Mania Grade: C-
1 Comment | Add
Rate & Share:
Related Links:
Info:
- Blu-Ray: The Thirteenth Floor
- Rating: R
- Starring: Craig Bierko, Gretchen Mol, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Dennis Haysbert, Vincent D'Onofrio
- Written By: Josef Rusnak, Daniel F. Galouye, Ravel Centeno-Rodriguez (screenplay), Daniel F. Galouye (book)
- Directed By: Josef Rusnak
- Distributor: Sony Pictures
- Original Year of Release: 1999 (Theatrical), 2009 (Blu-ray)
- Extras: Commentary and trailers
- Series:
The Thirteenth Floor (Blu-ray)
Made me nostalgic for 1999 again.. By
Robert T. Trate
April 14, 2009
The Thirteenth Floor released on Blu-ray (2009)
© Mania.com/Robert Trate
Back in the spring of 1999 movies changed in a very big way. A little film by Larry and Andy Wachowski called The Matrix brought to the screen a thinking man’s action movie. The Matrix was rooted deep in not only theories and concepts about man’s soul and his ghost in the machine but also kick ass action flicks. After its release numerous films copied the concept and a whole new genre was born. It’s crazy to look back now and realize how many of these copy cats came out so fast. Perhaps it is all coincidence but eXistenZ by David Cronenberg came out less then a month later and two months later The Thirteenth Floor hit the theaters. What? You don’t remember The Thirteenth Floor? It only shared the same opening week with a little film called Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace.
Doctor Fuller, a brilliant computer scientist played by Armin Mueller-Stahl, is brutally murdered in an alley one night. Right before his murder he left a message for his protégé, Doug (Craig Bierko) inside the new virtual world the two men were developing. Doug quickly becomes the prime suspect in his Fuller’s murder. His only hope is to find that message in the virtual world as it may be the key to why Fuller died.
This isn’t a movie like Tron (1982) though at times you wish it would be. Fuller and Doug developed a virtual world that looked exactly like Los Angeles of 1937. The mystery of the letter and Doug’s quest for it get buried under two plot devices that should have helped the story. A woman (Gretchen Mol) appears after Fuller’s death and claims she is his daughter. Doug quickly suspects her of being a gold digger but falls into bed and in love with her just the same. In the virtual world of 1937 Doug finds that Fuller wrote a character into the world that looked just like him. The more Doug talks to him a connection is made and he learns that this Fuller shares several memories with the real Fuller yet, suffers huge memory lapses too.
In between hopping from virtual world to real world Doug dodges Detective McBain (Dennis Haysbert) and trades reality and soul theories with fellow program developer Vincent D'Onofrio. D'Onofrio, like most of the characters in the film, gets to play two parts. His programmer, Jason, is on the dull side but it is nice change from the maniac he usually portrays (Full Metal Jacket, The Cell). If you are fan of that D'Onofrio fear not he still plays a sadistic bartender in the virtual world.
There is one big surprise to the film but in hindsight it is nothing new. In 1999 any science fiction or Hitchcock fan would have seen it coming. Today a film like this would not have even been made if that was the sole plot twist. With that predictable plot device the outcome and resolution quickly fall into place. There was little or no surprise to how The Thirteenth Floor was going to end.
This film never tries to be The Matrix. It just had the unfortunate timing of coming out so close to it. If anything The Thirteenth Floor was rushed and put into theaters when The Matrix craze was going strong and the studio (Sony/ Columbia Pictures) needed something in the market that was similar. There are a lot of great ideas in The Thirteenth Floor the only problem is we have seen them all before.
Outside of the amazing picture quality in 1080p High Definition and the TRUEHD 5.1 sound this is a barebones Blu-ray. A single commentary track and music video trailer are all that accompany the film. Little fan fare for the film that was sandwiched between two of the biggest money makers of all time.
LOGIN
REGISTER
RSS
HOME
A wildly underrated film that should get more love than it gets. I wonder if Gretchen Mol felt a sense of deja vu because the end of Life on Mars was similar to the finale of The Thirteenth Floor. Both were a dream within a dream and both starred Gretchen Mol. I intend to get this movie on Blu Ray even though they have taken out some of the extras from the original DVD. I hate it when they do that.