~ April Issue ~
 

Pathfinder: an Untold Legend
By Varun Roperia, Staff Writer
 

Pathfinder was originally a graphic novel by Laeta Kalogridis, but has now hit the silver screen under the direction of Marcus Nispel. The biggest star in the film is Clancy Brown (”Highlander”, “Lost”), who plays the leader of the Viking invaders. The lead in the film is Karl Urban who has had roles in Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Riddick, and Doom. The majority of the rest of the cast are Native American actors, and a few heavily clad Vikings whose faces you can’t see.

The story revolves around the legend of a Viking boy shipwrecked after a failed expedition who was raised by Native Americans 600 years before Columbus ever stepped foot on this side of the world. Fifteen years after he is found, more Vikings return, and they intend to wipe the planet of these “savages” so they can inhabit the land themselves. After they slaughter his family, the young Viking boy (named “Ghost”) is obviously upset and decides to seek revenge against the Viking invaders.

The film tries very hard to emulate the style of the graphic novel, in the tradition of Sin City and 300, and it does a pretty good job of pulling that off. There are some stunning visuals in the film…it is also a very violent and bloody film (a fact that I am sure will get it several comparisons to 300 as well) that handles the bloodshed in a much less stylized way than the other two previously mentioned films did.

The movie is very light on dialogue, with very few unnecessary words being spoken. In some cases that can be an interesting thing, and it probably worked out for the best in this film, but at 1 hour and 28 minutes the movie felt like it dragged a bit, and I think some better and more frequent dialogue could have helped develop the characters a bit better, and give us more of an investment in them.

For all of the cool visual stuff that did work, there was quite a bit about the film that didn’t work at all. One of those things was Karl Urban. I don’t think it was even his fault really…whoever decided to give him that hair and scruffy look made a mistake. He looked like he belonged in a 90s grunge band more than in the forests of the past. Starfire, the obligatory love interest in the film, came off as far too modern to me as well. She was headstrong, independent, and able to handle herself in a fight…but when there is no further depth given to the character, it didn’t seem to work.

I would not say this is a BAD film, but I also wouldn’t recommend that you run out and see it. It’s ok…maybe worth a rental one night, but the film just didn’t move me in any particular way, or leave me feeling like I’d seen something special. If I were you, I wouldn’t eve think about dropping ten bucks on a ticket to see this thing.