Release Date: August 27, 1999
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Diane Venora, Omar Sharif, Vladimir Kulich, Maria Bonnevie
Directed by: John McTiernan
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
MPAA Rating: R (bloody battles, carnage)
The first time we heard about this one was the Fall of 1997 under the title of the source material, Eaters of the Dead. Now, almost exactly two years later, this Michael Crichton/John McTiernan production finally sees a release date. While it hasn't really been worth the wait, The 13th Warrior is not a disappointment, either, and is a much more fitting representation of McTiernan's talents after the lackluster The Thomas Crown Affair. It is Braveheart Lite -- a stylish period action piece minus the heavyweight drama -- and is sure to please audiences against the slew of late-summer crap.
Antonio Banderas is Ibn Fadlan, an emissary from the Middle East of the first millenium AD who heads up a group of twelve Viking warriors. The Norsemen have been chosen to fight a mysterious and legendary enemy who attacks in the dark and in the mist and devours everything its path, consuming the dead and wounded. The thirteen warriors make their way to a small village near the coast of Scandinavia where they will make their stand, strengthening the town's defenses in an attempt to best an opponent they have never seen.
The Crichton novel Eaters of the Dead is the source, and it's one of the author's earliest works. It therefore holds a poignancy that readers may have found lacking in some of his later, more commercialized works. Although the writer will undoubtedly always be remembered for Jurassic Park, the majority of his other works were also all of a science fiction bent, and so this is a step outside of familiar territory to him. (Perhaps the only other work reasonably close to this is the nineteenth century crime thriller The Great Train Robbery.)
In McTiernan's hands however, it becomes the next big Hollywood blockbuster. McTiernan and screenwriter William Wisher Jr. take the thirteen warriors and turn them into the original wisecracking action heroes. Perhaps it's the out-of-place context, but in this year's action category there is undoubtedly nothing funnier than seeing Vikings hurl one-liners at their enemies.
The only flaw is that, as an action movie, and particularly as a John McTiernan action movie, it follows a relatively by-the-book plot structure. There's absolutely nothing inventive about the chain of events from start to finish: Norsemen come, Norsemen build defenses, repel enemy once, repel enemy twice with heavy losses, seek out enemy on his turf, and, in the end, win the day. This last is no surprise: as said, this is a classic action picture, and the good guys always win.
But, in the McTiernan tradition of Die Hard (and its second sequel, With a Vengeance), the point is to never mind that and get swallowed up in the fantasy. The movie has some wonderful cinematography (even if Scandinavia looks more like a National Park of the American Southwest than anything else ... where's all the snow?), and a fitting but unremarkable score back up the exploits of our heroes. Banderas, as the lead hero, is also unremarkable, but then that's probably for the better. The last thing you need here is Bruce Willis mucking up the place with that chubby little mug of his in nine out of every ten frames.
So all for all, this is a good ol' action-adventure movie. Like The Mummy, regard for tact is thrown to the wind, and The 13th Warrior has given us one last day of summer in its gung-ho approach. Hoo-ah!
all contents © 1999 Craig Roush