Pathfinder movie review
Content
Pathfinder
(2007)
At first glance this movie seems like a perfect fit for me; it mostly deals with Vikings (kinda), has a lot of old world combat, and stars Karl Urban. Should have been a no-brainer, but a friend of mine ±who is far more forgiving of crappy films than I am ± told me I was better off skipping it, and for most of five years I took his advice. In doing extensive research on Vikings, however, I kept stumbling across pictures from this movie, and I finally gave in, mostly thinking, ³Hell, I sat through Priest for Urban, and Doom, it can¶t be worse than those two.´ Urban stars as Ghost, a young Norse boy (slave, really) who becomes the only survivor of a shipwreck off the coast of America. He is taken in by the local Indians and raised in their culture. He¶s always considered an outsider due to his heritage, but he learns their ways and adapts to their culture, but of course, years later, the Vikings come back to terrorize his village. Then Ghost must lead a guerrilla campaign against the much better armed and armored Norse, all the while saving the village, proving his worth, and getting local hottie Starfire (the deliciously named Moon Bloodgood) to fall for him. As an action film, it¶s okay. Urben gets to mostly play broody boy, which he¶s more than skilled enough to do with ease (female fans, take note, he spends much of the film shirtless). There¶s lots of running around being clever, trapping the Vikings much like the famous graveyard battle from the good Conan film (i.e. the first Arnie one), and in the end it¶s more Ghost¶s brains than his brawn that gives him the edge over his gruff enemies. I found the idea of the dual cultures engaging, especially since a brief meeting between the Vikings and North American natives did occur; but it was certainly not like this, and I knew within the first three minutes that I had to cast aside all my knowledge of the Vikings (no easy task) and any expectations of even lip service paid to historical reality. I won¶t bore you with the gross and sundry licenses taken with Norse culture, but the natives basically fight demons in this film, not men, and the utter lack of humanity with which the Vikings are portrayed robs the film of that extra dimension it sorely could have used (contrast them with the Eaters of the Dead from Thirteenth Warrior ± we don¶t learn much about them, but at least they are portrayed as strange and foreign instead of inherently evil). Putting that aside (which wasn¶t easy for me), the film is an acceptable action movie, perfect for a rainy Sunday afternoon when there¶s nothing else to do. It¶s fairly violent and a little gory (and no, Viking weapons could not hack off limbs), but Urban is fun to watch throughout, and most of the actors playing the natives are charismatic and also turn in strong performances (Bloodgood is strangely flat, but she¶s the lone exception). The Vikings are led by Clancy Brown, so enough said there (aside from Shawshank Redemption, I place him just above Tim Curry in the ³actors who always play absolutely shite villains´ category). It¶s not a great film, by
any stretch, but blatant historical inaccuracies aside, it¶s hardly the worst action film you¶ll ever see. March 1, 2012
(2007)
At first glance this movie seems like a perfect fit for me; it mostly deals with Vikings (kinda), has a lot of old world combat, and stars Karl Urban. Should have been a no-brainer, but a friend of mine ±who is far more forgiving of crappy films than I am ± told me I was better off skipping it, and for most of five years I took his advice. In doing extensive research on Vikings, however, I kept stumbling across pictures from this movie, and I finally gave in, mostly thinking, ³Hell, I sat through Priest for Urban, and Doom, it can¶t be worse than those two.´ Urban stars as Ghost, a young Norse boy (slave, really) who becomes the only survivor of a shipwreck off the coast of America. He is taken in by the local Indians and raised in their culture. He¶s always considered an outsider due to his heritage, but he learns their ways and adapts to their culture, but of course, years later, the Vikings come back to terrorize his village. Then Ghost must lead a guerrilla campaign against the much better armed and armored Norse, all the while saving the village, proving his worth, and getting local hottie Starfire (the deliciously named Moon Bloodgood) to fall for him. As an action film, it¶s okay. Urben gets to mostly play broody boy, which he¶s more than skilled enough to do with ease (female fans, take note, he spends much of the film shirtless). There¶s lots of running around being clever, trapping the Vikings much like the famous graveyard battle from the good Conan film (i.e. the first Arnie one), and in the end it¶s more Ghost¶s brains than his brawn that gives him the edge over his gruff enemies. I found the idea of the dual cultures engaging, especially since a brief meeting between the Vikings and North American natives did occur; but it was certainly not like this, and I knew within the first three minutes that I had to cast aside all my knowledge of the Vikings (no easy task) and any expectations of even lip service paid to historical reality. I won¶t bore you with the gross and sundry licenses taken with Norse culture, but the natives basically fight demons in this film, not men, and the utter lack of humanity with which the Vikings are portrayed robs the film of that extra dimension it sorely could have used (contrast them with the Eaters of the Dead from Thirteenth Warrior ± we don¶t learn much about them, but at least they are portrayed as strange and foreign instead of inherently evil). Putting that aside (which wasn¶t easy for me), the film is an acceptable action movie, perfect for a rainy Sunday afternoon when there¶s nothing else to do. It¶s fairly violent and a little gory (and no, Viking weapons could not hack off limbs), but Urban is fun to watch throughout, and most of the actors playing the natives are charismatic and also turn in strong performances (Bloodgood is strangely flat, but she¶s the lone exception). The Vikings are led by Clancy Brown, so enough said there (aside from Shawshank Redemption, I place him just above Tim Curry in the ³actors who always play absolutely shite villains´ category). It¶s not a great film, by
any stretch, but blatant historical inaccuracies aside, it¶s hardly the worst action film you¶ll ever see. March 1, 2012
