Pathfinder: Unrated DVD Review

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Title: Pathfinder: Unrated

Region: One

Genre: Action Adventure Fantasy

Stars: Karl Urban, Moon Bloodgood, Russell Means, Ralf Moeller, and Clancy Brown

Writer: Laeta Kalogridis

Director: Marcus Nispel

Feature length: 107 minutes

Extras: Deleted Scenes With Optional Director’s Commentary, Feature Length Director’s Commentary, Behind-The-Scenes Featurettes, Concept Trailer, Theatrical Trailer, Preview Trailers

Languages: English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, French and Spanish Language Dolby Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Closed Captions, English Subtitles For The Deaf And Hearing Impaired, and Spanish Language Subtitles

Packaging: Amaray Keep Case

Chapter Stops: 24

Sound: DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and Dolby Surround Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 2007/DVD Release: 2007

Theatrical Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox

Home Video Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

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Pathfinder is the best film of its type since the original Conan The Barbarian and the film also calls to mind the original and still unmatched Highlander because it features Clancy Brown as the leader of a Viking expedition that has returned to North America to rape and pillage. The Pathfinder is a shaman like figure in Native American society. He provides a certain amount of guidance and forethought to the people though he does not always reveal all he knows or suspects to anyone. As portrayed by Russell Means, we get the sense that the Pathfinder gets glimpses into the future, but he only shares what might be helpful and does not necessarily reveal certain fates if there is nothing that can be done about them and are things that must come to pass for whatever the reason might be. The Pathfinder has come to look for the next Pathfinder and within the Native American society there is a Norseman raised from boyhood to be a part of the tribe. He is called Ghost (Karl Urban). Ten years earlier his adopted mother discovered him aboard a wrecked Viking ship. He was the only survivor. Though the tribe is uncertain of his fate, they know that ultimately his fate somehow ties into theirs. The spotting of a white stag, which would seem like a fanciful and exotic creature of grace is perceived as an omen by the tribe because this is a North America of over one thousand years ago. Christopher Columbus’ expeditions would not occur for approximately another six hundred years. Europe is very much still in the midst of the Dark Ages and so there are not really any horses if any in America at this time.

When the Vikings return, they annihilate nearly every person they encounter except for Ghost, who they recognize as being one of their own left behind, the Pathfinder, and a woman (Moon Bloodgood) who are being questioned s to where the next village is. The Vikings have superior technology since the Indians do not have armor and steel swords like the Vikings. The Vikings also are very accustomed to hunting in harsh environments, but they have a weakness. They have no knowledge that the spring thaw has already begun and within that lies an advantage toward finding the only way they can be stopped.

The premise of Pathfinder is quite interesting because no one has ever explored this theme in an American feature film before and yet there is proof that the Vikings landed in North America as far down as New York. The question Director Marcus Nispel attempts to answer is why didn’t the Vikings leave behind any signs of a permanent colony? In the feature length audio commentary Nispel reveals that the Vikings even visited Africa and while they were barbaric toward outsiders, they did have a sophisticated trading system and ultimately the only to make peace within their society was in fact to marry into it and allow the cultures to merge, which happened in countries throughout Europe. So if no one could get rid of them wherever they appeared then why didn’t they stay in America too? The answer in this film is the seas were watched for future expeditions of what they called “the dragon ships” and then presumably after enough expeditions were lost, perhaps the Vikings gave up.

Despite the historical context of the film, this is actually very much a graphic novel adaptation that exaggerates everything down to the stylized green hue to the film. The Vikings in the film are meant to appear as monstrous as possible so they are more fearsome and contrast starkly to Ghost and the Native American protagonists. In the film all of the Native American characters as well as Ghost speak contemporary English so we can identify with them more even though contemporary English was not a language spoken by Native Americans at that time. The Vikings speak Icelandic in the film and according to Nispel; the language has not really changed very much in the last thousand plus years. He acknowledges the historical inaccuracies in the way the Vikings appear in the film as a way to make them more fearsome and I guess even alien. This is the only film I have seen outside of Prince Valiant where the Viking characters are wearing the horned helmets. They did not wear helmets like this in reality as far as we know.

Though the films are different in many respects, if you are looking for a good double feature to follow watching your DVD of 300, Pathfinder: Unrated on DVD is a great companion. The graphic novels for both films are produced by Dark Horse Comics and taking into consideration the deleted scenes on the DVD that appear in the graphic novel of Pathfinder is followed very closely in this film adaptation, both films are very faithful to their graphic novel inspirations. .

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment has released Pathfinder: Unrated to DVD-Video complete with an anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1) aspect ratio that preserves the manner in which the film was exhibited theatrically as close as possible for home video users. The film looks terrific when upconverted on either an HD DVD or Blu-ray Disc player to 1080i, but I hope Fox will release a true 1080p high definition Blu-ray Disc version in the near future. Right now as far as I know, no announcement or even a rumor has appeared anywhere at the time of this writing. Terrific English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack options are included on the DVD along with French and Spanish Language Dolby Surround Soundtracks and English Closed Captions and Subtitles For The Deaf and Hearing Impaired as well as Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded as option onto the dual layered DVD.

Extra value features on the DVD include a series of featurettes covering the development of the film (5:13), the production design and pre-visualization (6:31), set building (5:08), production (5:40), and stunts (5:35). There also appears to be a little production trailer with Marcus Nispel (2:39) and a nice tribute to Actor Clancy Brown (2:39). All of these featurettes are presented in 16 by 9 enhanced widescreen except where noted. The letterboxed concept trailer (4:16) that was used to pitch the film and an anamorphic widescreen theatrical trailer (2:27) is also included along with seven letterboxed deleted scenes with optional audio commentary by Marcus Nispel wraps up the extra value features directly related to the film. The deleted scenes may be viewed in succession with a “Play All” option (10:16), but the featurettes can only be viewed individually.

Letterboxed preview trailers for 28 Weeks Later (2:14), Wrong Turn 2 (: 42), Lake Placid 2 (: 38), and Mr. Brooks (2:24) are included on the DVD as well as a reel of preview trailers for Perfect Creature, Day Watch, and Night Watch (6:00) that appear before the main menu. The main menu is animated with scenes from the film while the subsequent menus are all standard interactive still frames and all are easy to navigate.

Pathfinder: Unrated is available at retailers on and offline now and can also be purchased directly from Fox Retail Store.com at this URL: http://www.foxstore.com/detail?item=3230. Pathfinder is a film that I think will develop a cult audience over time on home video and Fox has done a great job on this DVD.

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