Director John McTiernan
Starring Antonio Banderas, Diane Venora, Dennis Storhøi
Rated MA
Score 4/6

A man, having fallen in love with the wrong woman, is sent by the sultan himself on a diplomatic mission to a distant land as an ambassador. Stopping at a Viking village port to restock on supplies, he finds himself unwittingly embroiled on a quest to banish a mysterious threat in a distant Viking land.

Okay, another review from the suggestion list and it was suggested by Gareth Goose Hunter. The Thirteenth Warrior is based on a 1976 novel Eaters of the Dead: The Manuscript of Ibn Fadlan Relating His Experiences with the Northmen in AD 922. It should also be noted that Orion Pictures tried to adapt the novel into a movie back in 1979 which would have been directed by Michael Crichton who as it turns out actually is an uncredited director as he directed some of the reshoots on the 1999 movie after director John McTiernan. Now this piece of trivia might be interesting to the people who have not read the book Ahmad ibn Fadlan existed and was a 10th century emissary to the Volga Vikings.

I’ve watched The Thirteenth Warrior, though its probably been at least five years since I last watched it. Now I don’t remember ever seeing this one on the big screen and it should be noted that for the best possible results you should watch this one on a screen that is as big as possible failing that I would recommend a tv with a decent sound system, to fully take advantage of the battle sequences. This is an easy action adventure to watch, the type of thing that is perfect for a beer and pizza night. This is a beautifully shot movie, now admittedly there really isn’t any award-winning performances though I loved how Dennis Storhoi who played Herger the Joyous played off Antonio Banderas. I suppose my only complaint about The Thirteenth Warrior was that the movie did not go into too much detail about the Wendol, the movie explain who they are but did not bother delving into their motivation.