Review of Thirteenth Floor, The

Introduction

I`d never heard of this film when it dropped through the letter box, but after watching it I can happily recommend it to the discerning DVD viewer. Serious sci-fi fans should be buying it tomorrow :)

Douglas Hall (Craig Bierko) is a computer programmer in a high-tech firm that has created the ultimate alternate reality system that users can `jack into`. Not that it`s quite ready yet......... When the powerful creator of their secret world is found brutally murdered, Hall becomes the prime suspect and has to cross into the system in an attempt to deduce what happened. Meanwhile the beautiful Jane Fuller, claiming to be the victim`s daughter has arrived on the scene, demanding the rights to the company. Is she who she claims? What`s really going on?

What`s really real?

This film exists somewhere between The Matrix and Dark City in terms of plot and style. The basic ideas come from a German television mini-series from the 1970 which was, itself, based on a book by Daniel Galouye called Simulacron 3. The mostly unknown actors and relatively unknown director have worked well together with a German production crew to create a thought provoking and entertaining film you`ll probably want to watch again and again, whether you are a sci-fi fan or a film noir buff.

As a dvd, this production fares well with an excellent transfer, glorious digital sound and a nice selection of well-presented extra features.

Video

The film is presented in its original 1:2.35 aspect ratio and is enhanced for widescreen televisions. The Region 1 version also contains a 3:4 aspect ratio pan and scan version but that`s the only difference between the two. Visually, the image was crisp, with the darker scenes handled fairly well without too much washing out and loss of detail. Special effects are added extremely well to recreate the 1937 life in great detail although some of the other effects are a bit too stark and `real` to work well. If we hadn`t been spoiled by films like The Matrix, Jurassic Park and Twister we`d not really see anything to complain about though. The first time Hall walks out into a 1937 street is especially well done.

The DVD menus aren`t particularly clever, no fun animations or any special effects but they work well enough and are easy to read and navigate.

Audio

The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound track is awesome and easily the best aspect to the film, it has excellent bass extension and some wonderful uses of surround, especially the immersive 1930`s with some subtle surround in use almost constantly. Vocals are nice and clearly defined and are never drowned out by the effects happening in the background. An excellent advertisement for digital surround and a welcome change form the usual sound show-offs such as Contact, The Matrix, Terminator 2 etc.

Features

Not the best, but certainly not the worst. There`s an interesting audio commentary, the original trailer, some interesting before and after SFX comparisons and a conceptual art gallery. There`s also a series of useful cast filmographies and then the really cool music video from the end credits - Erase/Rewind by the Cardigans. An excellent song and an excellent soundtrack.

Conclusion

An underrated film that, whilst it lacks the best direction in the world and some slightly ropey acting in places, makes it up with some excellent cinematography by an award wining crew and an entertaining plot. There`s enough SFX to whet an avid sci-fi enthusiast`s appetite and a healthy dose of film noir so it should appeal to everyone.

This is a DVD that`s well worth buying, especially if you like your sci-fi a bit dark an interesting (Shades of Bladerunner and Dark City) Uninformed people will tend to go for the Matrix instead, but everyone has a copy of that! Get this instead, it`s a better storyline with a nice, although predictable, ending and you`ll have something different to show off the audio capabilities of the new amp you want/just bought/lust after (delete as appropriate) Go on, you know you want to.