It's time for a lesson in sociocultural trailer structuring. The 13th Warrior is a movie based on a Michael Crichton short called Eaters of the Dead about a Muslim aristocrat sent away to the north as a diplomat after sleeping with a king's wife. He comes to live among a group of twelve vikings sent on a mission to a small enclave that have been attacked multiple times by bear-skin clad raiders who live in the caves above the village. The Muslim character, (Antonia Banderas being vaguely ethnic) becomes a warrior and garners the respect of the viking people by the end of the movie. Is there a more awesome premise for a movie that's essentially about battle, vikings and the age-old war between earth-mother worship and sky gods? Probably not.
So, here are two trailers, each for this movie. The first is the American release trailer, which features some kind of Gregorian monk chanting for the first half. The second is the German trailer, which features German dialogue but will nonetheless be easily understood after having watched the English language one. Decide which movie you'd rather see and then watch the clip at the end to determine whether or not you were correct.
And now the clip.
That's right, if you chose option B, the German trailer, then you picked the one that actually tells you what this movie is about. What the hell is with the American version and the pointless inclusion of a romantic subplot? Why does this matter? It's a means to an end, nothing more. It's that kind of obligatory storytelling that ruins good films.
I'm just sayin'.
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