DVD review (region 2)
Directed by Marcus Nispel
Starring Karl Urban, Moon Bloodgood, Russell Means, Clancy Brown
Release date 24 September 2007

In a time long before Columbus has ‘discovered’ North America, a young Norse boy is shipwrecked on Native American soil. A local tribe decides to raise him as one of their own and give him the name of Ghost. Years later the Vikings return for an orgy of rape, murder and pillage – and Ghost is ready to help defend his adopted land…

Loosely based on a famous Lapland legend (already filmed as 1987’s excellent Norweigan movie of the same name), Marcus Nispsel’s film is a good-looking but empty popcorn adventure story.

The film adds a new spin to the legend in that the Vikings here are pitted against Native Americans (inspired by the evidence to suggest that Vikings landed in America long before Columbus), and it’s got the potential to make for an exciting clash between two very different cultures.

This is hardly a historical drama – everyone on the accompanying feature is at pains to stress that they played hard and loose with the facts, and it’s closer to a comic book than a history book (indeed, the film had its own Dark Horse graphic novelisation). Nothing wrong with that – after all, 300 only benefited from the addition of monsters, magic and over-the-top villains.

Pathfinder isn’t quite as fantastical as 300 (and certainly not as witty), but it does exist in a heightened, ultra-stylised world, with Nispsel taking the MTV-approved visuals of his Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake and attaching it to a big battle movie. The result is sometimes breathtaking (particularly in its final snowbound battle on a tiny ridge) and sometimes profoundly irritating (the endless slo-mo and dry ice); but it has the cumulative effect of washing over you like a lukewarm shower.

In many ways this is an incredibly simplistic movie. Karl Urban and Moon Bloodgood do their best, but the paper-thin characterisation renders their romantic subplot hopelessly limp. Actual dialogue is kept to a minimum - which is just as well as the few lines that are uttered would disgrace a junior school play.

On the plus side, it’s appropriately bloody and vicious as befits the subject matter, and the (again, fantastical) look of the Vikings is terrific – all elaborate horned helmets, bulky armour, facepaint and scowls. Highlander's Clancy Brown is particularly impressive as the utterly petrifying Viking leader Gunnar.

It comes down to this: if you want an intelligent, adventure movie then track down the Norweigan original (though the poorly dubbed version is best avoided). If, on the other hand, if you want a big budget, soulless, but spectacular contemporary actioner, then you could do a lot worse than this.

Extras include deleted scenes, featurettes covering concept to shoot and a commentary from Nispsel. James Skipp

VERDICT: 5/10
Po-faced, over-stylised but sometimes dazzling comic book actioner.