Well worth watching!

Rating: Null/10 (19 April 2000)

I really like historical movies like Braveheart and The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc. So I was expecting a lot from The 13th Warrior.
The battles in The Messenger are the best ones I've ever seen in a historical movie and The 13th Warrior doesn't come close to beating that. There are no castles or trebuchets but it's for the best IMO! The Vikings lived in the early medieval ages, long time before all the castles were erected. And that's also how this film feels.
The 13th Warrior includes a beautiful built village that feels like it came right out of 7th Century Norway. Everything is made out of wood and it's surrounded by these beautiful pine trees which make it all look very realistic. And that is also what I liked most about this film. Add some nice looking Viking longboats to that and you've got the picture I think. The battles were OK, not bad but just OK. The acting was done very good as well and the costumes looked terrific.
Only thing that I found below mediocre was the storyline. I think the movie would have been a lot better if it was more based on historical facts and covered the Viking raids or something. I really like Viking history and would love to see a movie based on some of their conquers. This movie seemed more like a heroic fairy tale where the good guys come to the rescue and get rid of the bad guys. But still I found the film amusing to watch and would recommend it to anyone who at least has the slightest interest in medieval movies. Only the longboats, the village and the costumes make it more than worth watching. Too bad it's such a short movie (98 minutes on VHS here in Belgium).