The Matrix’s distant cousin that’s been locked away in the attic

Every synopsis I read of The Thirteenth Floor has the words ‘mind-bending’ written in it. Therefore I made sure I followed the story pretty closely so that I didn’t miss anything. And, when the credits finally rolled, I had the whole story pretty much figured out.

The Thirteenth Floor was released in 1999, not that many people probably heard of it as The Matrix came out in the same year and relates to a similar kind of concept. In The Thirteenth Floor, the world of today has created an alternate reality in a computer program (in short, the ‘matrix’), however this computer programme is designed to look like 1930s America and people can jump in and out of the 1930s populations’ bodies with the help of the right computer equipment.

For the first hour or so, I wasn’t so much confused (as the ‘mind-bending’ plot was basically The Matrix with a dose of Inception thrown in – a good ten years before its own rise to fame). I was more bored. Nothing that interesting seemed to be happening and what was really going on wasn’t revealed until around the hour mark. And, I have to say that when I ‘got’ what was happening, I liked it. Nice touch.

All in all The Thirteenth Floor has a nice idea behind it and the actors play their parts well. However, it will never be either The Matrix or Inception, as it suffers from a distinct lack of budget. I knew it wasn’t a new movie when I saw it, but I didn’t know the exact year. I would have put it somewhere in the eighties rather than a year where bullets were being slowed down and George Lucas gave us The Phantom Menace. Also, The Thirteenth Floor has no stars and absolutely no action (minus the odd fist fight and gunshot). Therefore it gives the film a bit of a ‘made-for-TV’ feel about it.

Perhaps it’s ‘the thinking man’s Matrix? Either way, I liked it – it was some good ol’ fashioned sci-fi. Of course it goes without saying that it would have been better with Carrie Ann Moss in a leather catsuit.