The 13th Warrior Review
by Jamey Hughton (bhughton AT sk DOT sympatico DOT ca)September 10th, 1999
The 13th Warrior
*** (out of five stars)
A review by Jamey Hughton
Starring-Antonio Banderas,Vladimir Kulich,
Dennis Storhoi, Diane Venora and Omar Sharif
Director-John McTiernan
Rated 18A
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As a late summer action/adventure entry, The 13th Warrior didn’t look
promising. The production was delayed, reshoots were rumored, and the
film sat on the shelf for many months. There was also a feud between
director John McTiernan and author Michael Chricton, and the title was
changed from Eaters of the Dead (the original name of Chricton’s novel)
to The 13th Warrior. Despite all of the apparent problems, the finished
product is a rousing sword-play epic with impressive battle sequences
off-setting some laughable dialogue and a non-existent plot.
Antonio Banderas was the hero of last summer’s The Mask of Zorro, and
here he attempts to duplicate his success. Banderas plays an Arab
ambassador named Ahmed Ibn Fadlan, who is sent out to learn the ways of
the Vikings. He stumbles into their society in just the nick of time. A
messenger arrives, informing the warriors that his people have requested
their help in fending off a group of oncoming attackers. But these
attackers are not human. They are the Wendol - half-man, half-bear
savages who carry torches and destroy everything in their path. A
thirteen man defense team is dispatched, and Fadlan unwillingly becomes
one of the warriors on the dangerous mission.
What I’ve described is essentially the entire plot of The 13th Warrior.
What remains is a series of spectacular (and very gory) combat battles,
in which the Vikings attempt to defend neighboring tribes from the group
of beasts who decapitate their victims in very messy ways. Don’t be
deceived when this gets off to a terribly rocky start. When McTiernan
brings out the big guns (so to speak), everything becomes easier to
swallow. The battle scenes are well-edited, consistently exciting, and
always accompanied by the marvelous score by Jerry Goldsmith. The
intellectual aspects of the film are poorly handled, but the technical
credits and gorgeous landscapes practically clear your mind of any prior
ugliness in the script.
The are many problems in that area. When first accompanying the Vikings,
Fadlan learns their language by simply “watching them talk” (yeah,
sure....) There are plenty of these moments that you could speculate
about, or you could simply enjoy all of the bloody combat and beheadings
for what they are: a fun time at the movies. McTiernan also manages to
turn a weak script into a sumptuous epic, creating a believable
situation efficiently enough so that we don’t ask any questions. Don’t
look for The 13th Warrior to be among the nominees for Best Adapted
Screenplay award at next year’s Oscars; the action scenes and impressive
sword tactics are the real show here.
Another thing I liked was the surprising range of the supporting cast.
You may think the other 12 Viking warriors would be dismissed as window
dressing, with lines like “Kill them all!” popping up occasionally. A
few of these characters actually show some depth; among them is Herger
(Dennis Storhoi), who cracks some amusing jokes and calls Fadlan “little
brother”. And then there’s the Viking leader (Vladimir Kulich), who
displays more personality traits than his character limitations could
have allowed, even if he still is basically a big lug. Omar Sharif is
welcome as Fadlan’s translator and guide when he first encounters the
Vikings, with a few brief but memorable early moments on screen.
The summer of 1999 hasn’t been a memorable one, at least in the movie
department. The 13th Warrior is an exhilarating little adventure that
has more quality than you might expect, even with a pea-brained plot and
individual scenes of ridiculousness. For action fans craving some
carnage that the season failed to present, this one may just hit the
spot.
(C) 1999, Jamey Hughton
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