Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Absolutely the worst movie.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This is the type of head-funk film that you need to watch twice. Although having now watched it twice I think that you should only ever watch it once – a lot is lost on the second viewing. It is confusing but when you get your head around the concept it becomes very interesting and pertinent. One problem though is that this kind of film will date badly. It already looks a bit preposterous in some ways. Possibly that was deliberate as nothing is tangible. Or should that be nothing is intangible? Just want to confirm that the effects look cheesy but overall it is fine to watch – the camera-work was a touch static – I do like that jittery new style. Apart from the strong thoughts that I cannot get out of my head I would still say how powerful this exploration into our mind's reality is. A little more action and graphical effects would have been nice although this is only a minor gripe. It is possibly a bit predictable too but not a long way in advance. Made me think a little too much possibly, I may unravel the mystery... The tacked-on love story is stupid but the premise is clever and gripping.

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.

If you have seen enough VR themed movies, you won't see much new here. I would say this plot combines a number of different VR themes including a bit of Truman show thrown in.If you love the VR theme, and don't mind a movie that seems so similar to others you will enjoy this.Acting is pretty good. I especially liked the main female character - she's has charmThe plot was...well, I was a bit disappointed. I thought, well maybe this will be a film noir, a bit like Dark City ( which is awesome, see that movie :) Well, no, it felt like it was going that way, then lost it. I love the 30s and 40s movie, so was hoping for more of that feel. But, no, it wasn't quite that. It's not as good as Dark City, not as clever as Exitenze, not as novel as the Matrix, to name some VR themed movies. By the end of the movie, I felt like, there were just too many loose ends, but not everyone will feel that way - especially people new to VR movies, because they will likely overlook a lot of problems. But all VR movies have believabiltiy issues - if I had seen this before so many other VR movies, I might have overlooked some things that bugged meHeck, in spite of being disappointed due to wanting a film noir, and maybe something a bit more original I watched it to the end, which is more than I can say for a lot of movies :)I think some people will really enjoy this* A bit of spoiler alert - You know what would be refreshing? A VR movie that isn't trying to be overly plot twisty.

I often use the 13th floor as an example when I am teaching about theoretical computer science to non-technical people. It is a perfect example of Kleene's recursion theorem (that any simulation will not be anywhere as powerful machine simulating it). For example most of the backdrop of the 1930's VR is in black and white (even in closeups of unimportant details like the bank walls behind Hanna's 1930 avatar), the 1990's are a little crisper but certain obvious details like no smog in LA creep in. The 2030's is the only one believable but even it seems a little fishy because it lays on effects others left out too thickly (like the smog/mist is far to dense for that part of LA).