The 13th Warrior (1999)
Average Rating: 4.6/10
Reviews Counted: 87
Fresh: 29 | Rotten: 58
Atmospheric, great sets and costumes, but thin plot.
Average Rating: 4.7/10
Critic Reviews: 20
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 13
Atmospheric, great sets and costumes, but thin plot.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 109,520
My Rating
Movie Info
A cultured diplomat joins a band of savage warriors in time to meet an even more fearsome enemy in this historical adventure. In 922 A.D., Ibn Fadlan (Antonio Banderas) is a Muslim emissary from Baghdad en route to meet with the King of Saqaliba when he is captured by a gang of Vikings. While Ibn and his people are intelligent and well-mannered, the Vikings are a rowdy and sometimes unpleasant lot, with an unquenchable appetite for food, alcohol, and women. However, in time he develops an
Aug 27, 1999 Wide
Jan 15, 2002
Buena Vista Pictures
Cast
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Antonio Banderas
Ibn Fadlan -
Diane Venora
Queen Weilew -
Dennis Storhøi
Herger the Joyous -
Vladimir Kulich
Buliwyf -
Omar Sharif
Melchisidek -
Anders T. Andersen
Wigliff King Hrothgar's... -
Richard Bremmer
Skeld The Superstitious -
Tony Curran
Weath the Musician -
Mischa Hausserman
Rethel The Archer -
Neil Maffin
Roneth The Horseman -
Asbjørn 'Bear' Riis
Halga the Wise -
Clive Russell
Helfdane The Large -
Daniel Southern
Edgtho the Silent -
Oliver Sveinall
Haltaf the Boy -
Sven Wollter
King Hrothgar -
Albie Woodington
Hyglak The Quarrelsome -
Sven Ole Thorsen
Would-be King -
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All Critics (91) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (29) | Rotten (60) | DVD (15)
Michael Crichton's story is underdeveloped and narrow in range, resulting in a tale more curious for its odd confluence of elements than for their edifying deployment.
Top CriticAt its best, this achieves the beauty and grandeur of a Kurosawa epic -- at its worst, however, it feels like a Python remake of The Vikings.
The film is fascinating to watch, but I can hardly say what it's about, other than people killing each other.
A big cathartic blast.
With a budget said to be more than $100 million, it displays a lot of cash on the screen, but little thought.
Loaded with potential, it's puzzlingly overblown and distant, as if its huge budget were an albatross around its neck.
Exciting battle sequences, intriguing period costumes, fascinating cinematography, and stirring background music contribute to the epic nature of 'The 13th Warrior.'
"The 13th Warrior" is a brazen attempt to brand Antonio Banderas as an A-lister with a C-grade script. Failure attends.
Jerry Goldsmith's rousing score exhibits more personality than any of the actors--or anything else in the film, for that matter.
Mr. Crichton may have found the perfect venue for his particular brand of character underdevelopment.
Shelved for over a year and probably heavily edited, it's better than it could have been.
If you're in the mood to watch heads, arms and other appendages getting chopped off, this movie is for you.
It harks back to the late 1950s when people actually made movies about Vikings and other seafaring heroes named Sinbad and Jason.
An entertaining and serviceable adaptation. Dennis Storhoi delivers an awesome performance. Weak aspects of story made up for by great action.
Although the subject matter is not too pleasant and the gore is turned up to 11, Crichton's film is an excellent Nordic war story.
The film is based on Eaters of the Dead, possibly the worst novel Michael Crichton has ever written, and this film isn't even a passable adaptation.
For fans of the genre, it's an inexorably primal exercise almost like cinematic steroids: qualitatively lacking, if not harmful, yet superficially irresistible.
A sensação que fica, ao final da projeção, é a de que vimos um filme vazio - e sobre o personagem errado. E o que é pior: no qual nada acontece.
Audience Reviews for The 13th Warrior
Super Reviewer
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- Ibn Fadlan: I can taste neither the fermentation of grape, nor of wheat.
- Ibn Fadlan: What? Why do you laugh?
- Herger the Joyous: Honey! It's made from honey.
-
- Herger the Joyous: Did she finish you? Or bring you back to life?
- Ibn Fadlan: A gentleman doesn't discuss such things.
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- Buliwyf: Luck often enough, will save a man, if his courage hold.
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- Herger the Joyous: He All-Father wove the skein of your life a long time ago. Go and hide in a hole if you wish, but you won't live one instant longer. Your fate is fixed. Fear profits a man nothing.
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- Ibn Fadlan: Merciful Father, I have squandered my days with plans of many things. This was not among them. But at this moment, I beg only to live the next few minutes well. For all we ought to have thought, and have not thought; all we ought to have said, and have not said; all we ought to have done, and have not done; I pray thee God for forgiveness.
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- Ibn Fadlan: Have we anything resembling a plan?
- Herger the Joyous: Mm-hm. Ride till we find them... and kill them all.
Discussion Forum
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Latest News on The 13th Warrior
November 5, 2008:
Michael Crichton Passes Away (1942-2008)Best-selling author, screenwriter, and director Michael Crichton has passed away at the age of 66....
July 26, 2006:
Viking Epic Gets Banished to JanuaryMarcus Nispel's "Pathfinder" was just bumped back from September 8th to January 12th, the...
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Foreign Titles
- El Guerrero nº 13 (ES)
The film isn't accurate of course, it is based on actual fact but has been hugely exaggerated and made more exciting for both the novel and film. The lead character 'Fadlan' was a real Arabic traveller and he did go north and experience Viking life but all the battles with cannibals (based on the 'Beowulf' folklore) is complete fantasy.
So the film has a touch of grounding in reality which makes it more interesting and urges you to learn more which is good, the film itself isn't too bad, compared to the novel I don't know but there isn't too much happening in the film other than time wasting dialog inter-spursted with pitched battles. The dialog is very wooden really and somewhat 'state the obvious' all the time, the film does feel a little rushed and choppy probably due to the problems whist being made and really the battles, which are the focal point, aren't all that good either.
The film is solid and is reasonably interesting but it just feels very underwhelming, as if there is a really really good kick ass film somewhere in there wanting to get out. Banderas looks the part of the Arab and the Viking cast also look good as does the cold looking muddy location work but Sharif seems to have been stuck in there simply for big name status and to try and elevate the film to epic levels as he does pretty much nothing of importance and disappears very quickly.
The film does get slightly more silly as it progresses towards the end but all in all it just about does the job of keeping you entertained. The barbarian hordes the Vikings fend off are too unrealistic really I think, that's the problem, and of course most of them are all just sword fodder for the heroes so the usual thing. I think 'Pathfinder' does it better.