A fair movie... probably not as good as the book....

Rating: Null/10 (28 August 1999)

I had heard much about Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton from a friend, and I thought that the previews for the 13th Warrior were cool. So today, I decided to go and see it. The 13th Warrior was not bad, but it was not a great movie. Some of the lines of dialogue were almost incomprehensible, most, of which I blame the theater for because they turned the soundtrack up to high. That is why I am not including it with criticism below.
The 13th Warrior is based, somewhat loosely on the Eaters of the Dead. It is about an Arab poet named Ibn Fadlan who is banished from Bagdad because he got the good graces of the Caliphates wife. He is then sent as an ambassador to the barbaric North. On the way, he encounters Vikings. He spends some time with them, and then a messenger from up north sends a message that other Vikings have been attacked. From then, it is up to thirteen warriors to help. Ibn ends up being one of them. The attacks come from an ancient threat that the Vikings are not quite ready to face, and neither is Fadlan, for he is a poet, not a warrior.
First, the good stuff: the premise of the story, adapted from the book, is very creative and intriguing. When I was able to understand the dialogue, the acting was good. The visuals of the movie, the landscapes, the battles, and one cool ocean voyage on a Viking ship are top notch. They carry most of the movie through. Lastly, with all of its faults, the movie is entertaining.
Now the bad stuff: the editing in the movie left something to be desired. Scenes looked like they were transitioning too fast. Some of the scene changes were so fast that you could not grasp the meaning of the previous scene. Some of Banderas' dialogue was hard to understand because of his Arabian accent (he did too well of a job). My last complaint is that the battle scenes were too dark and confusing to see what was going on. It was probably meant to be that way though.
This movie is not the greatest ever made, but it is adequate and entertaining, if you have nothing else to do, see it in the theater. Otherwise, make sure you see as a rental. *** stars (out of *****).