Review of The 13th Warrior (1999) by Timothy S — 09 Oct 2014

So many people had a hand in the making of "The 13th Warrior," it's hard to know who to blame for its troubled production and the disastrous bomb that resulted. This is legitimately one of the biggest catastrophes in recent cinematic history, with a bloated budget and problems behind the set involving revolving people in the director's chair and massive reshoots.

A documentary about the making of this picture would be an infinitely more interesting film than the one that somehow made it to theaters. This is a muddled, disheveled mess with some beautiful photography and grand sets and special effects all in a story that was never worth telling in the first place. The film is based on a 1976 novel by Michael Crichton, and it was later proven that the manuscript he used as inspiration for that book never existed, and that is yet another story that sounds more interesting than this tired Viking saga.

The idea of these fearsome Nordic warriors being hunted by something even more sinister is interesting, but you never really learn enough about their enemy making it difficult to generate much fear or interest in any of the battles that follow. "Die Hard" director John McTiernan is credited for for this debacle (although Crichton himself stepped in to try to salvage it), and surprisingly enough, the action scenes are dark and hard to follow. That means there's virtually nothing to like in "The 13th Warrior." It's not quite the epic the makers must have had in mind.