The 13th Warrior

The 13th Warrior is a 1999 action/adventure film starring Antonio Banderos as an Arab poet turned warrior. Also in the film are Omar Sharif and Erik Avari (who has had several Star Trek roles and a Babylon 5 role as a rabbi in a 3rd season episode). Jerry Goldsmith did the music. The film is based on the Michael Crichton novel Eaters of the Dead, which in turn is based on a combining of the story of Beowulf with Ahmad ibn Fadlan's account of an actual journey. There's not much in the way of special features on our DVD. There is a theatrical trailer, which includes a lot of clips that aren't in the film itself. It got bad reviews, we know, and did poorly at the box office. We understand Sharif was so disappointed in it that he promptly retired from acting. We got a kick out of it anyway. Well, maybe I should clarify that: The Younger Son and I had fun with it, but The Husband cringed at all the gore.

You can watch the first 45 minutes of it online via shareview.us:


The New York Times has a negative review. Variety has a mixed review, damning it by faint praise saying that it could have been worse. Roger Ebert doesn't like it either: "To extract the story from the endless scenes of action and carnage is more effort than it's worth."