1999's biggest could-have-been

Rating: 6/10 (25 October 2000)

When I first saw this movie, I was both excited and disappointed. I had loved Crichton's novel and was hoping for a lot, but sadly, all was not achieved. The 13th Warrior was supposed to have been an epic somewhere along the lines of Braveheart, but the editors chopped the movie up so badly, it turned out to be nothing more than a medieval hack-a-thon. Really a shame considering its potential. The movie was extremely well cast (all the Vikings were really cool), cinematography was great, and music was good, though often underused. However, the script was terrible, and the overall storyline was far too basic. This killed any feeling of depth, both in the characters and the plot. Bad direction? Not likely, considering John McTiernan's experience and all that the book gave him to work with. There was a big delay in the production and release of the film and I would guess there was big controversy over what kind of movie McTiernan was trying to make. Too bad some better thinking wasn't put into it, because it could have vied for film of year if it had been done right. Still, The 13th Warrior was an enjoyable movie and I would recommend it if you like "historical films".