The Thirteenth Floor

There was quite the advance buzz about this one back in the day as it is based on the Daniel F. Galouye novel SIMULACRON-3 which was published in 1964 and is one of the first to deal with the concept of virtual reality. No doubt Galouye had read the work of Philip K. Dick and I'm pretty sure William Gibson has been slightly influenced by both of these gentlemen. Sadly, when the film was released it wnt straight into the shitter with the result being poor director Josef Rusnak wouldn't direct again until the last couple of years and the fact so many of his projects seem to be in perpetual "post production" has me concerned. It's sad too as I like his styling and THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR is a great buffet of styles jumping back and forth between dimension and timescapes as presented in the computer world. Strong on the science-fiction but just as much a good old fashioned detective story do your best to try this one on for size whilst wide awake. If you pay attention there are some very neat side observations and issues which make this a fun ride. Craig Bierko and Gretchen Mol are fine in their respective leads but the real fun is in the hands of Vincent Donofrio and Armin Mueller-Stahl. A good mind-bender with some great sexy heat, THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR will surprise you despite the fact it really has nothing to do with a thirteenth floor at all unless you consider the floor is there even if they say it isn't.