Pathfinder: The Best Vikings Ever! (2007)

Today I found myself traveling back in time to a world where vikings were the ultimate warriors and their arrival meant the death of everything you knew. The movie I saw today was Pathfinder. A viking ship is lost at sea and crashes on distant shores; the only survivor is a young viking boy. The boy is found and taken in by the native people of this strange land. He is old enough to know their ways and language, but young enough to be reborn. Due to his pale skin and the nature with which he arrived, he is known to them simply as Ghost. Years later, his people return. Hit the jump for more.


I call him Ghost, but I actually didn't know his name until I looked up the IMDB page. I don't think anyone ever says his name once in the movie, but that doesn't stop him from being a hero. Ghost is played by Karl Urban, you may know him better as Doctor McCoy AKA Bones of the 2009 Star Trek reboot. Surprisingly, he makes a hell of a convincing viking warrior. The love interest and damsel in distress is played by Moon Bloodgood. Yeah, you read that name right. I recognized her while I watched this movie and it turns out I last saw her in Terminator Salvation. I like both these actors and I felt they did a decent job here.

Karl Urban & Moon Bloodgood make a good couple

I haven't seen many movies with vikings in them, but these are easily the most BAD ASS vikings I've ever seen! I never really thought of vikings as being scary, but they are so brutal and menacing and huge that my views of them will be forever changed. Vikings are terrifying! The amazing costume design certainly doesn't hurt, and the style of keeping the vikings mostly in silhouette or in fog really adds to their ominous nature. I loved how Ghost described the vikings to the other village which hadn't been attacked. After slicing their spears in half with a viking sword he says "They all carry these weapons, and they're covered in a skin that arrows of stone cannot pierce. Run, and you may live..."  Did I mention the vikings looked AMAZING!!

Oh my God! You're already dead if you see a viking!

Probably the only slight complaint I could swing at Pathfinder would be some of the less than stellar visual effects. For the most part everything is done practically and done really well, it kinda falls apart whenever there's blood though. With every sword slash and stab or crushing blow the vikings rain down on the helpless villagers, obviously fake blood spurts and sprays out, which have clearly been added into the movie post production. At least it seems the blood effect was practical that was then edited into the film instead of just cg blood which never works. However where the blood kinda failed, there was a scene involving a lake that was really cool!

For some reason the native people here live like Ewoks.

Pathfinder just kept moving and I found myself glued to the screen and also caring for a number of characters besides the main couple. The vikings were awesome, the fighting was pretty good. I also liked the fairly wide variety of places they ended up traveling to. From the forest to a swamp, snowy hillsides to native burial grounds and deep in rocky caves to frozen lakes and icy mountains cliffs. This may have been a film on a budget, and probably not entirely historically accurate, but it certainly didn't bother me in the end and I really liked this movie. It has its flaws but I was able to see past them and I would recommend this to anyone who likes vikings or a fun sword fighting action movie.