THE 13TH WARRIOR

Blockbuster novelist Michael Crichton is viewed in literary circles as a robot writer of lowest common denominator pulp. For all his success with novels like "Jurassic Park," "The Andromeda Strain," "Coma," and "Rising Sun," there lies a vacuous undercurrent to Crichton's oeuvre.

Crichton's crack at the fabulist genre takes a running stab at conjuring up elements from 10th century Central Asia to render a ghastly view of human carnage committed by a large cult of renegade cannibals terrorizing a small helpless village.

The novel's original title, "Eaters of the Flesh," better describes a story filled with bloody battles. "The 13th Warrior" is a brazen attempt to brand Antonio Banderas as an A-lister with a C-grade script. Failure attends.

Rated R. 103 mins. (D+) (One Star)

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