The 13th Warrior is a 1999 action film based on the novel Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton. It is directed by John McTiernan and an uncredited Crichton, and stars Antonio Banderas as Ahmad ibn Fadlan and Vladimir Kulich as Buliwyf. The 13th Warrior was a disappointment at the box office, earning only US $61,698,899 worldwide.
The novel upon which the film is based is itself loosely inspired by Richard Frye's translation of ibn Fadlan's non-...
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The 13th Warrior is a 1999 action film based on the novel Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton. It is directed by John McTiernan and an uncredited Crichton, and stars Antonio Banderas as Ahmad ibn Fadlan and Vladimir Kulich as Buliwyf. The 13th Warrior was a disappointment at the box office, earning only US $61,698,899 worldwide.
The novel upon which the film is based is itself loosely inspired by Richard Frye's translation of ibn Fadlan's non-fictional account of his travels up the river Volga in the tenth century and the Old English heroic epic poem, Beowulf.
The plot centers on Banderas' character, Ahmad ibn Fadlan, who angers an influential noble in Baghdad and is commanded by the Caliph to serve as "ambassador to the North"—i.e., is expelled from the city—as a result. Traveling with Melchisidek (Omar Sharif), an old friend of his father, he meets a shipload of Viking raiders whose king has just died.
The language barrier is awkward, as Ahmed speaks only Arabic and most of the...
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