The Thirteenth Floor (1999)

Computer scientist Hannon Fuller (Armin Mueller-Stahl) finds something extremely important. Knowing that he's marked for assassination, he leaves a message in the virtual reality world he's designed, hoping it will be found by colleague Douglas Hall (Craig Bierko). Hall is a suspect in Fuller's murder and indeed finds a bloody shirt in his house, with no recollection of what he did the night before. Hall plunges headlong into Fuller's world (a re-creation of 1937 Los Angeles) to try to unravel the slaying and is soon knee-deep in confusion and trouble. What this film lacks in character depth and plot cohesiveness it makes up for in special effects and high concept. Fans of films like Blade Runner, Dark City, eXistenZ, and even the game Sim City should find this appealing. Of course, there's the question of letting the computers do all the heavy lifting in films while the humans walk through the plot (an all-too-familiar scenario in 1999), but the re-creation of '30s Los Angeles is certainly something to see, pallid script and acting or not. The Thirteenth Floor is a stylish modern-day noir that raises questions about technology versus reality, all the while wrapped up in a murder-mystery story line. --Jerry Renshaw Amazon.com

Great sci-fi movie!

I watched this on TV before purchasing it for my library.

The Thirteenth Floor implies ghosts, goblins & spooky stuff. Nothing could be further from the truth.

It's a FANTASTIC virtual reality film!

I recommend it totally and have watched it more than once. May 6, 2008

Great Movie - Very disappointing disk

When I first saw this movie on cable about seven years ago I was very pleasantly surprised how entertaining and thought provoking it was. I won't get into a lot of details except to say that I like the way the movie makes you think and the scenery and costumes of 1937 LA is very convincing and contrasts greatly with the dark, chrome and glass look of the present day LA. I think the acting is about perfect for a quiet style of movie and I felt a connection to all of the characters. A couple of years ago I rented The Thirteenth Floor and enjoyed it even more in the Widescreen format. I bought myself a small widescreen HD TV last year and decided to purchase a copy of this movie from Amazon. I was greatly disappointed to find out that it is only Full screen and not Widescreen. It is also annoying that the subtitles are defaulted to be on so you have to turn them off first. I ordered this movie from another company that specifically advertised Widescreen and it too is only Full screen so I returned it. I have since found out that Sony has screwed around with many of its movies and is only releasing them in Full screen format and The Thirteenth Floor is one of them. Apparantly a Widescreen version is no longer available which is a shame because this is one movie that needs to be seen in widescreen. April 22, 2008

A Much Underrated Sci-Fi Film

This visual pleasure was seriously overshadowed by the Matrix that came out the same year. Unlike the other masterpiece, which was armed with an ambition of an epic in cinema, The Thirteen Floor is more creative in that there is no self-righteous mission of an entire population to fight against the Internet. There is no immediate indication that leads the audience to the division between physical reality and the virtual one--at least not until the latter half of the film. Instead, what it presents to us is layers of virtual reality, or illusion, if you may. But it also can be understood as infinite layers of reality, depending on precisely how you interpret it. Besides all these philosophical headaches and debates on metaphysics, what is most important is it is an intriguing story--with amazingly hot actors and actresses. It would be a shame to miss it. April 9, 2008

Great Movie, Disappointing DVD

I love the movie, but was really disappointed in this DVD! When I purchased it, I didn't notice that it was only the full screen version. Coming back to check on Amazon, it seems this movie is not even available in wide screen! (At least not in region one.) So many of the special effects shots are wasted in a full screen version. You don't really get the full effect. If they ever do a widescreen version I would buy it but this DVD does not do the movie justice.
Another disappointment in this DVD is the lack of special features. This DVD is listed as a "Special Edition." Seeing that, I was expecting some good special features, but all it had was the trailer, a few still shots, and a VERY brief one-screen bio on the actors. That is not what I would expect from a special edition!
I get the impression the DVD version was rushed together with very little thought. Sony, you can do better than this!!! March 29, 2008

Species of Idea

I have read a sampling of the reviews for this movie... but not all of them because of the constraints of time.

As I have been able to determine from my sampling thus far, no one has yet mentioned that the premise and storyline were directly lifted (hopefully with due consideration of rights) from Daniel F. Galouye's "1964" novel, Simulacron 3, of virtual reality, political intrique, and murder. While it is common that very few films follow exactly the storylines of the original literature upon which they are based, The 13th Floor does downplay the political intrique (but not the megalomania) that Galouye's original 1964 novel portrayed. When one stops to think carefully and clearly about it, considering the incredibly primitive state of computer technology in 1964, Daniel F. Galouye should be acknowledged as the visionary that he indeed was.

Investigate Mr. Galouye's bibliography and you will find many interesting ideas well ahead of (or out of) their time. The movie, The 13th Floor, is a reasonably honest effort to capture the essence of Daniel F. Galouye's vision in the context of the 1960's, the decade in which it was envisioned and written. In the context of those times in which Galouye presented his vision to the world, that vision was not a worn out cliche as it has (over the decades) become.

It was fresh and it was original. It was radical.

It had once been remarked to me by a person who had contributed artistically to the Warner Bros. product called The Matrix that he was of the opinion that The 13th Floor was an inferior movie. To that I must respectfully respond that, whereas The 13th Floor may lack the special effects polish that The Matrix so opulently displayed, The 13th Floor does deliver a faithfulness to story and idea with regard to which The Matrix was all but bankrupt. More techno-razzle-dazzle does not necessarily make better! In fact, special effects extravaganzas often tend to bury and overwhelm the potential depth of the species of idea at the core of the literature that inspired the production.

As do all movies, The 13th Floor has its faults. However, unlike The Matrix, ir does not try to hide them. The 13th Floor represents the birth of a paradigm in literature to which The Matrix is merely a pathetic pretender.

Resist the media techno-orthodoxy. Place yourself psychically in the 1960's. Read the novel Simulacron 3. Watch The 13th Floor. Be a witness to history and authenticity.

THEN... Make up your own mind!
AND.. Have a great life!!
Earth Out.... Aar Jaa Bee February 10, 2008

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