The Thirteenth Floor

"Fuller" (Armin Mueller-Stahl) needs to share the news of his ground-breaking discovery with his partner 'Hall" (Craig Bierko) but is wary that he isn't safe. He decides that the best precaution might be to leave a letter for him and deposit it in their computer-generated alter-world. This place wouldn't have looked out of place in a Fritz Lang movie, and when his colleague is, indeed, slain, it falls to "Hall" - now the prime suspect for the crime - to piece together the clues left by his friend and try to identify the true culprit whilst rescuing the innovation from it's simulated home. What I quite enjoyed about this drams is the simplicity with which it juggles it's timelines. We don't have to struggle or concentrate trying to follow the changing environments coming at us from all angles of the screen overpowering what is essentially quite an intriguing crime thriller. Nobody on the screen really stands out, but the ensemble approach along with some quite potent comment on just how dependent we are becoming on technology in our lives is quite effective at keeping the story tight and interesting. The denouement is also a little left field, and all told this is a surprisingly decent attempt at an early multi-verse experience that works quite well.

79/100 A software engineer connects into a virtual reality simulation, created by his boss, to discover who murdered said boss. This was quite fascinating for a film I never really paid attention to before. The concepts are quite heady and difficult to grasp at first as we watch people connect to virtual counterparts ...or are they? Each revelation towards the truth of what's happening was a delight to watch play out with a very satisfying conclusion. Lots of great actors playing their parts perfectly, especially Vincent D'Onofrio for portraying two entirely different characters. -- DrNostromo.com