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Pathfinder (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:73
Fresh:8
Rotten:65
Average Rating:3.6/10
Consensus: A few rousing action sequences can't make up for Pathfinder's non-existent plot and silly dialogue.
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
US Box Office: $10,232,081
Synopsis: Wearing its R rating for violence like a badge of honor, PATHFINDER bears more resemblance to a horror film than most of its historical action-film brethren. Director Marcus Nispel cut his teeth on... Wearing its R rating for violence like a badge of honor, PATHFINDER bears more resemblance to a horror film than most of its historical action-film brethren. Director Marcus Nispel cut his teeth on the remake of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, and that experience has left a bloody thumbprint on this film. PATHFINDER shares the horror movie aesthetic, with its generous use of blood, jump moments, and shadow. Centuries before Christopher Columbus reached American shores, the Vikings carved a bloody path through the continent. When a shipwreck kills a boat full of Vikings and their Native American captives, the only survivor is a young blond child. Adopted by the People of the Dawn tribe, the boy grows up into a warrior. As an adult, the former Viking, now named Ghost (Karl Urban, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING), is an important member of his tribe with only disturbing memories to tie him to the Norsemen. When another ship of Vikings destroys his village and all he knows, he vows revenge. This remake of the Norwegian film OFELAS boasts several innovative action sequences, one involving a shield used as a sled in the snow. With his work in the Lord of the Rings films, Urban has perfected his talent at swordplay, and his prowess is evident here. His character takes on the Viking invaders almost single-handedly and stalks them, picking them off one by one. This is an action-filled film that doesn't let dialogue get in the way of the elaborate fight scenes. [More]
Starring: Karl Urban, Jay Tavare, Nathaniel Arcand, Moon Bloodgood
Starring: Karl Urban, Jay Tavare, Nathaniel Arcand, Moon Bloodgood, Clancy Brown, Russell Means, Ralf Moeller
Director: Marcus Nispel
Director: Marcus Nispel
Screenwriter: Laeta Kalogridis
Producer: Mike Medavoy, Arnold Messer, Marcus Nispel
Composer: Jonathan Elias
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Reviews for Pathfinder
The film is one expertly staged battle after another, but it seems to be less about violence than about the frustration and fear behind violence. Pathfinder makes sure its carnage is bloody, awful and pointless. But pretty.
...given that battles between unequal forces have been a constant in human history, it provides some food for thought amidst the bloodshed.
Pathfinder sweeps fantasy to a new level: gritty, layered, chill-chasing.
Heroic Fantasy of the first order, from filmmakers who obviously studied the paintings of Frank Frazetta and the writings of Robert E. Howard.
[A] compelling example of purely cinematic storytelling that eschews almost all dialogue and lets moody colors and visceral action tell a tale that is mythic and metaphoric...
Celebrates a sense of identity and community more importantly defined by a shared set of convictions, than blood ties or DNA.
The design, the limited, primitive color palette and the breathless, primal violence make Pathfinder work about as well as any movie with this director and this cast and villains who speak Norwegian was going to work.
The plot and action progress like an eroding lakeshore, but the energy and excitement are washed away in every scene.
In the movie’s attempts to create drama amid the action, as in a downhill sled chase, all energy is sapped, and the audience ends up feeling nothing.
When placed inside a film featuring Vikings that look more like members of GWAR and Karl Urban trying to act butch enough to cover the fact that he's running around in a dishrag and Uggs, any opportunity to stop the film to chat is a bad idea.
The end of the road almost makes this a path worth taking, but most audience members will probably be too bored by the time the movie finally gets there to really care.
It's a movie that belies its title, showing neither a strong sense of direction nor the drive to do anything other than display a whole lot of slashing and stabbing.
Dialogue is a low priority in this film, which has less plot than most video games.
I didn't think it was possible to make a movie involving Vikings worse than 1978's The Norsemen starring Lee Majors, but director Marcus Nispel and company have accomplished just that with this formulaic piece of poorly made PC trash.
All cinematic creativity seems to have focused on devising the most repellent ways to maim and murder.
Loud and overbusy but never exciting, Pathfinder is an action film only insofar as airborne prop heads and severed appendages equal action.
Boasting a prettified brutality that rivals that of 300, Pathfinder also explores a similar theme, the manly pursuit of revenge at any cost.
Latest News for Pathfinder
April 28, 2007:
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