13th Warrior (1999)

Movie review
13th Warrior (1999) 8/10


Plot 
Set somewhere in 922 AD a Muslim poet and wife fondler (Antonio Banderas) is banished from his home land by some nobly offended husband. He is send somewhere? And on the way is saved from Mongol Tatar raiders by the appearance of a Vikings ship sailing on a river in the desert, anyway so there he meets the rest of the cast a bunch of rowdy Viking warriors and there newly appointed king. On his second day in camp a messenger appears (other Viking king’s son, who subsequently never again makes a appearance in the movie?) bringing news of “those that will not be named” attacking there village and they need assistance, so true to Viking valor (and stupidity) only 12 warriors set out and a Muslim poet while there rest of the horde chill on the banks of the desert river camp. Anyway the extremely smart and perceptive Ahmad Ibn Fadlan (Banderas) soon learns the Viking language by listening, even though the 12 Vikings are speaking different languages, but never the les who am I to judge, after that is sorted the party is off and the adventure starts.

Visual
Nice to look at, good selection of scenery although the Viking/desert thing still confuses me, especially since Ibn (Banderas) apparently comes from Baghdad and Vikings from Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) which is very far apart, but not impossible. Costume design is nicely done although very wrongly as our Viking party’s armor ranges from Knights chain mail (500 AD), Roman gladiator armor (264 BCE) and even a Spanish Conquistadors armor (1492 AD) makes a appearance. Well traveled Vikings I must say, they even managed to travel to the future. Apart from that the movie is a warrior action movie and mainly consists of fighting warriors, the fight scenes look nice and there is a fair amount of blood, guts and amputated body parts, all backed with a epic soundtrack.

My opinion 
Loved it. Although there where confusing aspects and unfinished and underdeveloped plot lines (2, one romance and one concerning a arrogant prince ling) it all made for a epic watch as our Viking warriors strived to best a unknown foe and learn an well mannered Arab the ways of the blood encrusted sword. The movie is based on the book Eaters of the dead which in turn is loosely based on the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf. Bottom-line, it is a straight forward hack and slash Fantasy/Action with no pretty icing toppings.

I give this Movie an epic 8 Bloody Battle axes out of 10.