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Pathfinder

Tossing continuity to the wind

By TOM MEEK | April 18, 2007

2.5 Stars

VIDEO: Watch the trailer for Pathfinder.

The sexual tension and transcendental tones of Terrence Malick’s The New World and the graphic, balletic carnage of 300 meet uncomfortably in Marcus (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake) Nispel’s Pathfinder. A loose retooling of Norwegian director Nils Gaup’s 1988 Oscar-nominated Ofelas, it’s set during the Viking conquest of North America, 500 years before Columbus. As this version has it, the Vikings are ruthless marauders driven by bloodlust and greed and the natives are slaughter fodder for their cold steel. After one invasion, a Norse boy is left behind and taken in by the “savages.” Fifteen years later, more ships come and Ghost (Karl Urban, the relentless baddie in The Bourne Supremacy) must fight his Nordic kin to save his adopted family. Nispel tosses continuity to the wind, and Urban doesn’t fill the big role, though the action sequences are impressive. The Conan-esque garb of the Norsemen adds flair, and the lovely Moon Bloodgood injects brio as Starfire, the can-do love interest.

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