I know very well that Pathfinder is a much-criticised movie, and admit it is far from flawless. Rewatching it after a few years, I enjoyed it, despite all shortcomings. This is a classic revenge story of Viking boy who has been raised by Native Americans, who protects his hosts after they are attacked by a brutal Viking raiding party. The visuals are great, a dull, wintery grey prevails, adding to the creepy athmosphere, some fantastic landscape shots. The acting by Karl Urban and the Native Indian characters is compelling enough, although the Viking protagonists are most definetly not. They are brutal and scary, but as villains not the most competent. The action scenes have a great choreography. My major dislike is that, once the Vikings enter the plot, there is a non-stop sequence of their killing and wanton brutality, with no respite for the viewer. After a while,this gets tiring - the villains are so prone to violence it is almost cartoonish. Had the director cut back on the exaggerated sadism of the Viking raiding party, the movie would have profited immensely. Also, the Viking leaders are willing to sacrifice many of their warriors in a senseless pursuit of one refugee, which doesn't seem very sensible strategically. But despite that, it remains a solid historical action movie with a few fantasy elements.
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