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13th Warrior, The

EMAILPRINTTouchstone Pictures

13th Warrior, The reviews
42
6.9 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 27 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 19 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller

Written by: William Wisher Jr.
Warren Lewis
Michael Crichton (novel Eaters of the Dead)

Directed by: Michael Crichton
John McTiernan

Release Date:
Theatrical: August 27, 1999
DVD: January 18, 2000

Running Time: 103 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: R for bloody battles and carnage

Starring Antonio Banderas, Omar Sharif, Diane Venora, Vladimir Kulich, Dennis Storhøi, Daniel Southern, Richard Bremmer, and Tony Curran

Ibn Fahdlan (Banderas), an important emissary who is banished from his homeland, comes across a band of Norse warriors who coerce him into joining them when they are summoned to fight mysterious creatures legendary for consuming every living thing in their path. Eventually surrounded by the frightening and ferocious foe, Ibn must conquer his personal fears and help battle the illusive invaders who emerge out of the shroud of fog in the black of night. (Touchstone Pictures)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

91

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The most unexpectedly audacious, exhilarating, wildly creative adventure thriller I've seen in ages.

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75

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

A deeply pleasurable, old-fashioned blood-'n'-guts adventure film.

75

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

It falls short where it counts: In the final confrontation.

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70

TNT RoughCut Christopher Brandon

My biggest complaint: Following two nasty bloodbaths and an invasion of the creatures' lair, the final showdown seems anti-climactic.

67

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

A straightforward, no-nonsense, agreeably old-fashioned historical action movie.

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63

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Has a remote feel. It sometimes impresses but never soars.

60

LA Weekly Paul Malcolm

For the most part it delivers the goods.

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50

USA Today Mike Clark

Dramatically empty Norse warrior adventure.

50

Village Voice Gary Dauphin

A well-marbled, albeit derivative, slab of action-movie man meat.

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50

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Warrior has the underwritten, overproduced bluster of "Conan the Barbarian."

50

Boston Globe Jay Carr

About everything is big in The 13th Warrior except the writing, which is microscopic.

50

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Gives you the delirious thrill of ripping off your enemy's head and watching the blood gush by providing a ringside seat.

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42

Portland Oregonian Diana Abu-Jaber

Terrible, unnamable enemies turn out to be uncompelling indeed.

40

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

Indulges in enough grubby histrionics and costume-adventure cliches to give you fifth-grade flashbacks.

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40

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

McTiernan's extensive action background is nowhere evident in the murky, all-but-impossible to follow battle sequences.

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40

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Too lightweight and streamlined to be memorable.

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40

Variety Todd McCarthy

Bloody but anemic story.

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40

Los Angeles Times Gene Seymour

Thinking too much about the contents will ruin what little pleasure there is in the experience.

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40

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Reminiscent of the opening moments of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," actually, only without the clever wit.

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40

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Overwhelmingly grisly.

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38

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Just a great, empty wind machine.

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38

San Francisco Examiner G. Allen Johnson

In tackling 1000 A.D., (McTiernan)'s suddenly an unwieldy, clunky filmmaker.

38

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Lumbering from one expensive set piece to the next without taking the time to tell us a story that might make us care.

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30

Film.com Peter Brunette

With the possible exception of the action sequences and the occassionally imaginitive set design, it's awful.

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25

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Silly supernatural Viking epic.

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25

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

A grand, eye-popping film, a beautifully photographed epic with the depth of a Bugs Bunny Cartoon.

20

Film.com Sean Means

Mud-stained, blood-soaked and completely useless.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 6.9 (out of 10) based on 19 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

RavenX301 gave it a5:
Does anyone realize this is a complete rip from Seven Samuri? or does your filmogly even compute that?

Kevin C. gave it a9:
Beautifully filmed yet gruesome. For action/ adventure you don't get much better. Based on the Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf, it lives up to the expectation of heroism and tragedy. Weakness in fleshing out the characters is compensated by tearing flesh.

[Anonymous] gave it a6:
This Crichton adaptation is nothing more than an expensive piece of mediocrity. Battles that should've been exciting are poorly edited and lit, meaning they're not all that fun to begin with. There's little, if any, thematic coherence. They've taken a lavish budget and made something ordinary and unexciting out of it. Skip this and get gladiator. If you wanna watch this, don't expect anything special.

Nirav M. gave it a2:
This gets a non-zero rating only because it is laughably bad. Please note the spelling and grammar used by those who claim to like this movie.

Brian D. gave it a10:
One of the best movies ever period. No crying or moaning if you dont like it too bad your wrong.

Karen H. gave it a10:
I loved this movie. It wa a great story of people helping other people.

Leonard H. gave it a 9:
Much like the stories of the Old Testiment - a spiritual battle plan for dealing with a dmonic enemy. Much closer to reality than most would care to imagine.

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