The 13th Warrior (1999)
Directed by John McTiernan
A Muslim ambassador exiled from his homeland joins a group of Vikings, initially offended by their behavior but growing to respect them. As they travel together, they learn of a legendary evil closing in and must unite to confront this formidable force.
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What critics say influenced The 13th Warrior
Based on a novel by Michael Crichton, John McTiernan's The 13th Warrior is like a lost member of the Swordplay genre from the early 1980s that spawned such titles as Excalibur (1981) and Conan the Barbarian (1982).
There's also the obvious "Excalibur" part (brave and sturdy medieval knights set off on a mission) as well as the basic "The Magnificent Seven"/The Seven Samurai" plot (soldiers assembled to protect a town under siege).
Excalibur.
From the opening moments of THE 13TH WARRIOR, when Spanish-born heartthrob Antonio Banderas (wearing more eyeliner and mascara than Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra) begins, in voice-over, to tell his preposterous history as Arabia's Muslim ambassador (!) to the Norse tribes of the Middle Ages, you know you're in for a campy, over-the-top experience.
McTiernan is trying to get at some sense of heroism in the final battle (think "Braveheart" without the inspirational feel), but it feels strangely unaffecting, mostly because the scene is like several of the earlier battles, totally incoherent.
So, reluctantly, Ibn falls in with this band long-haired, hard-drinking, broadsword-swinging brawlers -- who seem to be a cross between Klingons and Mel Gibson's "Braveheart" clan.
Quake with fear (or boredom) at first sight of the Villians of our Braveheart-flavored tale, the actual Eaters Of The, Well, You Know.
By trying to make a poor man's "Braveheart" instead of a middlebrow "Seven Samurai," McTiernan has turned the otherwise automatically lively Banderas into merely a dull but earnest adventurer.
The same holds true for Vladimir Kulich ("Firestorm," "Crash") as the warrior leader, while the great Omar Sharif ("Lawrence of Arabia," "Doctor Zhivago") as well as Diane Venora ("True Crime," "Heat") are barely used to any appreciable extent.
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Some enjoyed Conan the Barbarian.
Based on a novel by Michael Crichton, John McTiernan's The 13th Warrior is like a lost member of the Swordplay genre from the early 1980s that spawned such titles as Excalibur (1981) and Conan the Barbarian (1982).
THE 13TH WARRIOR aspires to be a cross-between Branagh's Henry V, a terrific battlefield epic, and the mediocre Braveheart.
There's also the obvious "Excalibur" part (brave and sturdy medieval knights set off on a mission) as well as the basic "The Magnificent Seven"/The Seven Samurai" plot (soldiers assembled to protect a town under siege).
She more closely resembles the bridgekeeper from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" than any Jedi Master.
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By trying to make a poor man's "Braveheart" instead of a middlebrow "Seven Samurai," McTiernan has turned the otherwise automatically lively Banderas into merely a dull but earnest adventurer.
The same holds true for Vladimir Kulich ("Firestorm," "Crash") as the warrior leader, while the great Omar Sharif ("Lawrence of Arabia," "Doctor Zhivago") as well as Diane Venora ("True Crime," "Heat") are barely used to any appreciable extent.