Sweeping

Rating: 9/10 (2 September 1999)

This was one Michael Crichton book that I have not read but I probably will after seeing the movie. The "13th Warrior" is based on the Crichton book, "Eaters of the Dead", which in turn I believe is based on a Viking legend, and if the movie was any indication, the book must be fantastic.

The story revolves around a group of Norsemen (Viking) warriors that have volunteered to a request for help from one of their neighbouring villages. Antonio Banderas' character is an ambassador from Bagdad that has come to this group of warriors to observe their culture and customs (I will let the movie describe the circumstances to his arrival). His timing couldn't have been worse as not long after he joins up with this group of warriors they recieve a request for help. As a result, 13 warriors must volunteer for this mission and by the luck of local customs, the 13th warrior cannot be of Norse decent, which means, Banderas is automatically selected to join them. The rest of the story I will let you see for yourself.
The cinematography is absolutely wonderful. The sweeping shots of the land show the ruggedness and mystery of the country and in some cases it feels somewhat like a documentary, which adds to the realism of the story. The beginning of the movie starts out with much of the dialogue spoken in the Norsemen's native language with no subtitles. What is spoken is not of great importance as what you're supposed to observe is the cultural interactions between the warriors. But as Banderas' character is slowly integrated into the plot, the director chooses an absolutely wonderful way of making the transition from the native tongue to english. To me, this was definately one of the creative highlights of the movie. This is one film where I have to stress that the dialogue is very good. I found that every line spoken was of significance to the story and often revealed insight into what the main characters were thinking and feeling.
Although Antonio Banderas was billed as the lead actor, he did not dominate the movie. In fact, his charactor had more of a supporting role that was there to document the mission. The movie did a very good job of focusing around the warriors as a group and gave enough attention to each of the main characters to allow the audience to gain an insight into their personalities. The acting was very good. Every character was played very well and definately created an authenticity to them.
There is quite a bit of graphic violence so if you are the "faint of heart" type, you might want to consider a different movie. Despite many of the positives that I've mentioned there are some points that should be noted. This movie does have a religious tone to it so if you are a religious person, keep in mind that you are watching a movie about another culture's take on religion. Also keep in mind that this story is based on a folklore/legend, which means that not everything is going to make sense. Most of the story does but there are things that don't lend itself to logic but if you pick every little thing out, you will end up ruining the movie. Also, there are some parts of the battle scenes that take place in very dim lighting which make it hard to see but I have a feeling this was done on purpose to add realism.
Overall, I found this to be a very gripping and entertaining movie. I also think that "Eaters of the Dead" would have been a more intriguing title....9/10.