Line #4 YMMV/TheThirteenthWarrior


1	* AdaptationDisplacement: Averted. The studio heavily promoted the involvement of "Creator/MichaelCrichton, author of ''Literature/JurassicPark''" in this film. If Crichton was involved, there had to be a book... and the book had to be better, so most people who enjoyed the film likely read the book right after.
2	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Even if you didn't care for the movie, you have to admit that Music/JerryGoldsmith's score is pretty awesome. So much so that Creator/RidleyScott used the cue "Valhalla/Viking Victory" for his film ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven''. Slightly controversial, given the director and the composer's turbulent relationship when they worked together on ''Film/{{Alien}}'' & ''Film/{{Legend 1985}}'' that saw Scott cutting off a large part of Goldsmith's music on the former and re-using parts of Goldsmith's earlier score from ''Freud''; while simultaneously throwing out Goldsmith's entire score in favor of Music/TangerineDream's music for the latter. Bitter and upset by the rejection, Goldsmith never spoke to Scott again as a result even unto his passing.
3	* CriticalDissonance: On Website/RottenTomatoes the film only holds a 33% rating with critics, but with audiences it holds a respectable 66% fresh rating.
4	* CultClassic: Although the film was panned by critics and was one of the biggest box office flops of all time, it does have a fair amount of fans who consider it to be a very good action/adventure film. Numerous critics also re-evaluated the movie years later, pointing out that while it suffers from choppy editing caused by panic after trial screening (leading to flat characters and numerous plot holes), it's still one of the last big budget movies made solely with practical effects, giving it an unique feel of authenticity and without any of the effects visibly aging.
5	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
6	** Among fans of the film, Herger the Joyful is undoubtably the most popular character.
7	** Buliwyf as well, the role that launched Vladimir Kulich into great acclaim and recognition.
8	* FridgeLogic: The reason why the Northmen-Herger-Melchisidek translation chain doesn't match with what everyone is orginally saying isn't about bad translation or AsLongAsItSoundsForeign. That's just [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_whispers telephone]], with each participant of the chain changing a thing or two along the way.
9	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: This film is very popular in Russia, especially among historical reenactors and supporters of right-wing views, because the "northerners" in the film can be interpreted as Varangians and the film's events as if taking place in the territory of the future Kievan Rus. Moreover, the real Ahmad ibn Fadlan, on whom Banderas' character is based, is also known as one of the first authors to describe the life of the early Slavs, which makes the attitude to the film even more positive.
10	* GoodBadTranslation: What Creator/OmarSharif comments on what the Vikings say is pure comedy gold for anyone who understands Scandinavian languages.
11	* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: The Spanish Creator/AntonioBanderas, who is known for his roles portraying [[DashingHispanic dashing Hispanics]], plays a medieval Arab scholar, yet he is so awesome in this role that almost no one doubted his "Arab" background. It doesn't even sound that absurd when you consider that Banderas is Andalusian, a land that passed several centuries under [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus Muslim domination]].
12	* HilariousInHindsight:
13	** During production, the studio tried to force a significant change in Ahmad characterisation - namely, him no longer being an Arab nor a Muslim. A change that was successfully opposed by both Michael Crichton and John [=McTiernan=]. Years later, one of the things the film is most famous for is how positive and respectful it is in its portrayal of an Arab (main) character.
14	** Antonio Banderas, a white actor, if one who might believably have some Arab genetics, plays here a full-blooded Arab. In 2020, however, he would be involved in a controversial and/or amusing incident in which he was [[https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-02-07/oscars-antonio-banderas-person-of-color-latino-hispanic called]] a "person of color" when he was announced as an Oscar nominee.
15	* MemeticMutation:
16	** [[https://youtu.be/Z-kb-fl_H1k?t=137 The dying vise]] as SignatureScene. She is even included as an intro in the songs of several Pagan-metal bands.
17	** To a lesser degree, the "it's made of honey" scene became a mainstay meme about both {{Rules Lawyer}}s and "[[ThePaladin paladin]] [[TheOathBreaker falls]]" jokes within people playing TabletopRPG.
18	* MisaimedFandom: The fact that the film is very famous for its respectful attitude to Arab culture and has an Arab as a protagonist does not prevent it from being very popular among people who are negative about Islam and multiculturalism. This is particularly notable among Russian and Scandinavian neo-pagan fandom.
19	* PeripheryDemographic: Aside the status as a cult classic, the movie is also highly popular among TabletopRPG players due to combination of all the story and setting elements. It's often advised to novice {{Game Master}}s as a way of explaining how to handle mid-power campaign and weird quirks of the {{Player Character}}s.
20	* RetroactiveRecognition: ''Series/GameOfThrones'' fans might recognize the actor who played Brynden "The Blackfish" Tully, Clive Russell, as Helfdane, in a setting that wouldn't be out of place in the series.
21	* SpecialEffectsFailure: The sea storm scenes have aged pretty badly since 1999.
22	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Vladimir Kulich, who played the lead, would later lament that one of the reasons why the movie didn't live up to its true potential was because the 13 characters weren't developed properly, and he even had a simple solution.
23	-->'''Vladimir Kulich''': You've got 13 characters that you don't develop fully. So when you start to lose them to the battles, you don't really care, because you are not connected to them. And I made a suggestion, which unfortunately didn't happen, 't was: We are on this boat. All you have to do is take a hand-held cam, walk around the boat as you travel and give each character 20 seconds. (...) But they never got that, so we lost a lot of characters in the first battle. You didn't know who they were.

Context YMMV / TheThirteenthWarrior