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Written by Steve Warren
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Sunday, 15 April 2007 |
Norse Code
Movies based on graphic novels - Sin City, 300 - are raising the art of cinematography to new levels. Pathfinder belongs in that group, even though it's actually based on a Norwegian film from 20 years ago and the novel and film were created concurrently. Like 300 it does more for the art of cinematography than the art of storytelling.
 'No, I am not compensating for something!'
Pathfinder takes us back some 1100 years to when Vikings invaded North America. A ten-year-old Norse boy, the lone survivor of a Viking shipwreck, is raised by natives. Fifteen years later Ghost (Karl Urban) is a strong young man. The Pathfinder (Russell Means), the tribal leader tells him, "You are still haunted by the demons from your past. Until you face them you cannot know who you really are."
Cue the next shipload of Vikings. They slaughter a native village and chase Ghost, who escapes them by inventing sledding. The rest of Pathfinder is a series of bloody, confusing battle scenes with boring parts in between. As he tries to drive out the illegal immigrants there's no sign Ghost ever has an identity crisis, even though his knowledge of their language and battle plans helps him crack the Norse code.
Though it's different from other movies in most respects, Ghost does find romance along the way with Starfire (Moon Bloodgood), who kicks ass but still needs a lot of rescuing.
Being visually oriented, director Marcus Nispel sees to it Laeta Kalogridis' screenplay keeps dialogue (subtitled for the invaders) to a minimum. That's for the best, but when even the visuals lose their appeal the film needs a plot or something to fall back on. Pathfinder just loses its way.
Steve Warren is a local actor and film reviewer. His reviews can also be seen weekly in the Sunday Paper.
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