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3

I don't understand why so many people give this movie a low rating, really. In my opinion it's a great sci-fi movie, with a plot that holds you until the last second and destroys all attempts to solve the mystery in advance. The choice of colors and how they change when the time in the film changes also pleases me, and last but not least, the way they managed to make a script like this with few characters and even fewer actors makes this film a must-see for all the sci-fi junkies out there.

2

guy chose plastic over paper...

Review by Keith ★★½

Reasonably fine genre piece with few surprises (the big ones can be seen a long way off), but still an agreeable mix of dated special effects (feels 15 years older than The Matrix, they came out the same year) and giant turds of embarrassingly clunky dialogue. Wait- that doesn't sound appealing, you say?- well then steer clear, my friend.

Review by Wood ★★★★

It's like if Blade Runner and the Matrix had a baby that they dropped on it's head a lot. But like both those movies, I had a lot of fun basking in these strange worlds. It's certainly dumb, and the twist is pretty obvious, and doesn't really go as deep as the concept allows. For a cyber noir from 1999 I think it holds up pretty well.

Review by MovingPictures ★★★½

THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR (1999) US/Ger col 100m.
Directed by Josef Rusnak, who also wrote the screenplay.

Based on the 1964 science fiction novel "Simulacron-3" by Daniel F. Galouye. This has been made before as a 3 1/2 hours Television-serial in , called Welt am Draht/WORLD ON A WIRE (1973) by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
One of the producers for THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR (1999) was actually Michael Ballhaus, who was Fassbinder's EXCELLENT cinematographer during the 1970's.

Cast: Craig Bierko, Gretchen Mol, Vincent D'Onofrio, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Dennis Haysbert.

Situated in 2024 with cyberspace-time travelling back to a seedy and gorgeous-looking RETRO/NEO NOIR Los Angeles 1937. Quite retro-futuristic, or futurist-retroic?

This was a TERRIFIC american neo/retro noir watch.
The visual effects might look outdated…

3

"guy enters VR world of crime to solve twisty sex mystery" except the guy is a gormless-looking Craig Bierko

the twist is fun though...

4

Looks great and has loads of atmosphere (plus some great performances, particularly in its ing cast like Vincent D'Onofrio and Dennis Haysbert), but it never really coheres as a thriller even if it does a respectable job concealing the book's big plot twist. It isn't hard to see why audiences would have been more interested in The Matrix's endlessly exciting action bonanza over this even when they're sharing some of the same basic themes.

Review by matt lynch ★★½

A perfectly adequate re-hashing of stuff from more interesting movies. Destined to have been forgotten.

Discussed on Episode 62 of The Suspense is Killing Us.

Review by Learic Life ★★★★ Liked

Ultra-stylish sci-fi noir was lost in the shuffle amidst similar-themed The Matrix and Dark City at the end of the 20th century, but it’s got plenty of character and atmosphere.  The final twist is highly memorable, and the overall idea of the film is just so damn cool.  Essentially the story is a murder mystery, but it’s framed within the structure of a technologically-advancing world where humanity begins to question its very place in it all.  
       Craig Bierko is serviceable in the lead, but it’s a weird casting choice.  Gretchen Mol plays the potential femme fatale, Armin Mueller-Stahl is like a sci-fi Wizard of Oz, Dennis Haysbert plays a world-weary, tough-as-nails detective, and Vincent D’Onofrio steals the…

4

I have always been really averse to sci-fi films, but I think all this time I’ve been watching the wrong ones because lately I’ve watched some that have been really great such as Gattaca and now The Thirteenth Floor. I suppose my vibe of sci-fi is cool 90s stylish sci-fi with a cyber punk edge. This was awesome, loved the time travel stuff and Gretchen Mol what a great actress, actually an awesome female cast.

Review by Helen ★★★★

Ending with The Cardigans hit “Erase / Rewind” solidifies this as a “grade A” 90s cyber cinema banger. 

Also, it’s just fun movie.

6

better, than The Matrix, yes, i just said that.

every scifi fan needs to watch this