Available at Amazon.com
Directed by
Marcus Nispel
Cast:
Karl Urban … Ghost
Moon Bloodgood … Starfire
Russell Means … Pathfinder
Clancy Brown … Gunnar
Jay Tavare … Blackwing
Nathaniel Arcand … Wind In Tree
Ralf Moeller … Ulfar
You would think that a premise like Pathfinder’s, pitting “Native Americans vs. Vikings”in a First Blood-like scenario, would be a difficult one to screw up. Add in a lead actor that has had experience in these types of flicks and a supporting cast of veterans, and on paper the film begins to seem to have the makings of at least being a Cult hit, but unfortunately, you would be dead wrong. With shoddy cinematography, a ridiculously bad script, and direction that seems to completely defy comprehension at times, Pathfinder takes what could have been a surefire good time, and turns it into a spectacular misfire.
The first problem really arises when you realize that the film really isn’t so much about “Native Americans vs. Vikings” at all. The flick is really about Ghost (Karl Urban), a man raised by a tribe after his Viking father left him to die for not killing a small child. When his adopted people are wiped out by the return of the pillaging Vikings, Ghost must make a stand and try to destroy all the Vikings before they obliterate the next village of Natives.
Now while on paper this seems like an interesting premise for a film, in execution Pathfinder is sloppy at best. Native Americans are shown to be weaklings or even worse, complete buffoons when trying to defend themselves from the invading hordes and their only hope is a Caucasian that seems to have taught himself the art of swordplay all on his own. This isn’t even on the level of The Last Samurai where the hero fights side by side with the people he is protecting, he’s simply doing ALL the fighting for them as the tribes hide in fear.
This would even be a little more tolerable if the film contained amazing action scenes, but Director Marcus Nispel decides instead that it is perhaps more exciting if we really don’t know what is going on during the violence. Too many fight scenes are shot in complete close-up or in shadow so you basically have to guess what is happening until we see who won the fight afterward. CGI blood sprays seem to have been added in to accentuate what violence is in the film, but they’re put in so poorly that they look completely inorganic and serve to only call attention to how bad they look.
The film’s liberal use of every Action movie cliché and cartoonish violence doesn’t help its case either, as a bobsled chase only serves to make the Vikings look completely ludicrous and the film’s finale on a cliff ledge features one of the worst action climaxes I’ve seen in some time. The only thing really breaking the monotony during this finale is picking apart the horrible use of stock footage and relentlessly poor CGI. The biggest sin an Action movie can make is to be boring, and without a doubt when it’s trying to be straight-faced, Pathfinder ends up being just that.
The most terrible pillaging in the movie is really done behind the camera, as every Sword epic from Conan to Star Wars is fair game to Director Nispel. One particular sequence, when Ghost speaks to a fallen mentor’s spirit as he himself is about to perish, is just mind-numbingly awful, and another that is nearly word for word a speech from Braveheart only ends up being laughable. Even The Edge can’t escape this travesty, as a battle with a grizzly makes you think of the less than memorable Anthony Hopkins movie, instead of just paying attention to what’s going on onscreen.
Pathfinder takes an interesting concept and goes absolutely no where with it. From its shoddy look to terrible action and acting, the movie is a complete waste of time. Only Clancy Brown’s campy villain ends up not being a complete insult, as nearly every other actor in this picture seems to be sleepwalking from one atrocious scene to another. So if 300 or Conan has you wanting another Costume epic, leave this one on the shelf, and just end up watching those films again.
The Video
The print on the disc seemed to be pretty free of debris or grain. There were portion so the film that were pretty dark, but those looked to have been like that on purpose. The film is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1
The Audio
The Audio track is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and is fine. There aren’t any overt problems with the sound, and action seems to never drown out dialogue.
Commentary by Director Marcus Nispel – This is a pretty pretentious commentary track here, as Nispel seems pretty happy with the film. At one point in the movie the director compares himself to Ridley Scott, which is perhaps more ridiculous than anything that happens to be in the movie itself.
Deleted Scenes (with optional Director’s Commentary) – There are eight minutes+ of deleted scenes here that weren’t even good enough to be in this movie. They range from an unconscious man getting his package checked out to another of the main hero being ostracized for farting in an enclosed space. The director seems confused as to why no one the test screening really liked these scenes and I’ll also not that he keeps using the phrase “The calm before the storm” more than once to describe these scenes.
The Beginning – We learn that Pathfinder is actually a remake of an Oscar nominated Foreign film, which I have no doubt is much better than this particular film is. There’s a lot of congratulatory patting of the back here and the best part of the Featurette has to do with the crew talking about the historical accuracy of the movie. At one point Director Marcus Nispel utters the phrase “The only thing I know, is that nobody knows nothing.” I don’t even have a comment worthy of this statement.
The Design – One of the film’s lone bright spots is the costume design, which is why this film looked remotely good in its trailer. We’re shown just how much work went into designing this picture, which is a shame considering the final results.
The Build – In this Featurette we’re shown further work that went into actually putting together costumes and sets for this picture, which again is a shame considering just how bad this movie ended up being.
The Shoot – Apparently there were a lot of mishaps and accidents on this shoot, and we can see just how harsh some of the conditions were for this picture.
The Stunts – “This was a rough shoot.” This is what we keep hearing about this the making of this picture throughout this short Featurette, as actors and stuntmen recall just how difficult it was to pull off many of the film’s action scenes. One particular scene with a horse looks particularly dangerous here.
We Shoot Now! Marcus Nispel on the Set of Pathfinder – Apparently the director on this picture is crazy, or so says many of the cast members interviewed for this Featurette. We’re also shown Nispel getting his hair and beard shaved, which he states was a promise he made to the crew when they ran our of money.
Clancy Brown: Cult Hero – The best thing on this entire disc is this 2 minute tribute to Clancy Brown, who looks like he went the extra mile for this film and learned Nordic.
Concept Trailer – This is an odd trailer for this movie, shot independently to pitch the picture to studio executives.
