The Thirteenth Floor

REVIEW
Slow pacing and an unfulfilled screenplay dampen an initially arresting idea about identity and our place in the world. Superficially similar to The Matrix and Dark City, this sci-fi thriller, which plays more as a noir murder-mystery, follows Bierko as he investigates the murder of his boss (Mueller-Stahl). The answer could lie in his computer invention -- a virtual reality creation of 1930s Los Angeles. The re-creation of yesteryear is quite good, but the film offers few thrills as Bierko travels back and forth from his own reality to the created one -- ultimately coming to question which reality is real and which is fabricated. Few sci-fi effects.