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7/2/09
Isn't It Bromantic: The 13th Warrior (1999)
As Chris Kattan taught us on Saturday Night Live, Antonio Banderas is “too sexy“. Now I have no comment on that other than to say he’s a good lookin’ fellow. That’s not what this new feature, Isn’t It Bromantic, is about. While B.L.O.G has gone on for some 20+ weeks about the ladies of genre film that I love, the men have been put on the backburner. Now I want to give some dudes the props they deserve. Now, don’t fret, the B.L.O.G.s will be back again soon. I’m going to be trading back and forth on Thursdays between the sexes.
First off let me just say a few words about what Isn’t It Bromantic will be about. It will be about genre film actors I love to watch, it will be focused on one specific movie each time, and it will not be a sexiest or most handsome contest, but rather a place for me to talk about my man crushes. Now don’t front, gentlemen. I know you all have man crushes. There’s always an actor whose roles makes you want to be more like him onscreen and off. They’re the characters that are cool as ice, slick as shit, and always ready to throw down if called upon. That’s why to kick this whole thing off I went with a film and an actor who I feel is quite under-appreciated...
Antonio Banderas was almost not an actor at all. Up until the age of 14 he was poised to be something of a soccer sensation in his native Spain, but a broken foot put an end to those dreams. After seeing a stage production of Hair, he decided he wanted to peruse a career in acting which eventually lead him to a series of collaborations with Spanish director Pedro Almodovar. He made the leap to Hollywood in 1992 with The Mambo Kings and in 1993 got much praise as Tom Hank’s gay lover in Philadelphia.
So far his career had been dominated by high minded films helmed by serious directors, but soon a job given to him by one of those artistic directors, Neil Jordon, would bring Banderas into genre film. He took on the role of Armand in Jordon’s adaptation of Ann Rice’s Interview with a Vampire (1994). Say what you will about that film, I always find a lot to like there and Banderas is definitely part of it. The next year saw his first pairing with Robert Rodriguez in the director’s American remake of his own El Mariachi. Desperado told a slightly varied and more polished tale than the original, and Banderas was well on his way down the genre film path. Over the next few years he starred in Four Rooms (1995), opposite Stallone on Assassins (1995), and donned the legendary disguise in The Mask of Zorro (1998).




While The 13th Warrior surely deserved no Oscars, I find it to be an enjoyable action epic that didn’t get a fair shake. At the time it was released, it was one of the most expensive flops in movie history (not Waterworld bad, but bad none the less.) Since its release, it’s had a second life on video and DVD, and that’s the sign of a true cult film. It’s the kind of flick that when I mention it to my friends, we’ve all seen, we all enjoy, but somehow we never knew that there were other people that liked it. So in short, Antonio, he’s a badass here the Norse teach him to be, and he makes The 13th Warrior into a pretty badass flick.

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I like this one quite a bit too. I'd explain part of its commercial failure with people not expecting a historical adventure movie that might as well be a Sword & Sorcery film from the Michael Crichton brand. Which is of course exactly what I like about the film.
ReplyDeleteConsidering that I wrote my final college paper on the interaction between the Muslim world and the Western world during the Middle Ages, I should have liked this more than I did. But it does sport an awesome, killer Jerry Goldsmith score. Sold.
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