Product Description

The heroic story of a young Norse man raised by Native American Indians who wages a personal war against the Vikings that barbarically raided his tribe.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1645 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-07-31
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 107 minutes

Amazon.com

Pathfinder is a curious, cross-genre movie with elements of horror, sword-clanging fantasy, historical fiction, and Native American mysticism. A classic story of an outsider-hero, Pathfinder is set approximately five centuries before Columbus' arrival in the New World, a time when Vikings were claiming real estate in Greenland and eastern North America. A young Norse boy is abandoned by his disapproving, conqueror-father and adopted by an aboriginal tribe. He grows up to become Ghost (Karl Urban), almost-but-not-entirely accepted by natives, yet a fierce swordsman and defender of Indians after a terrible assault on those whom he loves best. Clancy Brown (The Shawshank Redemption) plays the fiercest of the invaders, a merciless leader who tangles with Ghost's inherent prowess as a fighter, and engages in a psychological as well as physical struggle with him in the film's final third, which involves a harrowing journey through an avalanche-prone mountain path. Russell Means (The Last of the Mohicans) is a typically comforting presence as the all-wise Pathfinder, leader of a tribal nation and Ghost's supporter, while Moon Bloodgood (Eight Below) is outstanding as a love interest with nerves of steel. Marcus Nispel (who directed the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) guides the brutal if often exhilarating action as if it were amplified history. He makes the point for a contemporary audience that Vikings were as terrifying a danger to those whom they conquered as, say, Klingons are in Star Trek--precisely by making his Vikings seem so reminiscent of Klingons. --Tom Keogh

Beyond Pathfinder

Pathfinder (Paperback)

Pathfinder Soundtrack

Norse Mythology Products

Stills from Pathfinder

Customer Reviews

Fast paced action!
In short, this is a must see movie for action fans! Karl Urban does a fine job in his role as an orphan viking who becomes a foster child of a native american tribe. Ralph Moeller does an excellent job a a viking warrior who abuses Karl Urban while on a mission to destroy any and all native americans.

This is a five star movie!

Underrated
Pathfinder is an odd little film considering it was basically ignored in theaters. The story follows Ghost (Karl Urban, soon to be seen as Dr. McCoy in J.J. Abrams new Star Trek film), who grew up among the Native American Indians after being left behind years earlier by his invading Viking clan. Soon enough, the blood thirsty Vikings are back, and before you know it, Ghost rallies against them. While the story progression is as predictable as can be, director Marcus Nispel (director of the 2003 remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre) provides plenty of stark set-pieces, grisly battle sequences, and beautiful shots of the gorgeous landscape. The acting from Urban, rising star Moon Bloodgood (love that name), Russell Means, and veteran Clancy Brown is as good as it is needed to be, and the overall result of Pathfinder is pretty satisfying. It certainly isn't as entertaining and prolific as 300, but for what it is, Pathfinder is an underrated action period piece.

Vikings vs. Indians, how could it not be fun
It "could" have been fun, but they didn't manage to quite get there.

For one, it falls victim to a trend I have noted a lot in recent films: darkness or very low lighting. I don't know if this is a trend for some artistic reason or they are just keeping the lights low because they were too cheap to put in details so you they don't want you to see. Remember Alien? It was dark for a reason, the budget was low, but they made it work, Pathfinder really doesn't.

Secondly, they don't really develop the main character or his story. IMHO a few minutes spent here would have greatly increased one's involvement in the film. A little more background, a little more development, would have been so nice.

Now we get to the vikings. Ok, I understand they are the bad guys and all viking movies tell us they really like to fight, plunder, etc. But seriously, do we really think they sailed all that way to do nothing but kill everyone they meet? These guys land and wipe out the first villiage they come across, only keeping alive someone to tell them where the next villiage is so they can go there and kill them! Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the fjord?
The indians, however, seem totally unfamilar with combat. It's almost like the vikings stumbled across a commune of red skinned hippies. Except for our hero who somehow seems to have mastered all sorts of martial skills even though he's been living with the indians since childhood.
There is a lot of action, but for the most part its the ill-tempered vikings slashing up the indians. Where is Geronimo when you need him!

And then there are the viking horses. Horses? I'm trying to remember any movie with vikings on horses. They sailed all that way with horses on their tiny boats? No wonder they were so grouchy when they arrived! I'm not sure of the history, but I think the spanish brought horses the americas.