Movie Review: Pathfinder- 8/6/07

Synopsis: This movie is based on the oft-told legend of Vikings traveling to North America hundred of years prior to Europeans landing in the Americas. In this story a Viking expedition force lands in what seems to be the Carolinas cost of No. America and trample over the Native Americans.

The leader brings his then young son and gets him to try and kill a young native girl and the boy refuses, so the father whips the boy exclaiming, “You’re no son of mine” and abandons the boy behind when the raiding party head back to Europe. Later on a N.A. woman finds the boy and takes him back to her tribe to raise him as her own.

15 years later, the blond blue-eyed boy is now a man and his tribe seems mostly peaceful and dealing in fishing and hunting. He unfortunately cannot be a “Pathfinder,” which I think is like being the tribe’s next leader/shaman since he is not from a tribe and no one knows his history. Originally when he was brought in as a boy they thought he was a demon due to his skin, but then there was also a legend where a white-colored savior would come and help the tribe.

Soon another party of Vikings arrives and terrorizes the village and slaughters everyone except the Viking boy (V.B. from now on) since he was across the river. The Vikings are brutal and spare no one. V.B. escapes and tries to warn another nearby tribe to escape since the Vikings as too strong with their armor and steel weapons and would obliterate the N.A. with their wooden spears and arrows. V.B. along with another N.A. try and ambush the Vikings but are unsuccessful and end up having some of the warrior tribesmen killed while the other half of the village try and escape.

V.B. and his love-interest girl/healer from the second tribe are captured and piece-by-piece V.B. leads the Vikings in the search for the other tribe and he gets some Vikings killed by drowning them as the fall through ice and fall of mountain cliffs. After V.B. vanquishes the leader (who knew V.B.’s father), he marries the girl and they raise children and he is always on the lookout for potential threats of the “Dragon Men.”

Comments: The production values of the movie were stunning, The budget is noted at $38 million and the money was well spent on the location, studio shots and costumes of the Vikings. Great detailed was played out in what is mostly a wannabe-Conan movie. Battles are bloody and well-paced. A cross between The 13^th Warrior and Conan movies is what I describe this film, I just wish the main star was a bit bigger since all the Vikings were large in the movie, and as an offspring he was average size making his battles seem one-sided when he was smaller then the well-armed opponents.

Score: Though 15 minutes too ling I thought, the movie is a good popcorn-flick and I give it 3.5 out of 5 Monster Stars for those looking for an old-school hack/slash action flick.