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: #14938 in DVD
• Brand: TCFHE
• Released on: 2007-07-31
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Icelandic
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 107 minutes

Customer Reviews

Action that requires a little wisdom.
I find it interesting that reviews of this film either love it or hate it. My thinking is that people who dismiss PATHFINDER out of hand require a certain amount of their cinematic product spoon-fed to them. The fantasy must be easily palatable and simple to digest. Typical actions fans don't want to actually feel afraid, nor do they want to think. They don't want to use their own imaginations; likely they are impoverished in this regard. PATHFINDER requires a minimum awareness of the horrific potential for cruelty, as well as the ability to cherish and protect, that lies within human beings. Absent here are Schwarzenegger-style one-liners upon dispatching an enemy, abundant cleavage displays and other ubiquitous actions motifs which temper any actual feelings of fear and help remove the viewer from an experience of real connectedness to the characters. In other words, extreme violence is okay, as long as there are enough farcical elements to make it "fun".

PATHFINDER eschews farce. This is not a cartoon. It's straight up action, firmly rooted in the tradition of John McTiernan. It's like the director grew up watching PREDATOR and decided, you know, this would be perfect without the jokes. The film is structurally quite similar to DIE HARD: lone warrior facing impossible odds. You think there's no way he's going to make it, maybe he'll take out one or two of the bad guys and then he's going down. But the film, with mathematical precision, defies your expectations and the result is thrilling. You don't understand how he's possibly going to survive, thus there is real suspense. And the fun thing is, it's really more about the hero's wits than his brawn.

I think the most profound achievement of the film is the cold, hard anthropological nature of the script. The Native Americans are not ecologically savvy hippies with hearts of gold, nor are the Vikings blonde studs with braids and clashing beer steins. All our modern conceits and politically correct reinterpretations of history are abandoned for the terrifying truth: the Indians are Stone Age farmers eking out an existence on the cusp of survival, while the Vikings have steel armor and weapons. The Vikings are bent on claiming new land and they consider the Indians vermin. The result is a blood bath. Instead of the warm and fuzzy "roller coaster ride" offered by your typical action fare, PATHFINDER leaves you sitting there with eyes wide, thinking, This is not a fantasy, this is how it would have been. It's like a stylized documentary of Thomas Hobbes' LEVIATHAN. In other words, horrifying.

Particularly so is the scene where the little Viking boy first arrives in the New World. Again, it's not fantasy, it's not action, it's pure anthropology. Steel against wood and stone. It's more like snuff; you are reminded that this is the director they picked for the CHAINSAW remake. Fans of the lighter action fare were probably horrified by this scene, felt existential twinges they were uncomfortable with, or perhaps they didn't understand what was going on; thus the negative reviews. It's not the cartoonish chest-thumper that is 300; PATHFINDER makes CONAN look like BACHELOR PARTY; NEW WORLD is a sopping wet Merchant-Ivory spoof in comparison. Further, I think complaints about the cinematography come down to a more basic failure by unschooled audiences to understand what's going on in the film. They can't follow the story due to a personal lack, so they blame the filming.

I also find it asinine that reviewers are so critical of the dialogue. Are people deaf? Is everyone so ADHD afflicted that unless it's blah-blah-blah every minute they can't focus? PATHFINDER's dialogue has a simple poetry designed to express the elementary tongues of these early peoples. The characters don't speak often, but when they do, the words are important. And people speak from the heart, without irony. Maybe this straight-forward genuineness is what some viewers find so hard to take. But come on, people. It's like Sergio Leone movies in which characters speak minimally. In this setting, words are almost useless; actions speak louder than. What do people want? Vikings ranting like Mamet? Indians sassing back like Tarantino?

Frankly, it's unbelievable to me that people could miss out so completely on what's cool about this film. It doesn't cater to the lowest common denominator, apparently. Fails to slop the hogs sufficiently. I don't have space here to convey all the things I really dug about PATHFINDER. There are important messages about racism and identity. I think the film has real cult potential as the main character's assertion of self, "Eth Bay Quer Eh Kem!" (I know who I am!), could be the rallying cry for a generation of disaffected teens. The love story is quite moving, as well. The characters actually have chemistry. Human emotion in general is well conveyed. But again, you have to be receptive. When a brave refuses to shake the main characters hand, your mind has to move on its own and consider the deadly consequences for yourself; the film does not pause and explain. There is no accompanying PowerPoint presentation. Apparently that's what people need.

And the problem is, all these negative, unthinking reviews. People will not see this movie. Thus, they will not make another like it. To me, that's a shame.

You are the last of your kind in this cursed land
The Pathfinder DVD


The Pathfinder is about a Norse/Viking boy around twelve years old who was abandoned or shipped wrecked on the coast of (I'm guessing Canada) where an young Indian woman finds him and adopts him into the tribe. He, of course, is not accepted by the tribe and has to fight to obtain recognition.

Without giving too much, away this move is full of action. Combining elements of Conan the Barbarian - Collector's Edition,Beowulf (Unrated Director's Cut), ]]Rambo First Blood Part II, [[ASIN:B00005JPLW 300 (Two-Disc Special Edition), and Jeremiah Johnson. Whew, a good movie for action movie fans.

Highly recommended for fans of for action movies, Conan the Barbarian, Beowulf, Rambo First Blood Part II, the 300, and Jeremiah Johnson.


Gunner February, 2008

Under appreciated, misunderstood film
The movie going audience these days is not only sometimes fickle, but it is also spoiled. My wife and I saw pathfinder, and after some of the terrible criticizing reviews I heard I was bracing for a possibly terrible film. How surprised I was! Pathfinder was a fine film. If you grew up in the 1970's and 80's and like gritty films with hard action, and minimalist approaches, this pure and simple story of survival will probably be a breath of fresh air for you (it was for me) and a chance to take a break away from many of today's bloated, special effects laden blockbusters that are fine for what they are but really don't deliver much in the way of gritty harsh action. Is it perfect? No. But it's a grim story that is meaningful, entertaining, and worth seeing.

The story is not clichéd and predictable in any more of a way than anything else is these days. It's simple, decent, and gets the job done of being entertaining. Sometimes I was surprised, sometimes not, but always entertained. My stomach just turns at the people who hate this film but go on to defend these bloated Hollywood CGI spectacles. The acting is fine, even superb in some places (Carl Urban did a fine job with what he had to work with and shows he is very capable). Visuals are great and sometimes breathtaking, filming style and editing is fine (minimalist, nothing too fancy, does not have a zoom or tilt addicted camera operator and does not look like an MTV video), dialog could have used some work perhaps, but dialog isn't the focus of this SURVIVAL film and it works well enough. The Vikings lines are subtitled, and the Native Americans just speak a simple English. Was this the best choice? Probably, though it may not be satisfying for some. Otherwise the whole film would have been subtitled and I think the director was smart enough to realize that this film was not offering that level of entertainment. This is not trying to be Apocalypto. The main couple has a decent enough chemistry more suited to the times portrayed and the violence they are in the middle of suffering then some of today's recent bloated blockbusters.

My one complain is that there is certainly a level of historical inaccuracy going on here, and the Vikings take the brunt of it. But the film is not supposed to be a work of fact and somebody has to be the villains. As far as villains go however, they certainly are some mean dudes in this film! All in all, everything that happened, the acting, the editing, the pacing, everything was understandable and done well and made this into an exciting film of a story of pure survival with some extra elements thrown in for good measure. If you're a nit picker, stay away from this film. If not, and the subject matter appeals to you, give it a try. I'm glad I did, and I'm looking forward to buying this on DVD.