A lot to love about this flick. It's classic hi-concept sci-fi, beautifully produced, mostly amazingly acted (the rest merely good), and ends the way the genre must to keep its cred; like a stunning chess end-game. Happy to see Craig Bierko here and glad to see that he takes direction very, very well. What the flick may occasionally lack in terms of the execution is made up for in spades by a subtly articulated myth. The primary idea is that the AI technology depicted arrives at the discovery that something indistinguishable from sentience "naturally" arises from its techniques. The flick then goes one further and depicts that certain specimens of the generated sentience come to exhibit a moral compass. This is no less than P.K. Dick-ian in scope and ambition. Kudos! Finally, I found myself tearing up at key, tender moments in the storyline. I was shocked! Few movies of any kind do this, and the ability of The Thirteenth Floor to tug at my heartstrings so bittersweetly was a rare treat and a stunning development. The only reason I slight my rating to one star shy of a '10' is that there's still something strangely hollow about the production... and I'm not sure what it is. It may have something to do with my dismay at finding that D'Onofrio occasionally seems a bit weak. I love the guy and always look forward to seeing him flesh out yet-another character... and yet here he seemed to be dropping balls from time to time. If you dig sci-fi and haven't seen TTF yet, hie ye to the aethers and take this one in.

The Thirteenth Floor (1999): Dir: Josfe Rusack / Cast: Craig Bierko, Gretchen Mol, Vincent D'Onofrio, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Dennis Haysbert: While the title clichés its numeral, the film itself is clever with wonderful production values. A computer researcher transports himself through the mind back to 1937. He gives an envelope to a bartender, makes a phone call, then proceeds outside where he is murdered. Craig Bierko plays his partner who is framed for the murder. He encounters Gretchen Mol who was cut from her father's will only days before his murder. Effective art direction displays 1930's galore with director Josfe Rusack having fun with the constant plot twists. Unfortunately the film also becomes confusing at points but relies on effective casting. Bierko displays confusion and determination as to whether or not he is guilty of murder and whether the cards deal him well in the end. Mol is the key victim who discovers information about herself. Here again is another tragedy that is questionable in its dealings. Vincent D'Onofrio plays a bartender who factors in with ill results. Armin Mueller-Stahl is only seen in the opening before the murder but his role transpires throughout. Dennis Haysbert plays a detective investigating this bizarre case. Its virtual reality is not well explained but it plays on suspense as oppose to mindless action. Score: 6 / 10

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.

The story on this movie is amazing, but the only reason I say it was OK, it's because for some reason while I was watching the movie, I felt like I was watching a crappy movie. I'm not sure if it was because of the actors, the production, the mood or what, But I feel this movie could have been illustrated better, specially when it has such an amazing story.When you compare this movie to the matrix, you can see how different they, regardless of how similar the story is and the action effects. The matrix has a more serious and mysterious mood, which makes the movie more interesting, but the thirteen floor, they come and say what's going as if their research project was something very feasible, and not so amazing. They way the story was unraveled was weak, that's my point.