Rating: 0.5 out of 5
Some films should never be made, see the light of day, or even the very concept thought of. Hollywood, if a movie is great in another country, it doesn’t mean it will be great in the States or anywhere else. I have seen some awful, bad, and downright terrible films in my lifetime, but Pathfinder ranks highly on that list. Whatever path you were looking for, you might as well skip it because if you watch this film, the only path you will find is mind-numbing pain.
Set during the Viking Age or whatever, the film starts with a Viking expedition arriving in North America. Doing what many believe Vikings do, they intend to slaughter the native population. The party is massacred by another native tribe, and the lone survivor is the Viking leader’s son, who is adopted by a native woman. The boy is taken in by the local tribe and named “Ghost” for his paleness.
Fifteen years later, Ghost (Urban) still lives with the tribe that took him in. Though he is socially accepted, he hasn’t been promoted to the status of a warrior. Ghost also has a love interest in Starfire (Bloomgood), and she is not the Teen Titans version. Great name but nothing like that character. Starfire is the daughter of the Pathfinder, an elderly chief of a neighboring tribe. Shit gets real when a new group of Viking raiders roll up and destroy Ghost’s village. They slaughter everyone but a few and use them for single combat. Ghost arrives, and then all hell breaks loose with Ghost on a mission to get revenge and save the woman he loves while also proving he is a warrior.
If you want a boring film with zero interest, this is the film for you. The plot has no real story to it. It seems to be a story that has actually been told many times. You can name a movie where some child gets lost and taken in by someone else. The child isn’t really accepted until some shit happens. Then they prove themselves on a grand level which has them finally accepted. Same story, different era or people or time.
Since the story was shit, you really don’t become invested in any characters. There is zero character development. You look at all of them and shrug your shoulders when one dies. You really care about none of them. The film was like, why do we need character development. Let’s pray to Odin and start raiding and killing each other.
That is primarily what the film is. How can Ghost kill each person and save the person he loves. Hey, it’s the middle of winter; let’s fight on the middle of a lake and then have it break. Let’s scale this mountain and tie all our people together just to make sure they don’t fall. You see where this plan has some major flaws.
Oh, All-Father Odin, please make this film disappear from existence. Oh, mighty Thor, strike down this film with your mighty hammer. Pathfinder is a film that should not even come across your screen. Karl Urban, you are better than this. SKIP THIS FILM!!!