The 13th Warrior (DVD)

John McTiernan’s adaptation of a Michael Crichton novel is a movie which you many of those reading this will not have heard of due to an incredibly poor handling of it by Disney. It was 18 months after it was made that it finally made it onto the cinema screens after Disney ummed and ahhhed about what precisely they should do with it, eventually throwing it onto the screens at the end of August - i.e. at the worst possible time. Consequently it didn't do very well, any interest in it having waned long before its release and its poor timing damning it to such a naff performance. A few months later it skulked onto video with even less ceremony and then ...  Read the complete review

This is a true, old-school film, and as such it may not appeal to amny modern viewers. However, if you like old-fashioned adventures, and if you like your sword-slinging gritty, then this film should appeal to you. The film, based upon the Crichton novel 'Eaters of the dead' follows the adventures of Antonio Banderas, an Arab who is enlisted in a viking quest to defend an ailing Scandinavian villiage against the titular cannibals. Upon arrival, they find the villiage decimated, and the inhabitants living in mortal terror of an ancient evil which assails them. That night, they are beset by their horrific foes and barely escape with their lives. The ...  Read the complete review

If ever you've wanted to know what a night out in Wigan, my former home, is like, then look no further than this thick slice of beefy action, directed by John McTiernan, whose action movies are generally quite elegant (think 'Hunt for Red October' or ' Thomas Crown Affair'), but who was here obviously having 'Predator' flashbacks. Yes it's all axe-fights and beer and killing - though for a film so obviously modelled on the nightlife to be found on King Street, there is a mysterious absence of pies. Anyway, there are these Vikings who have a terrible foe to face, and they enlist the help of an Egyptian adventurer (Antonio ...  Read the complete review

This film hasn't really been hyped or even talked about much since it's cinema release, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. Still, the premise looked interesting and my wife agreed to it because it had Antonio Banderas' name across the top. The plot centres on Banderas' character, an Arab poet called Ahmed, who fell in love with an important man's wife and had to leave his town. On his travels he becomes a sort of ambassador to other peoples and soon meets up with some Norsemen, who have ways that are strange and different to him (he even needs a translator to understand them) It is while he is a guest of these men that a message is ...  Read the complete review

“Warriors never die…They Live for ever…” Since the ages, the epic saga of king’s brutality or the fight of good against evil has fascinated directors all around the world. Benhur was a fascinating display of costume drama and has been the most cherished king…Saga. The best of these kinds of movies are the fantastic Orchestra of music, the horse stunts and the beautiful photography. But the negative part is they tend to become slow at times. Behind the Scene… Thirteenth Warrior directed by John McTiernan based on the novel by Michael Crichton’s “Eaters of the Dead” is ...  Read the complete review