Il 13º guerriero

In the Dark Ages , AD 922 Ahmad Ibn (Antonio Banderas) an Arab nobleman is banished by a wrong love to the Barbaric north . On his way he encounters Turks in Central Asia and Russian and Varangians (Volga Vikings) . As a diplomatic person he meets an experienced Arab (Omar Sharif) and befriends a group of Vikings Norsemen (Vladimir Kulich,Dennis Storhoi..) returning their homeland . Shortly after , he is enlisted to battle a mysterious evil force, creatures of the mist (though never explains who the ravenous-hunger "mist monsters" actually are and in the novel, they were the descendants of the Neanderthals) attacking by night as supernatural head-cutters (Wendol) and devouring human flesh that threaten the village existence .

This epic movie initially titled ¨Eaters of the dead¨and subsequently ¨The 13th Warrior¨ begins with a real sense of wonder and surprise and winding up with continuous struggles against the body eaters . The picture packs great loads of action , special effects abundant , horror , breathtaking combats and a little bit of gore and blood . Based on the historic character : Ahmed Ibn Fadlan who traveled as an emissary to the land of the Volga Bulgars to convert them to Islam , he returned in 923, and no record after this date refers to him. Stunning battles scenes illuminate the full-blown adventure with a plethora of engaging action set pieces on the combats in which the heads and limbs are slice off here and there and everywhere while other parts of body are slit open . The movie was slated to be released as "Eaters of the Dead" in 1998, after the film was considered unwatchable during test screenings , then Michael Crichton took over the project , and he made some important changes .

The film gets an impressive control of the crowd scenarios with a climatic and overwhelming finale battle . Exceptional and colorful cinematography shot in Canadian outdoors by Peter Menzies . Musical score by the veteran composer Jerry Goldsmith is extraordinary and spectacular . However , Graeme Revell had composed a complete original score , but Revell's original soundtrack was scorned , and brought in Jerry Goldsmith to rescore the movie . The film is based on Michael Chricton's (also producer) novel :¨Eaters of the dead¨ inspired by medieval poem ¨Beowulf ¨ and the authentic travel realized by a scout Arab towards Northland . The film was shelved during years for disagreement among director (McTiernan) and producer (Chricton) . The motion picture was beautifully executed with phenomenal production design (Wolf Kroeger) and well directed by John McTiernan . The flick will appeal to adventures cinema buffs and Antonio Banderas fans . Rating : 7.5/10 . Above average . Well worth seeing for numerous action battle scenes which have you on the edge of your seat.

The 13th Warrior is an excellent movie. The scenery is beautiful, and so was the cinematography. The music was great. The acting and directing was excellent. I have no clue why the critics gave this movie such bad reviews. I enjoyed this movie a lot. I recommend this movie to anyone who likes a good action movie w/ lots of gore.

"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." -Ahmed Ibn Fadhlan

Criminally underappreciated adventure! It mixes real Arab traveller Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, mythical story of Beowulf and Neolithic cavemen. The more you know about these three, the more enjoyment you will get from this movie. I can easily understand how people unfamiliar with these subjects were just lost and confused, feeling not helped by choppy editing where even important side characters just disappear without a trace!

I love it! Banderas is great balancing charm and humor in equal measure. Vladimir Kulich is spot on as the Viking leader Buliwyf. It's also strange and great to see sword and sorcery movie where main protagonist prays for Allah before final battle.

Where is bluray with extras? Where is directors cut? Take my money already!!!

An arab and a Viking walks into a bar... Jokes aside, this movie was amazing even up to the end. It did what most movies lack now a days and in the past too. A "perfect" ending to its story. Banderas was good as always and the unique story was amazing. The only flaws I could find about this movie was that the fight scenes were a bit lackluster (but what did you expect from a movie from 1999) and a bit of shaky cam which is never good in a movie except for when it's needed (in a horror movie for example.). All in all though, a good and enjoyable movie. But when is Antonio Banderas not entertaining?

I guess every region has its own legends and saga's, but I've always found the Scandinavian legends about trolls, monsters and ghosts even more intriguing and interesting as ours. It's no wonder that these people have created these legends once. If you've been there and if you've seen the impressive nature with its immense forests and lakes, the fact that the sun never rises in winter and stays 24 hours a day in summer... makes it easy to understand why this is the land of such creatures.

The movie tells the story of an Arab courtier / diplomat who was sent to the barbaric North as a punishment for falling in love with the wrong woman. In AD 922, this could be seen as an execution, because there was no way he would return (it's the same reason why the Catholic Church sent people who had committed awful sins, as pilgrims from our region to Santiago De Compostella in Spain). When they are about to get robbed and killed somewhere in the fields, they manage to escape and accidentally stumble upon a group of Vikings, which saves their lives, because the Barbarians are terrified of these vicious warriors from the North. They soon get befriended and are able to stay with the Vikings, when a young boy, a messenger from the North, comes to the Vikings to ask for help. In their home country many people die because of "an evil whose name should not be pronounced". They consult an oracle who tells them that they should send 13 warriors, but that one of them shouldn't be a Viking. The Arab, however not believing that these mythical creatures from the forests really exist, joins them in their battle against the Wendol...

Normally I'm not too much of a fan of Antonio Banderas' work, but this time I really liked him as the Arab with the impressive name of Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan Ibn Al Abbas Ibn Rashid Ibn Hamad (I guess you better don't try to say that 10 times in a row). The other actors all did a very good job as well, even though I have to admit that I've never heard of most of them before.

The story is nice and well written, the way it was all shot is done properly and overall I must say that I really enjoyed watching this movie. I'm sure that many will not agree, but personally I liked it more than the "The Lord of the Rings" movies. I like legends and mystery in movies and this movie gave me both. I give it a 7.5/10.