Reviews of Pathfinder

Pathfinder review

Posted : 3 days, 7 hours ago on 18 August 2008 12:59 (A review of Pathfinder)

A Viking boy is left behind after his clan battles a Native American tribe. Raised within the tribe, he ultimately becomes their savior in a fight against the Norsemen. A Viking boy is left behind after his clan battles a Native American tribe. Raised within the tribe, he ultimately becomes their savior in a fight against the Norsemen. ...

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Dreadful filmmaking.

Posted : 3 months, 3 weeks ago on 28 April 2008 12:39 (A review of Pathfinder)

"There are two wolves fighting in each man's heart. One is Love, the other is Hate."

Pathfinder ended up being an appalling movie, and one of the worst of 2007. Truth be told I told myself I would see this one despite it looking mediocre...but it turned out to be quite terrible. For the duration of the movie, it's nothing more than a poor excuse to showcase many different ways for heads to be cut off and people getting killed with swords or axes.

The very little evidence of a plot that I picked up on had something to do with a young boy named Ghost (Urban) who is abandoned as a child. Raised by a Native American tribe, he proves to be quite a skilled warrior. When the Norsemen arrive on American shores with intentions of killing all villagers in sight, Ghost proves a saviour to the people.

From there it's completely predictable and the shallow plot completely disappears within the extreme mindless violence.

I found most aspects of the film to be dull - the colour grading made the film difficult to watch, the blood effects looked bleak and the typical use of slo-mo and shaky cam during battles makes things extraordinarily hard to make out.

Karl Urban doesn't deliver many lines, but when he does it seems he makes no effort to hide his true voice. He sounds more like an American man rather than a Viking. The other performances weren't in the least bit memorable, nor did they deserve to be memorable. All characters are clothed the same, all characters speak the same. There's no distinction between characters, and therefore this non-sentimentality means that when someone is killed it may look cool, but I honestly never cared. Some of the action is intense, but it's useless if one doesn't care about what's going on. Without character development (of which there is none in this movie) how are we supposed to give a damn about anyone?

Pathfinder is an example of filmmakers using everything they can to craft an action movie that adolescents will delight over due to the extreme violence, but there's nothing here for anyone else. Give it a miss!

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Skulls

Posted : 1 year ago on 22 August 2007 09:19 (A review of Pathfinder)

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. There should be more Viking films to follow this jewel in a sea of emptyness. A young lad is left behind by his people and is raised by Native Americans, then he has to choose his path when the Vikings return.

The story is easy to follow and they throw in a few dream moments for good measure so its not trying to grab your thoughts, it just wants to amaze your eyes. The gothic and morbid locales give the film an extra sense of grim that you wouldn't expect from the New World. Skulls littered under every tree and darkness forever more. It was probably the best time to be there!

The action is well choreographed and you see every near-miss with a blade swing. No need for CGI, it all happens between the stuntman and I'm sure KU had a few moments in the spotlight too!

The Vikings are portrayed perfectly to their stereotype. Villainous and bloodthirsty throughout, I couldn't imagine them being more unforgiveable. Clancy Brown was great casting in my opinion as the warlord leader. They are almost animalistic in their mannerisms and vocalisations which helps with their crusade to wipe the land clean for Viking dominance. I want one of those helmets!!

The films deserves some respect.

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Pathfinder review

Posted : 1 year, 3 months ago on 28 April 2007 11:26 (A review of Pathfinder)

Though I enjoyed the movie and great action sequences, this is definitely no award winner (though I certainly wasn't expecting it to be). I was a little dismayed at how few Karl Urban's speaking parts were, as I am a fan of his. The action sequences also seemed to be far too fast and sort of left you wondering what the heck was going on. Other than that, good action movie, plenty of violence to soothe the masses! ;)

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