The 13th Warrior-Info & Review

Before the dawn of the second millennium, the city of Baghdad is the center of highest civilization. Within its cultured protection, young Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan (Antonio Banders) enjoys the privileges of a prominent position until he succumbs to a politically dangerous relationship with a beautiful young woman. Sent away as an appointed emissary to a distant land, Ibn is traveling by caravan with his mentor and manservant,Melchisidek (Omar Sharif), when he meets a band of warriors Ibn considers the rogues to be colorful but crude, and he is skeptical of their description of a mysterious enemy that is plaguing their homeland. Apparently emerging through the foggy shroud of night, the enemy is said to mutilate the bodies of its victims and eat the dead. The ominous presence is so terrifying to the people they rarely speak its name aloud. While Ibn is not eager to entertain such tales, an old soothsayer warns the band that they will fail unless they are accompanied on their journey by a 13th warrior and one who is not from the North. Branded as the foreigner they need to succeed, Ibn is enlisted as they set out on their conquest by land and sea.
Led by the enigmatic and courageous Buliwyf (Vladimir Kulich), the warriors include Herger the Joyous(Dennis Storhoi) whose love of women is only exceeded by his love of fighting. Herger becomes Ibn's most frequent tormentor, and his closest ally.
Arriving at the warriors' northen homeland ruled by the elderly King Hrothgar(Sven Wollter), Ibn that the King and his young wife,Queen Weilew(Diane Venora),and Hrothgar's treachouros son Wigliff (Anders T. Andersen), have been unable to stop the murderous rampage. Now surrounded with horror of a very real and threatening enemy, Ibn realizes he must either conquer fear and go to battle with the warriors in the black of the night, or face the terror of being devoured as well. Courtesy: http://movieweb.com

Based on Michael Crichton's novel Eaters of the dead,The 13th Warrior is an Action/Adventure movie starring Antanio Banderas,Vladimir Kulich,Omar Sharif...Read about the rest of the cast here What's interesting about The 13th Warrior is that it purports to be a deconstruction of the legend of Beowulf. According to the classic heroic poem (composed around 1000 A.D.), Beowulf is a great Scandinavian warrior who answers King Hrothgar's pleas for help to kill the man-eating monster Grendel. Later, after slaying the creature, Beowulf enters Grendel's lair to destroy his mother. The 13th Warrior argues that "Grendel" is not actually one creature, but a host of costumed men who assault under cover of darkness, pretending to be fearsome, demonic apparitions. Buifwyf/Beowulf earns his reputation by driving them back then leading a small party of warriors on a search-and-destroy mission for the female leader of the attacking tribe. Speaking of Buliwyf I must say he did an excellent job.I think he's made more fans after this movie then Antanio did!!Something I've noticed (altho its got nothing to do with the review) is that little or no credit is being given to Buliwyf (Vladimir Kulich) for his OUUTTSSTANDING performance.Lemme do the honours here.You've done a superb job Vladimir.Four thumbs up,Keep up the good work. Ok.Coming back to the review.A lot of talk is going around the net that the 13th warrior is inspired by BraveHeart.Now that's funny because 13th warrior has nothing in common with BraveHeart except both movies have battle scenes in them.Now I dont think thats good enough an arguement to compare both these movies.Look at the differences here.BraveHeart has a very strong romantic angel in it..rather its 50-50 between romance and freedom(I mean William Wallace i.e. melGibson couldnt care less about Scotland's freedom if they didnt kill his wife!)While on the other hand The 13th Warrior doesn't have much to do with romance.There are no cruel kings in 13th Warrior as in BraveHeart.There are no screw jobs in 13th Warrior as in BraveHeart.So whoever says The 13th Warrior is inspired by BraveHeart or anything like that is simply wrong.Note,I am not saying BraveHeart is a bad movie,it is actually one of my favorite movies.Coming back to the review.The scenes inside the cave of eaters of the dead were shot brilliantly.And it was great to watch a movie where the muslims are not portrayed as the villains. On a side note The 13th Warrior grossed $10.01M in just one week making it one of the biggest hits of this summer.
To summarise it all up I would say this movie is a treat to watch,some of the scenes in the movie are just excellent coupled with great performances by Vladimir Kulich,Anatanio and rest of the cast.Go and watch this movie if you haven't already!