Pathfinder

Pathfinder Review

I found this movie to be a bit of a surprise, a good surprise. Where it is probably not completely historically accurate to the facts presented, I was aware of the Native American tribe of indians from Minnesota that had a large number of blond, blue eyed members. Add that to the fact that amid being ruthless warriors, the Vikings were first class explorers. Stories that have a sudo historical back-drop I find interesting, as you take a leap of imagination into the story. The story moves right along starting with meeting Ghost as a little boy and following him along as he walks his path toward becoming a brave. It is during this time you learn that he is not really accepted, nor is he ever really likely to be, as he is from both worlds.We learn that he has not really made peace with the fact and that of course is what he must do. I totally bonded with Ghost, I totally understood where he was coming from. From that point on our characters are flung into chaos. The Pathfinder declares that Ghost has not yet earned the right to become a brave which in turn sends he on what I believe to be his mystery walk. He stikes off on his own saying goodbye to the only family he has known. Of course disaster stikes and the Vikings have not only come back but they attack savagely and brutally. Please note that if violence offends or bothers you please skip this movie it only gets more pervasive through out. This brings Ghost back to find most of his family and tribe slaughtered, and his father hacked down in front of him. It is a nice touch that Ghost cries over his dead mother and finding his dead sisters' doll, it makes us the audience have to relate to Ghost as a human being which is not usually the way that it is in action movies. From this point forward vengeance with a capital V becomes Ghost's path kill as many as he can and die trying to kill even more. Brutal, savage, fast paced is what this movie becomes and you can not help become elated as the bad guys get killed. Though we do have a love triangle through out the first half of the movie so do not be fooled into thinking that this is only a slice and dice of the baddies type movie. Karl Urban and Moon Bloodgood are very believeable together. Also the Pathfinder joins them on this mission or maybe that should be folly, so there is a generous sprinkling of Native American mysticism added to the mix. The Vikings are pretty much presented as mindless killing machines not anything more of them is presented which is a shame, as there is a lot more to vikings than that. I liked Clancy Brown much better in Highlander, he was able to create the Kurgan and make him his own. In this movie it was like they said be a bad a__ Viking and that was what he did, he didn't seem to put his own spin on it. I could be wrong about that but to me that was how it seemed.Come on Clancy you can play such a good bad guy show us your evil side. The scenery is spectacular and is used well to enhance the story. I throughly enjoyed Karl Urban's portrayal of Ghost. I could really relate and feel for his character, a tortured loner struggling to come to terms with his own past, so he can finally move his own life forward while at the same time having to deal with the multitude of problems that the Vikings have created for him. The physical side of his role is an equal joy to watch. His sword work is excellent as well as the fight scences, but then would you expect less of E'omer. Lord of the Rings was a good training ground for action adventure and he put into play all that he honed on Lord of the Rings. A solid action adventure movie all the way around, you don't have to think to much just sit back and enjoy the ride. And for all of you Karl Urban fans check out this movie if for nothing else but how he is costumed. I know I did a double take. 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.