Seven Samurai for the 90's?

Rating: Null/10 (8 July 2000)

I enjoyed this movie very much despite some distinct problems in the pacing and continuity in the plot. First off, if you have read Eaters of the Dead be aware that this movie is similar only on a very superficial level. Second, this is not Braveheart nor does it pretend to be. This film's roots come from the Seven Samurai. The 13th Warrior even mirrors the three major battles of Seven Samurai in the same order. The initial attack, the raid into the bad guy's camp, and the final climatic battle. The Norse state of mind takes the plot in different directions, though, and creates a different enough movie to make it engagingly different from Seven Samurai. Action takes center stage over plot, but the Norse flavor stays consistent. Through Ahmed's (Banderas) eyes, as an Arabic outsider, we view the Norse as outsiders. Alien things to us are also alien to Ahmed and explanations of things that would be obvious to a Norseman are given where needed. The struggle between the 13 Warriors to win the villager's hearts and then the battles against the mystical enemy are well played out with punctuated battles. Romance takes a back seat. There is a hinted dalliance between the warriors and some of the villagers but it ends there (is this such a bad thing where life is nasty, brutish and short?). There is an interesting twist as the civilized non-westerner Ahmed shows the brutish westerners the path of reason and defeat of superstition. The battles are well paced and very chaotic as a melee should be. The settings are beautiful and help support the feeling of isolation in the village. The Norsemen are all very well played and each character is distinctive rather than devolving into a mass of blonde vikings and Banderas. I find it amazing that they were able to find actors that could dwarf Banderas so effectively, he is not a small guy. Problems in the movie come with the rather jerky pacing. One minute the group is in the desert (yes, the Norse DID make it to the desert historically) and the next they are approaching a forested, misty shore. Perhaps this is a Norse settlement on the north shore of the Black Sea? I suspect this has a lot to do with choppy editing and that the voyage from desert to woods is on the cutting room floor. Sometimes the battles are too chaotic. The death of important bad guys is lost on some viewers because they look so much alike. There are other quick leaps of logic (Ahmed's quick grasp of Norse for one) that help keep the pace of the film quick, but detract from the suspension of disbelief. I think what ultimately hurts the movie most is the distance we have to travel in its 102 minutes. In that short time we must go from the hot desert to the cold north and from being Arab to being Norse. This is a long enough journey to make even the most gullible of us scratch our heads and I am not sure it could have been rectified without losing the action element or making the movie so long as to become a mini-series. The movie is very enjoyable, but don't expect Braveheart or Eaters of the Dead. Think of it as a Norse Seven Samurai without the benefit of Kurosawa's direction and 6 more guys to keep up with contemporary body count standards in action films.