The Thirteenth Warrior Movie Review

The Thirteenth Warrior Movie Review

The average viewer might not be aware of The Thirteenth Warrior’s many references to Michael Crichton’s Eaters of the Dead and the epic Beowulf. But director John McTiernan and screenwriter William Wisher make good enough directorial choices to satisfy both the literary scholar and the action movie buff. Though certain choices made, especially in casting, compromise literary accuracy for popular appeal, McTiernan puts a commendable effort into including more than just a big name in this Anglo-Saxon epic revision.

The casting for The Thirteenth Warrior seems to be done mainly on a talent basis with the exception of Antonio Banderas, who seems thrown in as a desperate attempt to capture the actor’s previous fame in other action films such as The Mask of Zorro. This desperation proves unnecessary as the rest of the films cast give wonderful supporting roles in an attempt to make up for the misplacement of the Spanish gunslinger who tries to portray an Arabic diplomat.

As the Arabic diplomat travels to meet a foreign king, he takes up with a band of Vikings just in time to join them in a battle against cannibalistic invaders terrorizing a Viking village. During the journey he acquires a respect for the rowdy Viking culture and even begins to teach their