Where to watch The 13th Warrior
3 1/2 Stars
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 understanding and respect for the Viking warriors and is welcomed into their society by their leader, Buliwyf. However, Ibn must now join them as they return to their homeland once they receive word of an invasion by a huge pack of bloodthirsty invaders who will destroy and eat anything in their path — including the flesh of the men they have killed.
My recollection of seeing The 13th Warrior in cinemas was a mixture of disappointment and boredom that eventually led to me falling asleep for the majority of the film’s second act. Over the years I tried to give the movie another chance, but the pan and scan VHS cropping and grainy black ruined the careful staging that director John McTiernan put into this lush production. It was only on the most recent viewing, in stunning 4KHD clarity, that I became enthralled in the story and its dread-filled tone.
The marketing campaign responsible for selling The 13th Warrior was very misguided; it positioned the film as a horror movie, which is very different than what audiences got when they bought a ticket. If you look at the trailers, you can see the Blair Witch influence, playing up the “mystical” aspects of the movie. This isn’t a supernatural or horror movie. The 13th Warrior has moments that contain those elements, but it’s really a claustrophobic adventure film.
The collosal boxoffice failure of the film, ranking amongst the decades’ biggest bombs, and the rumors of a tumultuous production gave people reasons to dismiss it as a Hollywood vanity project run amok. Somehow, The 13th Warrior survived obstacles reaching the screen before getting trampled by The Sixth Sense, released the same weekend, and fading into trivial history for cinephiles, which overlooks the fact that it’s very good.
Directed by: John McTiernan, Michael Crichton
Written by: Michael Crichton, William Wisher, Warren Lewis
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Diane Venora, Dennis Storhøi