Review

  • ***SPOILERS*** Vertual reality movie where two parallel worlds exist at the same time in L.A Calif; One in the present and the other back in 1937 with the actors in the film having two different roles in both worlds.

    Computer genius Hannon Fuller, Armin Muller-Stahl, had created a world of his own taking place in 1937 L.A where he can do the things that he dreamed about, go out and date beautiful young women and have love affairs with them. One day in his "Dream world" Fuller come to a startling conclusion that almost strikes him senseless. Writing down the information that he came to he gives it to bartender Jerry Ashton, Vicent D'Onofrio, to give to John Ferguson, Craig Bierko, in that world of 1937 who's really Douglas Hall in the world of reality here; A close friend as well as colleague of Fuller in the computer company that he founded.

    Back in the present Fuller tries to get in touch with Douglas but is interrupted by someone who he obviously knows. When he goes outside the hotel from where he was making the phone call he's stabbed to death by that individual, what was so important that Fuller wanted to tell Douglas that cost him his life?

    The movie "The 13th Floor" has Douglas going back to the world of 1937 trying to retrieve and then find out what that important letter addressed to him contained but Ashton, who later read it, was not at all cooperative with him. It took almost the entire movie for Douglas to finally find out what was so shocking that it cost Fuller his life and Ashton his sanity.

    There's another piece of the puzzle put into the movie that has Fuller's daughter Gean(Gretchen Mol), who nobody in the film ever knew about, came on the scene to take over Fuller's computer company. It turned that Fuller left the company to her in his will just days before he was murdered. The truth that Douglas as well as Ashton found out is truly shocking and it explains why Fuller was murdered to keep it from surfacing. But there's an even bigger shock withing for both Douglas and the audience at the very end of the movie and it's absolutely mind-blowing.

    Not bad at all the film "The 13th Floor" does in some way make sense if you try to take it seriously. Nowhere as good at "The Matrix", that was released the same year 1999, in the special effects department but a notch or two above that movie when it comes to the feasibility of the story that it's telling you.