Pathfinder (2007) Synopsis:
PATHFINDER is a rare combination of myth and adventure, grounded in a provocative moment of untold American history.
PATHFINDER centers on a boy left behind by the Norsemen fifteen years prior to their return to the New World. The child is raised by American Indians. When Norsemen storm the eastern shores, once again waging a barbaric campaign, they slaughter the tribe that adopted him. Now a man of twenty-five, the young man decides to stop the Norsemen’s trail of death and destruction. In the process, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery as he comes to terms with his heritage.
The unique tale was inspired by the mythological elements in Nils Gaup’s film “Ofelas,” (1987) and the renewed interest of this little known historical account of the first invasion on American ground, 492 years before the arrival of Columbus.
PATHFINDER depicts what has never been seen on screen ¾ the clash between American Indians and Norsemen, and the consequences of that encounter.
Pathfinder (2007) Movie Review:
After having its release date bumped numerous times, the shallow and trouble-ridden epic film Pathfinder finally opens in theatres. After viewing the film, one can understand the headache that 20th Century Fox studios had with trying to find a release date and more so a intended audience. This film is likely to attract adult males, for its action and bloody violence, but the cliché ridden and unbalanced production would have probably done better going straight to DVD, rather than opening in theaters.
The film takes place a long ago during the times when the Norsemen (Vikings) were invading North America in attempt to conqueror the lands of the Native Americans. The story opens with a Native woman finding a 7-year old Norsemen boy abandoned. After taking him back to her village under scrutiny, the tribe accepts him and he grows up as one of their own.
Move forward over a dozen years later and the boy is now grown up in the peaceful tribe’s culture and is called Ghost (Karl Urban). Besides fighting demons of his past and attempting to remember where he came from, Ghost is still somewhat ridiculed by the others because he is different.
The ravage Norsemen make landfall again and take out Ghost’s entire village and family while he is away hunting. In full vengeance mode, Ghost then begins brutally taking out each Norsemen one by one.
The script by Laeta Kalogridis never gels and hammers out one cliché after another to where the film becomes full of disbelief and boredom. Visual film director Marcus Nispel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2004)) also does not help matters. His choice to have the Natives speak in perfect English and the Norsemen to speak in their own tongue is unbalanced. Though the dialogue is terrible, it would have been better to hear the actors speak with some believability if not the characters’ own language. Besides letting blood and killings run rapid, Nispel also stages corny action sequences with repetitive close-ups and at times slow motion. The film moves quickly, but without any remorse from its audience. Its start to go down hill and audaciously bad when the very peaceful Ghost out of nowhere becomes a Rambo type of character that knows how to handle a sword like a pro, though the culture he grew up in has never used this weapon of choice. The one credible production value of Pathfinder is its cinematography, but it comes nowhere close to saving film.
Karl Urban (The Bourne Supremacy, Lord of the Rings) is miscast as the protagonist hero Ghost. Urban has shown range in the action films of the past, but Pathfinder is not the vehicle that he needed to break him out. Moon Bloodgood (Eight Below) plays Ghost’s love interest Starfire and veteran actor Russell Means (The Last of the Mohicans) plays his mentor. As for the Norsemen, the only notable actor is Clancy Brown (Highlander, The Guardian), who plays the leader of the barbaric murdering culture.
Pathfinder struggles from the beginning to set its tone and criteria. It seems that if the film would have been rewritten, embedded some historical accuracy and for sure been polished before shooting began, it might have worked. The choppy editing also proves that Nispel probably had to leave a chunk of his vision on the cutting room floor. The film’s unbalance also reflects that principal photography probably started before a final script had been approved. The end result is a mess of a production that will probably not be in theatres for any duration of time.
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Pathfinder (2007) review written by: Bailey Henderson
11th October, 2008 
