The 13th Warrior
Director: John McTiernan/Michael Crichton
Screenplay: William Wisher based upon the book, Eater's of the Dead, by Michael Crichton
Starring: Antonion Banderas, Omar Sharif and Diane Venora
John's Review
��� Action, Vikings, sword-play, a little humor, flesh-eating barbarians and did I mention action? The 13th Warrior, while not on caliber with say, Excalibur, was a definate refreshing change from the action/fight movies in recent memory. If only we could have seen McTiernan's original vision. The way I understand it, Crichton kicked McTiernan off the movie near the end of filming, and then took over the director's chair and reshot a large portion of the scenes. Crichton, word to the wise, when McTiernan is making a film, don't interrupt him.
��� Now it's no mystery to people who know me, John McTiernan is one of my top 5 favorite director's. Yes, I actually liked Medicine Man, I didn't like Lorraine Bracco, but McTiernan's direction was superb. Even The Last Action Hero had marvelous direction, even though the script ranks right up there with one of the worst Hollywood has ever churned out. But, looking at McTiernan's other successes, Predator, Die Hard, The Hunt For Red October and The Thomas Crown Affair, one can see that he has a flare for direction. In my opinion no one can draw a viewer into a movie better than McTiernan.
��� Back to the movie, The 13th Warrior is based upon a 'supposed' continuation of a diary of a real 10th century arab as he travels through the icy Northlands. Ahmed Ibn Fadlan (Banderas) is the arab of the novel. As an ambassador he is sent north, where he is the unfortunate victim of 'kidnapping'. When a band of Viking mercenaries is asked to help out a northerly kingdom, an old haggard prophet says that a non-northerner must go with them and be the 13th Warrior. Ibn (which means 'Son of') gets stuck with this name because of the language barrier. But after several weeks of riding with the Vikings and watching them communicate, he learns their language (not in one night as many incredibly ignorant critics would have it). Reaching the village, they find it descimated. Apparenty strange barbarians have come down from the mountains and struck at the villagers, but what is more horrifying, is that these creatures, steal and then eat the dead.
��� What follows, is swordplay and mayhem. The story is not the strongest, but it keeps you interested. The character development could have been better, and in the hands of John McTiernan through the end, I think this would have been done much more competently. I have seen a runnning time of 1:54, in the IMDB and Mr.Showbiz, they must have seen a different version (I understand their are 3, McTiernan's original, Crichton's and Disney's), because I clocked it at 1:35. I wish it had been longer, and hope that we get to see McTiernan's vision on a 'Director's Cut' DVD version. I would be thrilled.
��� The acting was fine, nothing to write home about, Banderas does a fine job and the acting of the supporting cast was also done well. Sharif's role was too small to really say he starred in the movie, more accurately, he had a cameo. Jerry Goldsmith's music was phenomenal. (I understand that Graeme Revell scored McTiernan's original vision. Apparently they got Goldsmith after Crichton started reshooting.) His moods and sways carried with it the emotional resonance of the film and action, and kept the audience engaged.
��� I highly recommend this movie. To those who are fond of action, fantasy, sword-play and adventure films. As I said before, it is not quite on par with Excalibur, with it's mysticism and sweeping panoramic vision, but it's all out adventure rates high.
Grade: B-
