- Messages
- 16
- Reaction score
- 38
- Trophy Points
- 23
I've always loved the The 13th Warrior. I can remember seeing the trailer for this when I was in high school and thinking just the visuals alone, seeing Arabs and Vikings together, was so cool. Though the film is by no means perfect and suffered from a troubled production, it has some wonderful things going for it including John McTiernan's direction, Jerry Goldsmith's amazing score, and Wolf Kroeger's set design.
Here are a few things I really wanted to focus on for this particular edit:
- Remove most of the reshoots done by Michael Crichton.
- Remove the entire subplot regarding Wendol’s lead soldier as most of this is done with reshoots that are very noticeable
- Adjust the beginning and end of the movie to better support the narration, hide the opening credits, and create bookends for the opening and closing of the film.
- Remove some of the over the top reactions/dialogue that Ibn makes throughout the film
- Remove as many scratches, dots, hairs from the film as possible for a more enjoyable viewing experience
- Before the Touchstone Pictures fanfare, I’ve added an overture to the beginning of the film using the track entitled “Old Bagdad”. I realize this is unusual for a film with such a short runtime, but I personally love overtures for period pieces. The placement before the fanfare is modeled after the Kingdom of Heaven director's cut.
- After the Touchstone Pictures fanfare, I’ve added the quote “Evil is of old date.” – Arab Proverb, which is from the book.
- In the beginning of the film, I bring the frame to a 1:1 aspect ratio (to hide the opening credits) and turn the film B&W as Ibn recounts being banished from Baghdad. I've tried to keep as much of the frame as possible given the size of the credit font and sporadic placement.
- Added the text Baghdad 921
- Certain scenes have been removed/rearranged during the opening narration.
- Removed the line “…who attack caravans, slaughtering everyone” from the narration.
- Removed the man-on-horseback's line, “It depends. Maybe they’ll let us go, maybe they’ll kill us.”
- Removed some of the dialogue Ibn has along the river including “I’m an ambassador dammit, I am supposed to talk to people.”
- Removed Melchisidek saying “You may yet have the opportunity.”
- Removed Ibn/Melchisedek conversation, “What do you suppose the architect of this encampment calls himself?” “Oh, Emperor at the very least.”
- Before Ibn enters the tent, I’ve added three paragraphs with information that include things like the year and that these events are based on the manuscript of Ibn. These paragraphs are primarily based on passages from the book.
- The 1:1 aspect ratio returns to full widescreen and full color as Ibn enters the Northmen tent. Inspiration here comes from the Wizard of Oz, as Ibn enters the "peculiar" new world of the Northmen.
- Trimmed a small clip when Ibn enters the tent to hide the final opening credits.
- Added a segment of the music track “Valhalla Viking Victory” to score when Buliwyf slices the would be assassin. I’ve removed Buliwyf sitting back down and now the screen goes black after he looks back at Ibn, followed by the new title placement “Eaters of the Dead”.
- Removed the entire funeral sequence and accompanying narration. While I do love elements of this sequence, it disrupts the flow of this particular edit of the film.
- Removed Ibn’s line “He’s in plain sight.”
- Removed the head nod from Edgtho when Ibn is showing his horse riding skills
- Removed the trees which can be seen in the wide shot of the Viking boat traveling in the fog to hide the fact that they are next to land
- Trimmed the scene on the boat. Removed the second arrow shot and most of Ibn’s dialogue/jittery behavior.
- Lowered King Hrothgar's loud exhale after Buliwyf asks "What troubles this place old man."
- Removed Herger's line "You know he might be mad."
- Stabilized the sequence where the warriors are riding through the woods to see the slaughter at the farmstead
- Removed the shot of the footprint outside the farmstead
- Removed the shots of the Wendol’s lead soldier in the woods
- Removed Edgtho's line "And there's more."
- Moved the zoom out of Hrothgar's kingdom at night during the dinner scene to later in the sequence
- Removed the shot of the Leador of the Wendol in the woods at night
- During the first fight with the Wendol, when Ibn is thrown, you can briefly see the face of a Wendol. I have shadowed the face so it can no longer be seen, keeping the "mystery" of what these creatures are.
- Shortened the scene where the warriors are heavily breathing after the first fight with the Wendol
- Trimmed the dolly shot of Angus during that last round of the duel between him and Herger.
- Trimmed the end of the scene where everyone is standing around looking at the girl running through the field while the fireworm is approaching. It now cuts after Ibn tells them to open the gate.
- Slighty adjusted the lead up to the reveal of the fireworm on the mountain and removed Edgtho’s line “The Worm!” when he sees the fireworm forming.
- Removed one of Herger's "Ya's" and the lines "Did you see that" and "Haha, I got you" during the fireworm battle
- Removed the scene with Herger’s line “It’s alright little brother, there are more.” during the fireworm battle
- Removed the Wendol’s lead soldier and Buliwyf interaction during the Wendol retreat.
- Removed the witch mentioning that they will need to kill the Wendol’s lead soldier. The scene now ends with her saying “She is the Earth, seek her in the Earth.” and Buliwyf sighing.
- Removed the Mother's shifty eyes when she looks up to see Buliwyf after he kills her guard
- Stabilized establishing shot of King Hrothgar's fortress
- Removed Buliwfy exhale when he turns his head to speak to King Hrothgar
- Removed the pan up from a dying Buliwyf to Queen Weilew who gives a look to Ibn at the table.
- Moved the shot of King Hrothgar in his chair looking at Buliwfy to when Buliwfy is speaking about someone drawing his story. A portion of the shot is played in reverse so the King now looks down which fits the scene better.
- Removed the lines between Ibn and Herger regarding the lead soldier.
- Shortened the dolly shots for Ibn and Herger when they hear the Wendol horns blow
- Removed Ibn saying the "F" word and shortened the scene where the camera is moving closer to Herger
- Removed Weath's lines "Kill the mother she said, kill the leader and they will break." Trimmed the beginning of the scene to accommodate dialogue change.
- Removed Herger’s line “Prepare yourselves”
- Rearranged some of the sequence leading up to the final battle where Buliwyf appears. Herger now sees Buliwyf first, followed by Ibn. This is done because I have Ibn unsheathing his sword later in the sequence to better line up with the also moved line “They’re coming!”
- Added a segment of the music track “Valhalla Viking Victory” to score the last battle and help build a climax (since the Buliwyf/Lead soldier climax has been removed). I’ve also rearranged some cuts to help build toward a climatic moment when the Wendol sound the retreat. The idea here was to get close to the original intention of what John McTiernan had in mind as he envisioned the final battle resembling that of the film Zulu, basically fighting until the they have gained the respect of their opponent. That being said, this final battle was already very short, and is even shorter now that the 20-25 second "boss fight" has been removed.
- Rearranged the scenes after the fight is over. The zoom into Ibn’s face now happens after he sees that Buliwyf has died.
- Removed the slow motion close up of Ibn
- The funeral is now followed by the lightning strike and cut to black followed by three paragraphs that explain the events following the funeral. These are based on passages from the book.
- Removed the ending sequence of Herger on the shore and Ibn on the boat. While I did like elements of this interaction, some of the obvious reshoots kill it for me. I did use of these shots to accompany the end narration.
- Film returns to black and white, 1:1 aspect ratio with some rearranged footage over the end narration.
- End credits have been created and inserted to replace the opening credits that are hidden at the beginning of the film, along with an added portion of the track "Underwater Escape" to accommodate for the additional length of the ending credits.
- Removed over a thousand dots, hairs, and scratches throughout the film.
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, it's just so beautiful!
The TLDR is that I very much recommend this. I sent Z my longer form thoughts
