If ever there was a movie deserving of being pulled from the cobwebs, it's 20th Century Fox's Pathfinder: the Legend of the Ghost Warrior, an icy and pulp, Middle Ages epic that pits Vikings against indigenous, North American opposition (six centuries before Christopher Columbus' expeditions), directed by Marcus Nispel and scripted by Laela Kalogridis (based in part on a 1987, Norwegian submission, which in its own right was founded on Sami myth).
The stalwart hero of this 2007 theatrical, sword-and-moccasin release is portrayed by Karl Urban, who has earned accolades among viewers for his extensive appearances in imagi-productions, which include Dredd (in the judgmental lead, no less); Lord of the Rings (the Two Towers and Return of the King); the Boys (two seasons so far); Xena, Warrior Princess (various installments and characters); Doom; Priest; Red; Ghost Ship; the Irrefutable Truth About Demons; Riddick and the Chronicles of...; Thor: Ragnarok; and three, J.J. Abrams-produced Star Trek features (as the cantankerous yet congenial Leonard "Bones" McCoy). Indeed, Urban's film-hero status should be enough to inspire fans to disinter Pathfinder, if only they cared.
To stir the movie's valorous pot further, Pathfinder includes two, additional imagi-movie thespians: Clancy Brown of Highlander; the Bride; the Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai; Carnivale; Starship Troopers; Thor: Rangnarok; and Pet Sematary Two and Ralf Moeller, best known as the eponymous barbarian in Conan the Adventurer; the Viking Sagas; Gladiator; the Scorpion King; and Cyborg.
But these headlining costars are not the only draw. Pathfinder presents a clear-cut vision, which combines elements of A Man Called Horse and Death Wish with the thunderous works of Robert E. Howard and David C. Smith.
The story opens with Vikings arriving in America to pillage a small tribe called the Skaeling. In the bloody skirmish, a Viking boy is abandoned by his father after he refuses to kill the innocent and in a roundabout Tarzan homage, is raised by the compassionate natives.
Ghost becomes the youngster's name due to his pallid appearance, and through Urban, the character morphs into an agile, noble entity, even if his tribe never quite accepts him in the way it does its other warriors. This makes Ghost an underdog and as such a man who, though respected on the fringes, must still prove himself to sustain the unfettered lifestyle he has come to know.
Ghost loves a fair maiden named Starfire, portrayed by Moon Bloodgood, whose father is the tribe's pathfinder. A pathfinder is a human compass imbued with spiritual insight that can lead one toward a better existence, if one should so choose to accept such prophetic guidance. Starfire is a pathfinder in wait, but her chance to reach spiritual fruition is hampered when the Vikings (aka the Dragon Men) return to plunder.
Leading the voracious vanguard is Brown's armored Gunnar, a giant whose purpose is to slaughter those he considers savage (in other words, something less than himself). He dismisses Ghost's Norseman connection, and Ghost's faithful, tribal bond makes any compromise impossible. This leads to a seething, symbolic, cultural clash that skids toward a harrowing, cliffhanger conclusion.
Prior to its breathtaking melee, other characters inject viciousness and tenderness. Moeller's Ulfar is an adversarial catalyst for the initial category, representing the enemy's callousness to a tee. On the opposite end, the endearing combination of Means' Pathfinder and Bloodgood's Starfire are as important, for they show another side to the dilemma, defining motivation to combat such brute, so that he may harness the serenity that his family bestows. This component is ironic, but because of it, Ghost's path makes perfect sense, since there comes a point when one must wage war to keep peace. (Duane Howard as Elder, Kevin Loring as Jester, Jay Tavare as Blackwing and Nathaniel Arcand as Wind in Tree perform an admirable service establishing the tribe's focused, supporting members and instill a worth-dying-for sense of community.)
To bolster all this, the plot's structure is swift, simple and emotional, its backdrop lofty and craggy in the Frank Frazetta/Boris Vallejo vein, while Jonathan Ellis' score and Daniel Pearl's cinematography pump the impassioned intensity. This puts Pathfinder on a par with the mountainous scope of John Milius' Conan the Barbarian and Michael Mann's the Last of the Mohicans, with many sequences looking as though they have been torn straight from pulp and comic publications. (Incidentally, it should come as no surprise that director Nispel ended up helming a 2011 remake of the former.)
And yet despite its calamitous splendor, Pathfinder has failed to land a cult following. From the outset, this could have been due to its release within the proximity of Zack Snyder's more publicized 300. However, when it premiered on disc and cable, Pathfinder received the same muddled indifference. Pathfinder's Rotten Tomatoes score is a dismal thirty-six percent, but then if one delves into the Tomatoes blurbs, it becomes clear that diehard genre fans (those who understand the finer intricacies of this type of fiction) are scarce in their collective expression. It is that serious sect which could elevate Pathfinder to prominence.
As a shrewd case in point, critic Cynthia Fuchs of Common Sense Media offers an accurate assessment of the film: "Boasting a prettified brutality that rivals 300, Pathfinder also explores a similiary basic them: manly men pursuing revenge at all cost."
She is correct, and the film's content serves its purpose well. Pathfinder, like 300 and Ralph Bakshi/Frazetta's Fire and Ice, is an ideal, adrenalin-packed production and all thanks to it unpretentious, virile displays, which become even more provocative when one views its unrated edition. In either form, the film could act as an antidote for a current, timid age. In this regard, prissy Potterheads and Disney-princess worshippers will not like it in the least, but for those who relish blunt, bestial zeal--for those nauseated by hollow Mary Sues and unrealistic, Cancel Culture infallibles--Pathfinder presents nothing short of a kick-ass salvation: a sword-severing, Urban-led sojourn where struggles run high and an outsider has the actual audacity to save the day through principle and perseverance.
