Good movie but grossly overrated

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

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.

For some reason I came into this movie expecting an alien movie, so I was a bit surprised at the plot. It's a good science fiction concept: the world is a computer simulation that we are trapped in. I seem to recall another movie with a similar story that also came out in 1999, and that one largely overshadowed this one.'The Thirteenth Floor' is one of those movies that just works. It's not very emotional and it's not particularly thought-provoking either, and there's not much to mention in terms of visuals or characters, but the basic story is compelling and there's no filler, no useless padding, no insultingly bad humor, nothing that would make the movie 'bad'. It works but doesn't go much beyond that. Craig Bierko, the lead actor, is forgettable. Gretchen Mol is easy on the eyes but delivers a shallow performance.My favorite part of the movie was when it was revealed that (spoilers inbound) above our simulation reality there are beings that look into our reality, and that the girl is one of those, and that she merely assumes the form of this girl in this reality. I thought that opened up room for anything - maybe because I had those expectations of aliens - that the girl might not actually be even human, that she could be anything, any unimaginable thing in another inconceivable universe, and that really gave me the chills. But it turns out that her true form is actually exactly the same as her form in the simulation and the world 'above' ours is just our world in the future. What a drag.

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

Soooo far ahead of its time, what an amazing film! Sure the Matrix had more money and better FX but I'd be willing to bet my left nut that if this were remade (for modern times with a generous budget), a smarter audience would agree that this film blows that cyber punk hacker crap called The Matrix way out of the water.From beginning to end this movie had my attention and of course I could pick a little at the dialog here or there or this or that, but it was made in the 90's, over a decade and a half ago. I mean, in 5 years, we'll be 20 years ahead of where we are now, so considering that, this has just earned a 9/10 in my book.I have absolutely no reason not to recommend this to anyone. Well, anyone with the ability to see beyond the (very slight) limitations of when this was made. Even then the 1930's was fantastic and so was the future. I'll stop there so that there aren't any spoilers, but if you have any interest in this sort of thing, I can guarantee that you'll at least be able to appreciate the movie and its ideas, if not, actually enjoy it and have a good time as I did.(In order to avoid stone throwing, I have to add this >) There is quite a following for The Matrix and we can never really compare movies side by side as these stories were different and so was the 'feel' (unless its a remake of the very same movie, maybe.) and The Matrix had 4 times! the budget this movie had. So.. anyway: DO NOT SKIP OUT ON THIS MOVIE. You just might regret it.That's Allstate's stand ... are you in good hands? ;)