The Pathfinder

The Pathfinder had a chance if 300 and Apocalypto hadn8217;t just blazed a trail across our senses. For all its celebrated action sequences and a substantial death count, this film doesn8217;t come close to those two blood fests.

That can be a disadvantage considering that The Pathfinder belongs to the same league: pitting cruel invaders against a nice, innocent local population, a few good men against a giant bad army. But that8217;s just one part of the problem. The main part is that The Pathfinder has little else to sustain itself either8212; dialogue is minimal and even childish Natives talk American English, Vikings talk subtitled gibberish, script drags for the first half, the shots are badly lit so you can8217;t figure out what8217;s happening perhaps that8217;s deliberate, the characters are stereotypes Vikings big and beastly, Native Americans small and stupid, and the acting is atrocious.

Karl Urban, who plays the lead role of a Viking boy rescued and raised by the Native Americans, tries hard to be a Brad Pitt in tresses. But when the original Brad couldn8217;t survive that in Troy, what chance does poor Urban have? He may stare and glare but he makes little impression.

The only thing that does impress is the cinematography, which captures the beauty of an untouched land. The film just comes in the way.