Review of The 13th Warrior (1999) by Jasmin C — 23 Apr 2009

Bizarre, historical interpretation of the Beowulf Saga told from the point of view of a historical Arab writer. The first half is a terrible mishmash of roughly cut scenes, poorly presented performances and awkward dialogue.

The second half - involving an atmospheric Viking invasion of a convincing and creepy cave system - is magnificent and worth sticking around for. Banderas phones it in, but is good value for being - both - the audience's eyes and ears and the comic relief, but the rest of the cast is quite good and McTiernan's earnest (if sloppy) directing makes it a good yarn (if you aren't too put off by the cliche, cheeseball, Viking antics).