the thirteenth floor is a bland , obligatory exercise in genre film - making .
if i had n't recently watched the matrix and open your eyes -- both of which are similar but far superior -- i might have been a little nicer to this picture .
craig bierko makes an adequate hero as douglas hall , the rich co - creator of a perfect human world simulation who is suddenly blamed for the murder of his boss ( armin mueller - stahl ) .
everything that was subtle and smart about the previously mentioned films is battered over our heads in this one , and characters stare at each other for maddeningly - long periods of time and refuse to communicate on any realistic level .
the acting is okay , but the film suffers from every logical flaw one could think of , and features a script ( co - penned by director josef rusnak ) loaded with cliches and stock characters .
there are individual scenes and ideas that work -- i like the thought of a sentient computer program -- but none of the film 's strengths are recognized to any meaningful degree .
producer roland emmerich , based on this and his previous directorial efforts , seems hell - bent on bringing us the ultimate standard in mediocre science - fiction .
seems hell - bent on bringing us the ultimate standard in mediocre science - fiction a bland , obligatory exercise in genre film - making loaded with cliches and stock characters the film suffers from every logical flaw one could think of maddeningly - long periods of time battered over our heads in this one