Pathfinder (2007)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Marcus Nispel

Writers (WGA):

Laeta Kalogridis (screenplay)
Nils Gaup (1987 screenplay "Veiviseren")

Release Date:

13 April 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | History | Thriller | War

Tagline:

Two Worlds, One War. The Ultimate Battle Begins.

Plot:

A Viking boy is left behind after his clan battles a Native American tribe. Raised within the tribe, he ultimately becomes their savior in a fight against the Norsemen. |

Plot Keywords:

Native | Viking | Native American | Shot In The Back | Mass Murder

Cast

Karl Urban	...	Ghost
Moon Bloodgood	...	Starfire
Russell Means	...	Pathfinder
Clancy Brown	...	Gunnar
Jay Tavare	...	Blackwing
Nathaniel Arcand	...	Wind In Tree
Ralf Moeller	...	Ulfar
Kevin Loring	...	Jester
Wayne Charles Baker	...	Indian Father (as Wayne C. Baker)
Michelle Thrush	...	Indian Mother
Nicole Muñoz	...	Little Sister
Burkely Duffield	...	Ghost - 12 Years Old
Ray G. Thunderchild	...	Elder #1
Duane Howard	...	Elder #2
Brandon Oakes	...	Elder #3

Also Known As:

Pathfinder: The Legend of the Ghost Warrior (USA) (promotional title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong brutal violence throughout.

Runtime:

99 min | 107 min (unrated DVD version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Icelandic

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Singapore:NC-16 | Malaysia:18SG | Germany:18 | Ireland:16 | UK:15 | France:-12 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | USA:R (certificate #42805) | New Zealand:R16 | Argentina:13 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Finland:K-15 | USA:Unrated (unrated version) | Brazil:16 | Peru:14 | Australia:MA | South Korea:18

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The Native Americans the Vikings encounter historically were the Beothuk people of Newfoundland in Canada. There is a large historical site around the Viking settlements in Newfoundland for tourists to visit.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Ghost escapes from the Vikings on his first encounter with them, he jumps on a shield and gets hit in the back by an arrow, as he slides down on the shield you can clearly see there's no arrow on his back until in a later shot of the same sequence the arrow gets trimmed by a missed sword-swing from one of the chaser on the "viking snowmobile"

Quotes:

Starfire: There are two wolves fighting in each man's heart. One is Love, the other is Hate.
Ghost: Which one wins?
Starfire: The one you feed the most.
[they kiss]

Movie Connections:

Remake of Ofelas (1987)

Worse than I could have ever imagined.

I'm not quite sure how director Marcus Nipsel and company managed to take this screenplay, which had potential, and suck every ounce of life, drama and coolness out of it. They did, though. Pathfinder proves to be another completely forgettable historical action movie at best, generic as hell, right down to your cookie-cutter indestructible action hero (played by Karl Urban).

My biggest gripe with the film, and I have many, comes from how long it was pushed back for. If I remember correctly, it was first slated for release in January of '06. It was delayed well over a year, and I assumed that the crew were editing, re shooting and doing other things that might make the film better. I should have remembered what happens when one assumes. In reality, they were just waiting around for a good time to release the film, because it obviously didn't improve in that year and a half. At one point, they literally insert stock footage of an avalanche instead of creating their own CGI (or real) avalanche. Who are you guys kidding? There are about six words worth of meaningful dialog in this film. The Vikings don't even look human, nobody ever really explains why they're going out of their way to kill everyone. The Native Americans are portrayed as weak and stupid, little more than target practice. This film just lets the arrows fly and the heads roll.

The acting is horrendous as well. Its got some cool action scenes, but thats about it. It might have been a blessing having so little dialog in Pathfinder, because if how brutal the little that was present proved to be. It was like, Covenant bad. The script literally sounds like it was written by a child.

Overall, Pathfinder wastes its potential and fails to prove itself worthy of anyone's time, let alone anyone's money. No amount of good action could have saved this film from its fate.