Vincent D'onofrio's Movie Adaptation Of A Classic Sci-fi Book Was A Box Office Disaster

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1999 was a damn fine year for mind-bending movies. This was the year the Wachowskis unleashed "The Matrix" and broke the box office, changing cinema history in the process. It was also the year Vincent D'Onofrio co-starred in "The Thirteenth Floor," a film adaptation of Daniel F. Galouye's classic 1964 novel, "Simalcron-3." Unlike the Wachowskis' revolutionary thrill ride of a sci-fi flick, however, "The Thirteenth Floor" tanked both critically and financially, bringing in $18.6 million on a $16 million budget at the box office. Going up against "The Matrix" is tough regardless, but with what Jonathan Foreman of the New York Post described as "mediocre acting, pedestrian dialogue and slow pacing," D'Onofrio's movie never even stood a chance.

Though controversial in its own way, the simulation hypothesis is endlessly compelling for the fact it only really requires you to accept two basic propositions: that we will one day become advanced enough to run simulations of physical reality and that, once that happens, the likelihood we live in the one "real" world would become vanishingly small. Viewed from that perspective, it seems at least likely that we've already developed such abilities and are currently living in a simulation rather than in reality. Still, the simulation hypothesis has come under heavy criticism for its lack of grounding in mathematics and observable science. It makes for some great movies, though.

In point of fact, the late 1990s and early 2000s saw the release of several "reality is just a simulation" films, including "eXistenZ," "Dark City," "Vanilla Sky," and, of course, the aforementioned "The Matrix." "The Thirteenth Floor" was another example that slipped through the cracks of reality and ended up in its own cinematic netherworld. But despite being overlooked and/or dismissed by audiences and critics, the movie isn't entirely without its charms.

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"Simulacron-3" follows Douglas Hall, a scientist working as part of a team tasked with creating a virtual city known as a "total environment simulator" for marketing research. The inhabitants of this virtual world are conscious but unaware they live in a simulation. But after lead scientist Hannon Fuller is found dead and Hall's co-worker, Morton Lynch, disappears, Hall starts to suspect that he is the one living in a simulated reality.

In 1973, Daniel F. Galouye's novel was adapted for a two-part German TV movie called 'World on a Wire." In the late '90s, having seen the '73 adaptation, producer Marco Weber was excited by the prospect of making another feature based on the novel. As was Roland Emmerich, who, it turned out, had also seen the German film. The pair drafted in "Godzilla" second unit director Josef Rusnak to oversee the project, and yet another "Simulacron-3" adaptation was underway.

"The Thirteenth Floor" takes place in 1999 Los Angeles, where tech billionaire Hannon Fuller (Armin Mueller-Stahl) has created a virtual simulation of 1937 LA. Craig Bierko plays Hall, Fuller's mentee, who becomes a suspect in Fuller's murder after the mogul is found dead. Hall soon discovers that his late mentor left him a message within his simulation, and with the help of his friend Jason Whitney (Vincent D'Onofrio), ventures into the VR world to find it. But this is only the start of what becomes a mind-warping adventure that delivers plenty of twists and turns. "The Thirteenth Floor" isn't one of the best sci-fi movies to come out of the '90s, but there's something to its time-hopping virtual reality adventure. Hardly any critics could see it at the time, though.

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"The Thirteenth Floor" is one of several '90s sci-fi movies with awful reviews that are actually worth watching. Though, you'd be hard pressed to see why, based on what the critics had to say. The movie couldn't even drum up the simulacrum of a positive review, earning itself a lousy 29% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.

In his review for the New York Times, Lawrence Van Gelder conceded that the film was "stylish" but accused it of being "overplotted" and "ultimately illogical" in its "combination of science fiction, mystery, and romance." Still he described Vincent D'Onofrio's performance as "strong" and praised the production design. Other critics went even further in their praise, with Bob Fenster of the Arizona Republic summing up "The Thirteenth Floor" as "the kind of science fiction you ruminate over." Even that was likely little consolation to the film's creatives, though, especially with folks like the Detroit Free Press' John Monaghan dubbing the movie "a film school project gone awry."

If you're looking for more movies like "The Matrix" there are certainly plenty of better options. But "The Thirteenth Floor" isn't a complete disaster and certainly explores some interesting ideas. The fact that it debuted the same year as the Wachowskis' masterpiece almost certainly didn't help. As such, it wouldn't be a complete waste of time if you gave this movie a go on Tubi, where it's currently streaming for free.