I have such a strange relationship with this movie. The first time I saw it, which was well before I watched The Matrix, it simply blew me away. I loved everything about it, including a bit shabbier production values. Something I couldn’t shut up about after seeing Wachowski’s mindbender several months later. However, as the magnitude of the story in The Matrix slowly started to hit me, the retro style of this movie seemed less and less cool. You have to remember that I was eighteen years old at that time and the concept of cool was incredibly important to me. So, I forgot all about this movie. I did catch it a couple of times over the coming years but I never sat down and really watched it. Not until last night.
The Thirteenth Floor is a stylishly retro science fiction noir story full of twists, intriguing concepts, and mystery. It’s one of those late nineties science fiction movies that simply fell through the cracks after the release of The Matrix. However, I would argue that it also has strong ties to two early nineties movies. Namely, Mindwarp and Lawnmower Man. We will be following Douglas Hall, a young tech CEO whose company just created a revolutionary computer program. This virtual world features 1937 Los Angeles which feels as real as reality itself. You lay down in this strange machine with lasers and you’re transported into this fully fleshed-out world populated with seemingly real people.
The trouble starts when Hall’s mentor, Hannon Fuller discovers something incredibly important. He knows that someone is after him and leaves this information safely hidden away in the virtual world he built. It’s now up to Douglas Hall to solve the mystery, evade detectives, and help his mentor. The Thirteenth Floor is loosely based on Daniel F. Galouye’s 1964 novel Simulacron-3. That novel is actually the first written publication featuring the concept of a virtual or simulated world. You would think that 25 years after this adaptation we would be swimming in similar movies but that’s simply not the case. I think the best one we got in recent years was Ready Player One.
Despite its commercial nature, it was still better than Free Guy which was just entertaining. So, I guess we’re stuck with old-school science fiction movies featuring virtual worlds. Existenz, Virtuosity, and Strange Days are just some of the examples. Just like most of those movies, The Thirteenth Floor explores a lot of different issues glued together by a noir detective story with a twist. One of those issues is the thought-provoking question of what you would do in that situation. Would you do the same things our protagonists did? Or would you do something completely opposite? What it means to be human and can something that’s not real but feels real replace the “real deal”?
The production values are solid since we will be spending most of our time in 1930s Los Angeles. Some of the sets are quite lavish like the nightclub one, buzzing with immaculately dressed dozens and dozens of extras. The same goes for the cars and other vintage items. So, if you’re expecting a lot of high-tech stuff from this movie, you’ll be disappointed. However, the story and its implications are the things that might interest you. A sort of hard science fiction stuff wrapped in that sweet Roland Emerich (he was the producer) shiny packaging. This is not exactly a blockbuster nor is it a B movie but something in-between.
I also simply must mention Douglas Hall’s house which you might instantly recognize from a host of other classic science fiction movies. It has such a distinct and futuristic design that it was featured in not just Star Trek: TNG and Predator 2 but also freaking Blade Runner. Designed by legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright it’s better known as the Ennis House. Man, I sure would love to visit it one day. I’m also surprised they didn’t squeeze in another property that appears in Blade Runner, the famous Bradbury Building. When it comes to the cast, in the lead role we have Craig Bierko, a man who looks like the nineties.
I remember him from The Long Kiss Goodnight, he was good there and he was good here. The supporting cast is surprisingly strong. Dennis Haysbert, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Gretchen Mol all gave convincing performances along with Armin Mueller-Stahl. Comparisons to The Matrix, which came out just one month earlier are inevitable. The Thirteenth Floor might lack the action and the pulsating soundtrack of its big brother but that just opens it up more for deeper contemplation. And we also shouldn’t forget that its soundtrack features HIM – Join Me In Death.
Man, I remember what a worldwide hit that was some 25 years ago. And young metalhead Rabbit was secretly enjoying this type of music because he was more cool and into thrash metal at that time. And one final thing, while The Matrix might have a much more immediately impactful package, The Thirteenth Floor will hit you subversively and sneakily. You’ll find yourself thinking about the main twist days after you’ve seen the movie. Thinking about what it means and whether, well, surely not…
Director: Josef Rusnak
Writers: Daniel F. Galouye, Josef Rusnak, Ravel Centeno-Rodriguez
Cast: Craig Bierko, Gretchen Mol, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Vincent D’Onofrio, Dennis Haysbert
Fun Facts: When asked what’s his new movie The Thirteenth Floor about, Vincent D’Onofrio said: “the theme of the movie was about wanting something that you couldn’t have”.
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IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0139809/
