WOO-HOO!! Viking-Violence!!!

Rating: 7/10 (20 January 2004)

I'm really wondering why there aren't making more movies like this! What is in more interesting than the history of the Scandinavian countries? What is more fascinating than the tales of Northern myths and their legendary Gods?? Well, in my personal opinion, nothing is and that's why I was so enthusiast when I first heard about this Thirteenth Warrior being released! And even though I'll admit the film is flawed on several levels, I enjoyed it very much and I'd like to encourage as much people as possible to find out more about the North men and their intriguing history. Co-producer Michael Crichton who also wrote the screenplay bases the 13th Warrior on his own `Eaters of the Dead' novel. It's a tale of a banished Arab man who joins twelve North men on a conquest against an ancient form of evil. He learns their language and becomes a warrior during the journey, he fights along against the `Wendol'These are giant bear-like men who're extremely violent and savage. The good thing about The 13th Warriors is that it contains multiple impressive battle sequences and extremely interesting characters. For example the leader of the North men - Buliwyf - who's a truly overwhelming personality. The costumes and geographical settings are breath taking and perhaps even the most succeeded aspects in the entire production. And, of course, you can't tell a Viking tale without the use of explicit violencethe battles are pretty gruesome and the shed of blood is enormous. I didn't have a problem with that, though. I even love it but it might be something to keep under consideration when you have a weak stomach and you're planning to watch this film. Yet, it's only fair that I name a few of them negative elements The 13th Warrior suffers from. The largest parts of the script  and especially the dialogues  are very poorly written. The film also desperately tries to insert humor that is painfully unfunny and even embarrassing at times. Even the entire last battle scene may have been skipped since it's too heroic and a bit too much. Terrifically shot, though. Antonio Banderas will never be a class-A actor, neitherluckily for him, the accent works out well enough in stories like this. Nonetheless, The 13th Warrior is good entertainment and the background of it is food for education! Vikings rule!!