- director: Marcus Nispel
- screenplay: Laeta Kalogridis
- Rated: “R?” Strong Violence all the way through.
- Running time: 1hr 28 minutes.
Go see “Pathfinder”:
We've seen Karl Urban in other movie's such as, “Born Supremacy,” and “Chronicles of Riddick,” but he nearly always plays a bad guy. I must admit I've been anticipating this movie for nearly a year. I love movies about clashing cultures and the people caught between them. This movie was a little bit of a let down, I probably anticipated it too much. It won't win any awards but its fun to watch. The action could have been less edited but it's not bad.
There is one ridiculous scene when they sled down hill and fight. We've seen it before in “Willow,” and it fit better there. I'm also a bit disappointed that the bad guys weren't better developed. I know that sounds hypocritical from me-Mr. just let the villain be evil-but in this case Vikings make such interesting subjects it would have been nice to have some motive behind their ethnic cleansing.
What about the “R” rating?
There's violence and there's violence. Some is comical, some serious. Some is gratuitous and some is needed. The reason I think they decided to mention strong violence throughout in the ads for this movie is because there is a lot of Viking-killing-women-and-children violence. It's integral to the plot, the movie wouldn't make any sense without it, but we'd all have been more comfortable with warriors clashing in battle, or good guys chasing down bad guys with guns blazing.
Larger Story
The violence in this movie serves to dehumanize the Vikings and make us want Ghost to kill them all. The violence seems so much worse in contrast to the simple, innocent villagers and if Ghost kills all the Vikings isn't he transformed into one of them? The film plays with that theme fairly effectively without getting annoying.
At its core, this is a story of redemption, and true identity. Ghost is abandoned by the Vikings because he lacks their bloodthirstiness. In the end his thirst for revenge could finally drive him over the edge to become what his Viking father wanted. This is a struggle every man can identify with. Do we live out of the cruelty we experienced sometimes as we grew up, are we transformed by the trials we face as an adult, or will we find the courage to live from who we really are-being valiant or peaceful as the situation requires.
