Movie Review: Pathfinder

It has been awhile since we had a film with Vikings in it. The last one I can remeber is 1999's The 13th Warrior, which was helmed by John McTiernan and starred Antonio Banderas. There may have been somethin in between, but I cannot recall any. Now, 8 years later we are faced with the Marcus Nispel helmed Viking actioner starring Doom's Karl Urban. Whether or not this film is successful in bringing Viking action back to the big screen is debatable. I, for one, found it to be a fun, if forgettable romp through a bygone era, not at all believable, but an entertaining diversion.

The first thing that you should know before entering the theater is that there is no story. Seriously. There is the slimmest outline of a tale, basically the bare minimum to string along the action sequences. So, if you are looking for an intriguing tale of Viking aggression and the journey of a boy becoming a man trapped between two worlds and the consequences that it has, you are going to have to look elsewhere. However, if all you are looking for is a diversion with some flashy action, this may be right up your alley.

The tells of a Viking war party that ventured to the shores of what would become America some 600 years prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus. Why they came, and what they were after is unknown. What is known is that the ship was wrecked, and a young child was left behind, abandoned in a strange land. A Native American [sic] tribe adopts the boy and raise him as one of their own. Fifteen years later the Vikings are back, and they are not a happy go lucky bunch, rather, they are a churlish lot who enjoy a good pillage.

The return of the Vikings brings a trail of dead along with them. They begin their hunt by slaughtering the grown boy's, now known as Ghost (most likely due to his pale complexion), adoptive home. This is not the best way to endear yourself to your lost member. Ghost, upon discovering the pile of bodies left by his brethren from the North sets out on a path to kill as many of the interlopers as he can, a suicide mission to be sure, but an honorable undertaking in the eyes of the young warrior.

Now, the theme, if not the story, is about the young man finding his own path, navigating between two worlds. On one hand he is born of the Vikings, and is inextricably tied to that culture, but he has also become firmly entrenched in the vastly different lifestyle of the native tribe. Ghost must find out who he is, is he to be forever linked to the world of his birth and their bloodthirsty ways, or can he discover the path that will lead to happiness in his adoptive home. That is about all there is to any sort of story.

If you try to follow any type of logical story, you are likely to become sorely frustrated and the new proud owner of a thumping headache centered right behind your eyeballs. Why the Vikings came, either time, is not answered, no reason is offered for their presence. Maybe they were just looking for a good hunt, a precursor to Predator, or perhaps they were wondering what became of the last party they sent. Whatever their reason for going is, they sure did stir up a little trouble. Conversely, there isn't much of a debate on what to do with the abandoned child, there is a half hearted attempt to kick him to the curb, but it is quickly overridden in favor of welcoming the pale demon into their midst, for fear of being demons themselves.

The script feels as if it totaled about twenty pages, there are a number of long passages that have no dialogue at all. As the Vikings go about their killing, Karl Urban's ghost goes into indestructible hero mode. You see, he managed to teach himself to use a sword real good, despite no one around to teach him. With this knowledge, he goes on a one man wrecking crew, vowing to kill as many of the invaders as he can.

While the story, and much of the acting were forgettable, the action direction and cinematography are excellent. It has a wonderful washed out look that adds to the immediacy of the action, which has a good level of bloodletting to it. The interplay of light and shadow play well across the screen, drawing you into Ghost's battle. It is on this visceral level that I enjoyed the movie, for as forgettable as the story was, the look and action held my attention.

Bottomline. This was a fun movie, perhaps a bit too serious at times, and a little too light on story throughout, it is still a successful action film set in a period not often seen. If you have a taste for overblown, dumb action yarns, this will be right up your alley, if not, better wait for something else. I enjoyed it on a base level, and sometimes that is all you need.

Mildly Recommended.