Gorgeous Viking flick

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2016)

I feel like John Mctiernan's The 13th Warrior doesn't deserve the bum rap it's acquired over the years. Sure it was a flop, sure it has a few clunky parts near the beginning, but for the most part it's a visceral, rousing Nordic adventure flick that's guaranteed entertainment all the way, unless you're a wretched nitpicker. On the list of films about Viking warriors fighting some kind of barbaric enemy against gorgeously shot landscapes (that are all British Columbia no less!) it comes out a winner. Antonio Banderas plays an Arabian (yeah, yeah he's a Spaniard, deal with it) poet with an utterly unpronounceable name who is banished to explore new lands with a companion (Omar Sharif in an all too brief cameo) and attain knowledge from other people. He takes up with a rowdy Viking band, led by the kingly Buliwyf (Vladimir Kulich), who are summoned to their distant homeland to contend with a vicious threat that is attacking their villages. It being their custom to bring along one warrior who is not of their kind, they bring Banderas with them and venture home. The cinematography in their land is breathtaking, as Mctiernan uses a smoke machine in overdrive to give the hills, trees and meadows an ancient, ethereal look. They discover the menace that looms over their land is a primitive tribe of savages, and engage in spectacular battle against them. There's several sequences that shine in particular and will give your TV a workout, including a blood spattered, hazy opening battle and a wicked siege in a subterranean cave. Banderas always makes a stalwart protagonist, whether he's brash and cocky (The Mask Of Zorro) or moody and stoic (Desperado). Here he brings a wonderful naivety that's very unlike him, and uses the eventual horror and ghostly events of his character's journey to burnish his arc nicely to a point where his eventual combat scenes feel earned, having both weight and consequence. The Viking tribesman are all played with blue eyed ferocity by a tireless troupe, with especially fine work from Dennis Storhøi as Joyous, an incredibly brave warrior who Banderas finds a relatable kinship with. The years have somewhat buried the memory of this one, but it still stands as a stirring action epic with photography that is kind to the eye, combat scenes that lay the hammer down considerably in the violence department, and a story that vaguely mirrors the timeless Beowulf while adding its own dash of bloody adventure.