at the sound of a horn for no apparent reason. It just means they have to attack again later, after the village has time to recover a bit. There also seems to be some voodoo involved in that the Vikings (and Ahmet, for a little while) don't know if the cannibals are men or spirits. It's unclear why there is any doubt, since the cannibals look like guys with animal headdresses and fall when they are stabbed. And throughout the movie it appears that the odds are something like 20 or 30 to 1 against the Vikings (and the cannibals are on horses!), yet somehow we have a happy ending.

The movie *tries* to draw on a theme of honor and courage. The Viking leader is noble and fights until he can no longer fight. But that theme is underminded by the numerous plot holes. Why should we care about these people and what they fight for? Why are there only 13? Why do the cannibals attack? How did this start? Without answers to basic questions (and no clear indication of a moral cause), the idea of honor falls flat.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but ultimately a let-down.
Review: There's just not enough about Norse mythology and imagery out there. There. I said it. I'd say it again if I had too. Sadly, this film, though set in the period, with promising landscapes and sets, seems to revert to standard action fare after half an hour.

Antonion is always value for money, and the cast of relative unknowns is surprisingly compelling. Set-pieces are nicely executed and there is some genuine menace in a few scenes. At the end of the day, though, there's just too little direction to make this picture anything more than a diverting curiosity.

Rating:
Summary: Good show
Review: This is one of the best movies of 1999. but unfortunatly it has one big flaw. It was tooo short. i would wish it was 2 and a half hours long at least....But well done

Rating:
Summary: Believe it or not, an under-rated movie
Review: OK, hear me out on this one. I was pleasantly surprised by this movie, and didn't understand all of the intense dislike of it. The juxtaposition of two wildly different cultures was interesting--and provided nuances you rarely see in your normal hack and slash movie. Banderas was effective as an Arab poet-turned-warrior who earns the respect of his Viking cohorts first when he learns their language by sheer observation.If you're expecting highly intense psychological portrayals of the characters, and great witty dialogue, you WILL be disappointed! But that's not what this movie is about--I think every movie should be honored in the spirit it was intended. This is a movie about MOOD--a creepy, dank mood, filled with great atmospheric cinematography and good battle scenes with fairly inexplicable bad guys. I like how there's silences in this film, as well as plenty of unexplained things. (after all, the protagonists don't know what the heck is going on either!)Citizen Kane it is not, but this is a highly satisfying piece of entertainment--to use a food metaphor, not fine cuisine but not junk food, either.Oh yeah, having a hero being portrayed as Arab--and not being automatically categorized as a terrorist, madman or other bad guy--is pretty cool, too.

Rating:
Summary: where was the fast forward button when I needed it?
Review: I thought the movie would be worth watching simply because Antonio is in it--I was wrong. I kept watching because I thought "this has to get better." I was disappointed on that account. Several of the co-stars are wonderful--bringing humor into a dark, corny movie. But I too often found myself rolling my eyes mumbling "yeah, right."

Rating:
Summary: Incomprehensible Viking Tale
Review: The trailers for "13th Warrior" looked pretty exciting. But, this film about a poet forced to become a warrior (Antonio Banderas), is a waste of talent.

The incoherent story makes almost no sense (apparantly there were editing problems) -- things happen way too fast and are never explained. This is the biggest flaw of many about this film.

For other . . . customers who are planning to see this film, don't. This movie is a rip-off of Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai". The battle scenes in "13th Warrior" (and even some of the characters) are stolen from that great samurai masterpiece.

Avoid this unfocused piece of rubbish and see "Seven Samurai", because that is an amazing film with a coherent story and better effort put into it.

Rating:
Summary: An Overedited Epic
Review: I just finished watching this film (DVD, excellent image & sound, IMHO) and loved it. It just left me wanting more -- and when I read the primary review on Amazon's page concerning the film, I see why; it suffered in the cutting room, probably overseen by someone who doesn't understand the genre. Those of us who love this type of storytelling live for epic length films. This *story* deserves to be near in place with the likes of SEVEN SAMURAI, and that's 207 minutes long. Hopefully, John McTiernan will gather up the original print, get with Criterion, and give us a director's cut.

Also a note to studios, don't insult your viewers' intelligence with a "recommended viewing" menu option and then put things like DEAD PRESIDENTS as recommended viewing if you liked 13TH WARRIOR.

Rating:
Summary: for all those who believe movies should entertain
Review: I actually seen this movie on the big screen hence my desire to own my own copy. Bandieras follower I am and his gradual acceptance and understanding of the northmen mythology and their tacit acceptance of him, leads the film to a lot of interesting,funny and exciting times. Critics must remember, movies you go to be entertained and it is right up there with the early Conan movies and The Dragon Slayer. Like I said if you do not want to be entertained, do not go to the movies. From an Aussie who did enjoy this flick and coincidently hated American beauty as a waster of time. In the session I saw of American Beauty, some wag up the back at the beginning of the credits yelled out "what a f...... lot of rot". The audience cracked up and everyone went home laughing. Have a nice day

Rating:
Summary: Very good movie
Review: I felt the movie was very entertaining and i very muched enjoyed watching it several times. I am a person who likes adventure movies and if you are like me then you will love this movie; especially if you like Brave Heart.