Pathfinder (2007)

 

If you are looking for a stylish and relatively brutal action movie, pitting (exaggerated) Viking warriors against Native Americans, then this will most likely be your thing. Sure, the movie does nothing new and the core story is about a vague prophecy and it's a lost Viking boy who eventually saves the people, but if you can get past that, this is almost non-stop action from start to finish.

And you get Clancy Brown as the main baddie, which is always a plus in my book. I mean: have you ever seen 'Highlander'? If the man didn't play bad guys, they should have invented him. 

Well, bad guys and Mr Crabs from 'SpongeBob'. Yes, that is the same actor. 

Anyway...

The movie starts with a prophecy and a woman discovering a young boy in the wreckage of a Viking ship. He is taken into the tribe and grows up to be loved by most and his name is Ghost. It's not a crime because of the rhyme, bear with me and you will see. Ghost can apparently never be fully accepted as a brave because 'he is still haunted by the demons of his past'. He'll get his chance to fix this when Viking raiders decimate his entire village and he is now out for revenge. Well, he also has to make sure the Vikings do not discover the other village, where Ghost's love interest resides. 

Lots of things happen, including oodles of brutal fighting. No really, even if you ignore the occasional CG blood, a lot of the action scenes look and feel painful, which - according to some behind the scenes talk - they were. You can honestly tell sometimes. 

Storywise, this is ridiculously thin. Outcast boy saves world from monsters, we've seen that a million times. But this film does have a few things going for it. The cinematography is stylish, with many hues of blue. At times, it is a little dark, alas, but it is not overly annoying. 

This is not 'Alien VS Predator: Requiem', after all.

The movie also benefits from the right actors in the right place. Karl Urban already proved here that he was almost the perfect match for action stories. In fact, a few scenes and Urban's demeanour can remind you of Stallone in 'First Blood'. They even recycle some of the traps of that movie. 

The Native Americans are fine here, but the Vikings do steal the show at times. They are presented as ogres or monsters from a different world, with massively exaggerated costumes and helmets. The makers knew this wasn't realistic, but these guys had to be shown to be akin to demonic entities and they pull it off. And the fact that they speak Icelandic adds to the otherworldly nature of their representation, as Icelandic does sound fairly exotic. 

And you get charismatic Clancy Brown as the ruthless leader of a ruthless gang that is absolutely ruthless. Ruthless squared, one might say. 

'Pathfinder' isn't a great movie by any stretch, but it sure as hell isn't terrible either. It's an entertaining timewaster if you like some brutality, some gore and don't care too much about an intricate story.