# The 13th Warrior (1999)



## ray gower (Jul 20, 2002)

From IMDB


> Arab courtier Ahmad Ibn Fadlan is sent to the barbaric north as an emissary, because he fell in love with the wrong woman. In AD 922, this usually meant goodbye forever. Shortly after the party ran into exploring Vikings and befriended them, a young boy reaches the camp to call the warriors home: The Wendol, creatures of the Mist, have started attacking their homeland, killing and eating everyone in their way. The oracle forces a thirteenth warrior to accompany the Vikings, but this must not be a man from the north. Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, who quickly is nicknamed Eban, first does not feel comfortable with the strange men of the north, but when he finds out that the Wendol really exist, he bravely fights alongside the Vikings in a battle that can't be won.



Very broadly a reworking of the Beowolf epic and quite humourous


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## Status (Aug 18, 2006)

I recently had the opportunity to watch this film and found it very enjoyable.  

I had heard of Beowolf but never read it so it was all new to me.


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## dustinzgirl (Aug 18, 2006)

Great movie! 

If you do a google search on beowulf, you can find the original and the "modern" ersion at university websites. Great read, kind of confusing in parts, but definetly worth the time.


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## KSeriphyn (Aug 18, 2006)

This is the one with Antonio Banderas is it not?  If it is I really enjoyed this movie.  I'm not much of a Banderas fan, but I though he played a good role.


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## steve12553 (Aug 19, 2006)

IN between Beowolf and *the Thirteeth Warrior*, there was the Michael Crichton book, *Eaters of the Dead*, which the book that the movie was directly based on. Also quite interesting.


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## PTeppic (Aug 19, 2006)

Don't know if it was a nod to Kurosawa's "Shichinin No Samurai" or just a similarity of plot (since there are only so many) but: band of warriors asked to defend a village and the final battle in teaming rain I think every time I see it are a nod to "the original"...


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## Crymic (Aug 19, 2006)

To me this movie seemed like a Live action D&D campaign.


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## Riselka (Aug 19, 2006)

I enjoyed this film.  Antonio Banderas' character may have had the most scenes, but the Vladimir Kulich character Buliwyf was definately the star.  Diana Venora was excellent as the queen, and I really loved Dennis Storhoi's portrayal of Herger.

I really wish that John McTiernan's version of the film was, at the very least, available as a Special Edition DVD.  Apparently it is more than half an hour longer, and fleshes out the characters, and the relationship between Buliwyf and the Queen a lot more.

******************

*The Viking Prayer*


Lo, there do I see my father.
Lo, there do I see my mother and my sisters and my brothers.
Lo, there do I see the line of my people back to the beginning.
Lo, they do call to me,
They bid me take my place among them in the Halls of Valhalla,
Where the brave may live...
Forever.


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## Jason_Taverner (Aug 19, 2006)

Riselka said:
			
		

> ******************
> 
> *The Viking Prayer*
> 
> ...


 
I loved that film... good post Riselka


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## Cloud (Aug 19, 2006)

I read "Eater of the Dead" AND saw the movie, and wasn't impressed by either of them.  

If you have not read "Beowulf," or even just know about the story and premise, there is a gap in your education.  Do it!


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## Riselka (Aug 19, 2006)

Cloud,

I've read the Seamus Heaney translation of the epic poem and thought it was fantastic!

It's just that I have no problem with books like Crichton's "Eaters of the Dead" or films like "The Thirteenth Warrior", or even the "Beowulf and Grendel" film I started another thread for, veering away from the original.

Literature and film are two completely different media. It's like comparing apples to oranges examining the two side-by-side. What works in one, doesn't necessarily work in the other, and vice-versa.

Anyone insisting on trying to keep as much of the detail from a book in the motion picture based on it probably has no idea just how long the film would be if it did.

By the way, have you seen "Beowulf and Grendel" ?


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## Starbeast (Apr 1, 2011)

steve12553 said:


> IN between Beowolf and *the Thirteeth Warrior*, there was the Michael Crichton book, *Eaters of the Dead*, which the book that the movie was directly based on. Also quite interesting.


 
Plus, Michael Crichton was inspired from a real diary that was written 1000 years ago by an asian man who traveled to far away lands and who met Norsemen which he made friends with and fought along of. And yes Mr Crichton did blend in elements of the Beowulf story, I loved the movie _The 13th Warrior_, but I would really like to read that original diary.


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## RJM Corbet (Apr 3, 2011)

Brilliant movie


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## Starman (Apr 3, 2011)

I loved the movie movie, but I like the book even better. It's also interesting to note that Ibn Fadlan was a real person who briefly met Northmen, and wrote about them. Crichton used fragments of his journal, and added his own. I actually didn't realize that the story is a retelling of Beowulf, despite studying Beowulf at school. But that made it all the more interesting.


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## Starbeast (Apr 3, 2011)

Starman said:


> I actually didn't realize that the story is a retelling of Beowulf, despite studying Beowulf at school. But that made it all the more interesting.


 

You should see the Christopher Lambert _Beowulf_ movie, it's a fast-moving version created by the same people who made the _Mortal Kombat_ film.


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## Daezarkian (Apr 5, 2011)

I throughly enjoyed _The 13th Warrior_.  It isn't anything terribly deep, but John McTiernan has a fine eye for action set pieces, and the pacing and cinematography are spot on.  And the "mother" of the barbarians is seriously cool.


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## RJM Corbet (Apr 5, 2011)

Cloud said:


> I read "Eater of the Dead" AND saw the movie, and wasn't impressed by either of them.
> 
> If you have not read "Beowulf," or even just know about the story and premise, there is a gap in your education. Do it!


 
Beowulf killed the monster, but then the monster's mother came to take revenge. I don't remember exactly how it ended ...


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## Starman (Apr 6, 2011)

Ah Beowulf, God I hated it! Takes me back to those long miserable school days. 

Anyway, Beowulf goes into Grendel's Mum's cave, kills her. Then he becomes King. Then he gets killed by a dragon.


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