The Thirteenth Floor (1999) Reviewed by Eugene Novikov http://www.ultimate-movie.com Member: Online Film Critics Society
*** out of four
"I think therefore I am."
Starring Craig Bierko, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Gretchen Mol. Rated R.
Can there possibly be anything new to say about the concept of virtual reality impersonating reality? In the past two years, Hollywood has pummeled us drilled with the idea that the world as we know it may not be what we think it to be -- films such as Dark City, The Matrix, eXistenZ and now The Thirteenth Floor have all been brooding over the thought. Notice that I have recommended all of the above, the reason being that I love these kinds of movies; they have the potential to excite my imagination and get my adrenaline flowing, if done well. Oddly enough, these four movies have all been done well.
The Thirteenth Floor is an ambitious little movie that dares to open with Descartes' famous quote "I think therefore I am." At first glance it will seem ill-advised and pretentious, especially if you've seen any promo material for the movie. But stick with it, and you'll find that the presence of that quote in the very beginning provides the movie with the power to stick with you for some time after it is over.
It opens with what seems like the early 19th century. We see an elderly man (Armin Mueller-Stahl) leave a hotel (where a beautiful young girl is peacefully sleeping on a bed), leave a note for the bartender to give to someone else and head home. He comes home to his wife, gets into bed and we find out that the guy is playing an elaborate computer game; indeed he wakes up in a computer lab. Sooner than later, he is stabbed to death. All evidence points to a young executive of the company, Douglas Hall (Craig Bierko) to have killed him. Doug's only hope, it seems, is to find a message that his now-deceased boss allegedly left inside the simulation. What he finds changes his perception of reality, himself and the people around him.
What's terrific about the first two thirds of The Thirteenth Floor is how the movie plays out as a mystery; revealing its secret by slowly peeling away its layers. It succeeds in keeping the deductive viewers a half step ahead of the characters (mainly because for a corporate executive, Douglas isn't terribly bright), but not so far that we become bored.
Unfortunately for those that have just begun to get wrapped up in the proceedings, the film falls apart completely towards the end. The script, never particularly outstanding to begin with, starts to move with undesirably rapid speed towards inanity, and the romance that develops betweed Douglas and a beautiful woman with a dark secret (Gretchen Mol) is not only horridly written but it is also dissappointing as a payoff (this is what we get?!?). The ending leaves too many loose-ends untied to be particularly satisfying, and it is also telegraphed about 30 minutes before it actually happens so that one pretty much knows for sure what is going to happen.
Mueller-Stahl is engaging in a role that never quite dies. Bierko is just okay as the protagonist, although unfortunately he doesn't project his shock at his discovery convincingly. Gretchen Mol is absolutely dreadful in an essential role, but going into the explicit details of her performance or her character will ruin a few surprises, so I'm not going to go into detail here.
I never like seeing a movie that shows such promise nearly destroy itself by such an uninspired resolution. The Thirteeth Floor is regardless a respectable movie (although, for the record, I was originally going to go with a much less enthusiastic **1/2, until I found myself thinking about the movie more during that same night) but it could easily been truly excellent -- it could have been the best movie of the year. But it's not, and The Matrix holds on to that dubious distinction. ©1999 Eugene Novikov‰
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