Pathfinder Review..

An action - adventure set in the time when Vikings tried to conquer North America, " Pathfinder " tells the heroic story of a young Norse boy left behind after his clan shipwrecks on the Eastern shores.. Despite his lineage, the boy is raised by the very Indians his kinsmen set out to destroy.. Now, as the Vikings return to stage another barbaric raid on his village, the 25 - year - old Norse warrior wages a personal war to stop the Vikings' trail of death and destruction.. Forging his own path, his destiny is revealed and his identity re - claimed..

Rated: [ R ]

Cinema release: 13th April 2007, but not til 13th September 2007 in Australia

Running Time: 88 minutes

Stars: Karl Urban, Moon Bloodgood, Russell Means

Pathfinder, a film that feels quickly put together to capitalize on the success of the similar 300, has actually been done for a while, sitting on a shelf trying to find an appropriate release date.. Now that 300 mania has kind of died down and before sequel summer really kicks off, mid - April seems like a good fit for this bloody Viking tale.. Grindhouse didn't exactly set the box office on fire and families still sick of Easter candy and ice skating comedies may be ready for something a little more hardcore.. Pathfinder is rated R " for strong brutal violence throughout.." That's all some people need to know to decide if Pathfinder is the right action ticket for them and those ticket buyers will probably be pretty happy.. Everyone else might want to find a different movie road..

Doom and Lord of the Rings star Karl Urban returns to the world of ultra - violent action in Pathfinder as " Ghost," the grown - up version of a Viking boy who gets left behind after his clan battles a Native American tribe.. Ghost is raised within the tribe and actually becomes their savior in a fight against the Norsemen.. Yeah, yeah, yeah - the loose plot is all an excuse for director Marcus Nispel to wreak bloody havoc between the Native American and Viking tribes.. Pathfinder is a series of disembowelments, beheadings and general destruction, set in the muddy area of the Wampanoag tribe.. It's The New World meets The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remakes and the question is will action fans respond to the bizarre mix of history and horror or let this Pathfinder go its own way?

You have to be a pretty hardcore action - only fan to really enjoy Pathfinder because that's all you're going to get.. Most of the film is silent, choosing to rely on battle after battle to tell the legend of Ghost.. The problem is that director Marcus Nispel shoots the whole thing in shades of gray and black ( even the blood spumes are black instead of red ), making a film where even the silent action is hard to follow.. As a director, he mistakes dirty for authentic and the whole thing feels about as real as the neighborhood kids playing cowboys and indians.. And what comes between the action scenes is almost completely useless with talk of demons, prophecies and the wolves that battle within the hearts of man.. It just isn't that interesting a story, and a lackluster director and uncharismatic lead don't help.. Urban tries his hardest to sell the hero, but he seems miscast and left flailing by a script that gives him nothing to do.. He ends up looking more like a lost Village person than a true legend..

Luckily, Clancy Brown ( who has ruled in everything from Lost to Carnivale to the voice of Lex Luthor on Justice League ) gets to chew some scenery as the leader of the Vikings set on Native American destruction.. Brown may not get to speak English ( all of the Vikings are subtitled ), but he grunts and growls as the villain and ends up stealing the entire movie.. When he finally gets a showdown with Ghost on an icy cliff - side, the film actually comes alive and becomes as much fun as action fans will hope it had been all along.. The end of the road almost makes this a path worth taking, but most audience members will probably be too bored by the time the movie finally gets there to really care..

I give " Pathfinder " 1.5 out of 5..