"XIII" (2008) TV mini-series

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

6 October 2008 (France)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

New World Order

Plot:

The first female US President Sally Sheridan is shot dead by a sniper during her Veterans Day speech...

Plot Keywords:

Man Hunt | Assassination Of President | Based On Graphic Novel | Based On Comic Book | Amnesia

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Stephen Dorff	...	Ross Tanner / ... (2 episodes, 2008)
Caterina Murino	...	Sam (2 episodes, 2008)
Greg Bryk	...	Colonel Amos (2 episodes, 2008)
Stephen McHattie	...	General Carrington (2 episodes, 2008)
Lucinda Davis	...	Jones (2 episodes, 2008)
Jonathan Higgins	...	Calvin Wax (2 episodes, 2008)
Ted Atherton	...	Wally Sheridan (2 episodes, 2008)
John Bourgeois	...	President Galbrain (2 episodes, 2008)
Jessalyn Gilsig	...	Kim Rowland (2 episodes, 2008)
Mimi Kuzyk	...	Sally Sheridan (2 episodes, 2008)
Cedric Smith	...	Abe Miller (2 episodes, 2008)
Barbara Gordon	...	Martha Miller (2 episodes, 2008)
Val Kilmer	...	La Mangouste (2 episodes, 2008)
Luke Vitale	...	Agent Stanwell (2 episodes, 2008)
Gouchy Boy	...	Malick (2 episodes, 2008)
Todd Sandomirsky	...	Agent Kohn (2 episodes, 2008)
Andrew Jackson	...	Roger Deakins (2 episodes, 2008)
Dan Duran	...	Warren Glass (2 episodes, 2008)
Daniel DeSanto	...	T.A. (2 episodes, 2008)
Matt Baram	...	NSA Coroner (2 episodes, 2008)
Julian Richings	...	Mr. Cody (2 episodes, 2008)
Victoria Goring	...	Bethesda Bystander (2 episodes, 2008)
Hrant Alianak	...	Dr. Kimmler (2 episodes, 2008)
Catherine Swing	...	Debate Moderator (2 episodes, 2008)
Rachelle White Wind Arbez	...	Homeland Security Agent (2 episodes, 2008)
Roland Rothchild	...	Homeland Security Agent (2 episodes, 2008)
Ronn Sarosiak	...	Norman Ryder (2 episodes, 2008)
Nigel Shawn Williams	...	Ellery Shipley (2 episodes, 2008)
Jacqueline Pillon	...	XX (2 episodes, 2008)
Peter James Haworth	...	Jasper Winthrow (2 episodes, 2008)
Patrick Hayes	...	Policier Bethesda (2 episodes, 2008)
J.C. Kenny	...	Journaliste Arlington (2 episodes, 2008)
Donna Skelly	...	Newscaster (2 episodes, 2008)
Scott Wickware	...	Agent McCall (2 episodes, 2008)
Dave Dunham	...	White House Aide (2 episodes, 2008)
Arthur Corishti	...	Cabbie (2 episodes, 2008)

Also Known As:

XIII: The Conspiracy (International: English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence.

Runtime:

120 min | 90 min (DVD version) | Netherlands:173 min (DVD)

Country:

France | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | Australia:M | Singapore:PG | USA:R (certificate #45775)

Filming Locations:

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Prodigy Pictures

Trivia:

The name Deacon appears once in each episode, first in the name Roger Deacon, a witness in a police report in episode 1, and then in episode 2 as "Deacon Chemical", one of co-conspirator Jasper Winthrow's companies. Deacon Frost was the name of Stephen Dorff's character from the movie Blade (1998), which is arguably his most well-known role.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The film sets a General Presidential Election four months after President Sheridan is assassinated on Veterans Day, November 11th, circa March. Federal General Elections have been held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November since 1845, set by Act of Congress.

Movie Connections:

Version of XIII (2003) (VG)

A typical TV mini-series

The quality of this should be expected. For a TV mini-series, it's not terrible, but it's not that great either.

The Jason Bourne comparisons are warranted, as we open with an event, and then a trained assassin is found with no knowledge of who he is, or how he got to where he was dumped.

Then follows a bunch of action, a lot of discovery, and some pretty unbelievable set ups & sequences.

I'm just amazed at how bad Stephen Dorff is as an actor. I really enjoyed him in Blade, and I liked him in a few other movies that I saw after that. In this, he's just plain bad. He says all of his lines in a strained manner, as if he's trying to show that he's just a general bad ass. I couldn't grasp why he was trying so hard to prove that he's a tough guy. If you want to compare Bourne to this, Damon plays Bourne with restraint. He doesn't need to prove he's a bad ass by speaking. His actions do that. Dorff shows no remorse for anything he does. In this type of movie, we have to believe that Dorff's character wants to really find out what happened to him, but because of the way he delivers his lines, it's almost as if he doesn't really care, he just wants to kill anyone involved in putting him in these situations.

I had to remind myself continually that this is a made for TV mini-series, which is credit to the cinematographer, and the director. Most of the action sequences are pretty intense, and not campy. The hand to hand combat scenes are especially crisp, and were a highlight for me.

There were still many sequences of events that were just terrible, and didn't fit any sort of realistic time line, Dorff recovers from major injuries in record time, people travel massive distances in 30 minutes as if they were telaported there. Again, it's TV so I can suspend my disbelief a little for these types of things.

One major plus is Catrina Murino as Sam. She is GORGEOUS and worth watching. I couldn't take my eyes off her every time she was on the screen. I wish they would have done more with her character, and I really hope to see more of her in upcoming movies. Her acting was also very believable, even though there's no way someone that good looking just lives in New York as a resident, and isn't a model or celebrity. I remember her from Casino Royale, and she did well there also.

Val Kilmer also does a pretty good job in his role. He's more of a complimentary player in this movie. He's generally ominous as the bad commander, and it's a pretty believable turn.

If you have nothing better to do but watch a fun little mini-series, I would say go for it, but I can't recommend you go out of your way to find this thing, as there's nothing special to report.