The Thirteenth Floor reviewed by Mr. R

The mystery is not only a who done it, but a what the heck is happening.

The movie begins with the stabbing murder of a Geeky software mogul Hannon Fuller, played by Armin Mueller-Stahl. Douglas Hall (played by Craig Bierko), is Fuller's trusty business partner.

Things do not look good for our hero. He wakes up with a mysterious blood stained shirt and an inopertune memory loss. He is also set to inherit a multi-billion dollar company from Fuller.

Fuller's daughter Jane (played by Gretchen Mol) shows up. This is a big suprise because no one knew that Fuller had a daughter.

Hall believes part of the answer lies in a message that Fuller leaves in the experimental simulation of Los Angeles in 1937. He has to "download" his consiousness into a computer simulated character and search for the written message. Every time he goes in he gets into bigger and bigger trouble. he even picks up some of the character traits of his "link" personality.

I can't tell you much more without giving away the mystery and the great plot twist. This movie ranks high as a thriller that uses cyberspace as a backdrop.

Geeks are portrayed in a positive light in this movie, but we have seen some of the stereotypes before. Hall's programmer buddy is the long haired hippie type Geek that you may remember from X-files, but not as paranoid.

Unfortunately the use of the reality simulator uses the same - what is reality question that The Matrix brings up. Should we feel bad about killing computer created personalities?

If you want to see a good thriller, then this is your movie. If you want a Geek movie about cyberspace and alternate realities, go see The Matrix.