The 13th Warrior (A solid sword and shield action adventure)
 

The 13th Warrior (1999)


I’ve always really like this movie starring Antonio Banderas directed by John McTierman (Die Hard) and based on a Michael Crichton novel. It received mixed reviews and…compared to its 160 mil budget….did not do well in terms of cinema gross earnings…32 mil according to IMDB.


Given its seeming obscurity, my story of coming across The 13th Warrior is as follows;



After watching Lord of the rings I went to my local video shop and asked if they had more medieval type action films, they suggested Gladiator, Robin Hood with Kevin Costner and this. I’d seen the great Gladiator and borrowed the other two. 13th warrior was exactly what I wanted, mixture of horror, adventure, some humour, relatively large scale action sequences and some intimate action sequences….basically it’s a boy’s action film (centred around tough male protagonists and male bonding), shot very well with enjoyable characters, an enjoyable atmospheric world and quality sword and shield action……gore included, practical effects, no CGI nonsense.



Highly recommended.



Who’s seen this?

I thought it was great. Saw it at the cinema when it was first released and I'm glad I did. All the set pieces and cinematography need to be seen on the big screen. But if you've got a big screen TV, that'll do nicely. :cool: One thing I thought was unique was the fact that Antonio Banderas was the star but not necessarily the leading man. That would be Vladimir Kulich as Buliwyf (I guess a play-on wording of Beowulf). I thought he was pretty fantastic. The whole movie is great and the ending is epic. Glad you brought it up, Larry.

Me – I love it :up:.

I was thinking Gladiator and Robin Hood weren't very good recommendations and yet it's true to say that there's a supernatural element to both of those films.

The sci-fi film Outlander uses the same basic idea. Both derive from Beowulf, which is a favourite of mine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR464WBmA2s

Re: The 13th Warrior (A solid sword and shield action adventure)
 

saw it but didn t think its a classic film as other films felt and were made better than this, i don t know maybe the casting here i didn t like, antonio banderas matches the more over the top actioneer (desperado,mask of zoro, assassins) xd rather than this type of films, so yeah for me mixed feelings

I'll have to put Outlander on my "watch" list, haven't seen it. thxs :)

It's the fish out of water aspect though isn't it? I love the bit where he's making the sword and it's way beyond the effectiveness of the locals' weapons.

Yea fair enough, I wouldnt call it a classic either but I just reckon its very solid, very enjoyable...for me anyway...and seeingisbelieving haha.

It's not bad. I have a lot of time for Jim Caviezel because of The Count of Monte Cristo. And John Hurt's always good :).

You see I just want to keep talking about it now. But as Brad Dourif says "Late is the hour…".

He's so small and cheeky but can fight at the end of the day. Like how he learns their language and calls them out when they are talking about him haha.

Re: The 13th Warrior (A solid sword and shield action adventure)
 

Do we see many movies like this...really? Ok we have the bravehearts and Gladiators but they are epics and have such a dominant story. This is smaller scale, sword and shield, its somewhat mythical not sci fi or real fantasy. Not enough movies with sword and shield good quality action. IMO action movies are predominately gun toting. We need more bow and arrows...done well.

If you're not averse to subtitles (and haven't seen it already) the South Korean film War Of The Arrows is pretty good imo.

Loved it too at the time. I want to watch it now!! Ugh.

I'm sure you have, BUT if you haven't seen these, take a look:

Black Death (2010)
Solomon Kane (2009)
Pathfinder (2007) - maybe. Not so great but really beautiful cinematography IMO.
Ravenous (1999) - but a different time and a weirdly neat little movie.
And of course Legend (1985) - Timeless, gorgeous, and still holds up!

<3<3<3

Now I have to find a copy of the 13th warrior. Eben? Eben??

EDIT: I see that SeeingisBelieving has confirmed that movie Outlander is indeed the Jim Caviezel movie, so disregard my question below. Thanks!

Originally Posted by SeeingisBelieving
I take it you're referring to the Outlander with Jim Caviezel? If so, I dug the heck out of that movie also. I like all sword-and-sandal type movies. I really like the movie Centurion (2010), with Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko (who is awesome in this), Rachael Stirling, and the lovely Imogen Poots. It's a terrific action movie about the missing Ninth Legion of Rome and speculation of what happened to them. I know there are several movies that cover this story and I've seen at least one other, but I like this one the best. Directed by the great Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent, some episodes of Game of Thrones), I highly recommend it.

As for them deriving from Beowulf, that makes sense that they would name the character from The 13th Warrior after him.

Now I have to see The 13th Warrior again...maybe need to purchase it.

Thank you, I haven’t seen those except ravenous. That’s a strange but good movie.

Sorry didn’t see this comment initially for some reason. Glad there’s another fan. Yea they certainly didn’t skimp on the set pieces, costume etc or the cinematography. Obviously a lot of budget went that way.

absolutely LOVE that movie!! VERY worthwhile!!

And I'm a fan of 13th Warrior as well. Saw it, a couple of times at the theater and a number of times since then. This is one that I need to put into the collection.
Loved all the characters in this and Antonio does a splendid job as the new guy on the scene.
Along with him learning their language my favorite scene is the duel with the shortest guy playing it so smart and waiting til he was on his last shield to take the other guy out.
A really good movie.

What did they call Antonio in The 13th Warrior? Wasn't it something like "Little Brother?"

Yea...and arab I think haha.

Thanks, Larry! And now that you mention it, they sure did call him "Arab." :)