Some might not know that two adaptations of Beowulf were released in 1999. The
first, starring Christopher Lambert, might be so bad it's good at best. The
second is actually pretty great, in spite of its dubious distinction as Hollywood's
biggest box-office bomb. The 13th Warrior,
first released in 1999, had some high-quality talent behind it: it was directed
by Die Hard and Predator director John McTiernan, was based on a Michael
Crichton novel entitled Eaters of the Dead, and stars Antonio Banderas in the
lead role. Yet, what makes The 13th
Warrior so entertaining is its bridging of two distinct periods of history
into a neat adaptation of the Beowulf mythos - albeit with just one major
threat. Well, I'm sure the "bloody battles and carnage" promised by
the MPAA in their R rating for this film play a part, too.
Antonio Banderas plays Ahmed Ibn Fadhlan, or Ibn for short, an
exiled Muslim court poet who travels to the Old Norse kingdoms as an ambassador.
A nearby Viking village is facing an ancient evil power, and their residents
consult an oracle, who states that of the team of 13 warriors who are made to vanquish
the evil, one must not be Norse. With Ibn completing the band of 13, they set
out to eradicate the village of the fearsome Wendol.
There is still a set of fearsome antagonists in this
depiction of Beowulf - on a side note, that hero is called Buliwyf here - but the
main threat in The 13th Warrior comes
from a set of monsters called Wendol, ancient evil beings that only appear in
the mist and feast on human flesh. In spite of Eaters of the Dead being an
oddity in Crichton's bibliography, since it's not a techno-thriller on the
level of, say, Jurassic Park, he still does not hold back when describing a
mysterious threat like the Wendol, and McTiernan directs accordingly.
As such, unlike their
namesake Grendel, the Wendol are not even remotely humanized. Think of a
thousand or so Grendels on horseback, depicted neither as the boisterous and
massive sort in the epic poem, nor as simultaneously lovable and hateable as
Gardner's Grendel, but as the typical ancient evil that feasts on humans and
must be vanquished at all costs. It's definitely a contrast. The appearance
of the Wendol adds to the mystery - they look like Dementors with fangs,
but also tribelike.
It seems to me like both Crichton and McTiernan were trying
to embody the lack of spirit discussed at length in Beowulf with the Wendol,
especially since they are viewed as such a great fear, and the fact that the
Vikings in this alternate history are willing to consult with an oracle in this
instance. The oracle is probably the most important woman in this film,
actually. Yet, she is shrouded in a cloak, and speaks in an Old Norse dialect -
the audience only understands through Ibn's interpreter Melchisidek (played by
Hollywood legend Omar Sharif).
Alas, in a somewhat underwhelming change, there's no dragon
in The 13th Warrior, nor in Eaters of
the Dead - just a horde of Wendol that they call the "firewyrm" or
"fire-serpent," which consists of a formation of Wendol carrying
torches. Still, it makes for a particularly awesome fight scene in a film full
of them, and this adaptation blurs the lines between human and monster even
more.
Finally, there's The Mother of the Wendol, who has a claw that, naturally,
poisons and eventually kills Buliwyf at the end. She is depicted just as savagely as the rest of the Wendol, as seen here.
So that, in essence, is The
13th Warrior, a unique and uniquely gory Beowulf adaptation in the sword and sorcery mold, but with plenty of tricks up its sleeve.
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