The 13th Warrior

Starring:  Antonio Banderas, Vladimir Kulich

Also Starring: Mischa Hausserman, Dennis Storhøi, Omar Sharif

Director:  John McTiernan

Box Office Gross:  $32.694m (USA) 

DVD release date:  1/18/2000

Special Extras:  1 theatrical trailer, film recommendations

Options: Subtitles in French and English, soundtracks in French and English. Widescreen only. 5.1 Dolby.

Summary:  In AD 922, Arab courtier Ahmad Ibn Fadlan accompanies a party of Vikings to the barbaric North. Then he learns the horrifying truth: he has been enlisted to combat a terror that slaughters the Vikings and devours their flesh.

 

Review:

The 13th Warrior was one I looked forward to in the theatres, and although it was not as graphic and long as I wanted, it was a movie that quenched my thirst for a good sword and hack film. I hadn't seen a good one since Braveheart and the studios seemed to be shying away from the theme, but luckily this movie turned out to be pretty good despite its lukewarm box office draw.

First off let me say this: Vikings, brave men dying in battle, and a mystic enemy of flesheaters. That is all you need for a good man movie. Throw in Banderas and a great supporting cast that steals each scene and you have the 13th Warrior. From the armor to the weapons to the accents and the look the film really captures the time and gets your blood going for a good old warrior movie.

 

Banderas does a good job of portraying an Arab emissary banished from his home for courting the wrong woman and falling into a situation where he is forced to be a hero. The movie also explores his relationship with the Viking warriors he is with and how he learns their language and culture. In the end Banderas becomes a respected warrior among his comrades. When Banderas arrives in the Norse camp, his character (Ahmad) joins a dinner where a messenger comes bringing bad news. It is here at this dinner you meet the new Viking King, portrayed marvelously by Vladimir Kulich. Kulich (Buliwyf, pronounced BULLVIE), who not only looks like the perfect Viking, delivers a great performance as a brave and tough ass King who takes many of the enemy down with him! At the dinner the threat is announced and 13 warriors are chosen to go defend the distant realm of another Viking King. As luck has it, the 13th Warrior is prophesized to be a foreigner...and yes you guessed it, Ahmad is "volunteered" into service. The whole scene is one of the best in the movie and filled with bravado and a great sense of what it must have been like to be there. The movie has many great scenes and most of them are not action related, but group related as Ahmad learns the ways of fighting and of camaraderie. 

The movie moves on and Banderas learns to fight and also learns more of the race of people they are dealing with. It turns out that the enemy race is a army of flesh eating cannibals inhabiting the mountains. Together the Vikings and Ahmad defend the town and you can slowly start to count down from 13 as many are killed. While the movie does a good job in atmosphere and style, you can tell that McTiernan is no Mel Gibson as he tries to direct the sword fight scenes. He gets many scenes way too dark and most are too blocked by combatants and horses to see the good things going on. Perhaps he should stick to Die Hard and thief capers. Another big letdown was the enemy tribe seemed awfully wimpy in  the last battle scene, it looked to me like they needed to end the movie fast and decided that once the leader was dead, they would all run away. I found this a little hard to believe since they outnumbered the town defenders something like 20 to 1. Still, such is the way of Hollywood and you have to take the film's odd reasons at face value. 

The DVD has nothing special to offer, in fact it has nothing really but a good look and if you love sword and mayhem testosterone movies then pick this up to add to your Conan and Excalibur movies. It makes a good trilogy to watch in a night. Perhaps the thing that keeps me coming back to this film are the Viking warriors and the evil journey into the cannibal tribes lair. The image quality is a great transfer (although a little dark) and the sound is wonderful with all the sword clanking and creepy fog. There was a slight layer change pause on my player but that is to be expected. Overall a good hour and a half of entertainment. A little cheaper in the price and raise the total to 4/5. 

DVD Rating:

Look: 4/5 

Sound: 4/5

Extras: 1/5

Total:  3/5