DVD Review: Pathfinder - Unrated Edition

It has been a while since we had a film with Vikings in it. The last one I can remember is 1999's The 13th Warrior, which was helmed by John McTiernan and starred Antonio Banderas. There may have been something in between, but I cannot recall any. Now, eight 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. Then disaster struck, I watched it again on DVD, the fun I had at the cineplex dissipated in a flash.

There is no story. Seriously, and I knew that after seeing it ont he big screen, and accepted it then. On the small screen the lack of story is exposed, with an attempt to cover it up in unrated form which adds a good deal more blood and gore. 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 sword swinging action, this may be right up your alley.

The movie 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 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, seeking to commit some ethnic cleansing so that they can settle the land.

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, 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 really good, despite no one around to teach him. With this knowledge, he becomes 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 both pretty good. It has a washed out look that adds to the immediacy of the action, which has a good level of bloodletting. The interplay of light and shadow play well across the screen, drawing you into Ghost's battle. It is on this visceral level that the movie can be enjoyed, for as forgettable as the story was, the look and action held my attention.

Now, I do not need a story be spoon fed, or everything explained, I don't even always expect logic. What I do need is some sort of character to latch onto. I know that Ghost was supposed to be that cenral character that we, as the audience are supposed to connect with, but Karl Urban's portrayal is so dull, so emotionless, that I could not muster up any empathy. The rest of the cast, on both sides, is pretty much interchangeable. Sure, Russell Means as the Pathfinder and Moon Bloodgood as Starfire stand out, but the rest? Forget it. I didn't even recognize Clancy Brown until I saw his name in the credits.

Beyond that, there were some narrative issues as well. The first one that really had me scratching my head was an early scene where Ghost and a little girl go out into the woods. He tells her that he is to protect her, shortly thereafter she bumps into the Vikings, and runs off to the village. Cut to Ghost, we find him on the other side of a lake watching the town burn. Huh? How did they get so far apart so fast? There is another early scene that we see him practicing with a sword, later he shows them a sword as a sample of the bad guys weapons, it was like no one had ever seen it before. Sure, there are other examples, but there are a couple to get you started.

Audio/Video. I am going to decline any real comments, the copy I have is a pre-release screener and not a final release copy. It is marred by a recurring Fox logo, and since it is this format, do not know how closely it will reflect the final version. The video and audio were both good, and will likely be similar to the final version. But, while the feature looks good, the extras are all pretty poor, lots of blocky pixelation to be found, hopefully not to be in what you find on store shelves.

Extras. The unrated edition, in addition to more blood, comes with a host of extras.

• Commentary. The track features director Marcus Nispel.
• Deleted Scenes. Includes commentary from Marcus Nispel and runs for just over ten minutes. None of them would have added much, but it is interesting to hear the thoughts behind the trims. Reasons range from being unfinished, to not being funny, to test audiences not getting it. Not to mention the fortunate cutting a flatulence joke...
• Featurette: The Beginning. This covers the origins of the film, from being inspired by a Norwegian film (that was Oscar nominated), combined with the Pathfinder graphic novel. (5 minutes)
• Featurette: The Design. Goes into the design, and how they were not going for historical accuracy, rather going for a look. (6 minutes)
• Featurette: The Build. Costume and set design and the care that went into it to make the non-accurate film look believable within the confines of the filmed universe. (5 minutes)
• Featurette: The Shoot. This goes into how hard the shoot was and how many people were hurt, wearing it like a badge of glory or something. That and how demanding Nispel is on the set. (5.5 minutes)
• Featurette: The Stunts. Look inside how many stunts they had to do and how hard it was to do them all, not to mention they relied on practical effects as opposed to CG and greenscreen. (5.5 minutes)
• Featurette: We Shoot Now! Marcus Nispel on the Set of Pathfinder. Go behind the beard and how he is a tyrant on the set. (2.5 minutes)
• Featurette: Clancy Brown - Cult Hero. Clancy is described as a great guy, and he worked hard to portray his Viking character. (2.5 minutes)
• Concept Trailer. This was pretty cool, a short shot in a day clip that was used to pitch the tale. Many of the scenes were translated into the finished picture.
• Theatrical Trailer.
• Additional Trailers. Included: 28 Weeks Later, Wrong Turn 2, Lake Placid 2, Mr. Brooks.

Bottomline. This was a very middling movie, perhaps a bit too serious at times, and a little too light on story throughout; it is still a moderately 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. It does have some nice action and cinematography, but the rest is a rather shallow exercise.

Not Recommended.