Desbravadores: A Lenda do Guerreiro Fantasma

Nipsel and company basically hybridized the structure of Dances with Wolves with a not-quite-historical fiction (more like radical speculation) plot about interactions between Norsemen and Native Americans during the 12th century A.D.

Ghost (Karl Urban) is a Norse boy left behind aboard a wrecked ship. He is adopted by the Clan of the Dog (the dogs who cohabitate with this tribe are historically inaccurate, but that's just one of many historical transgressions). As he grows up, Ghost's obvious difference and his history become something of a stumbling block for him, but he works hard to overcome them in order to be accepted by his adoptive people. Eventually, it seems, he must confront the demons of his past, and unfortunately, so must the Clan of the Dog.

Pathfinder is played well by Russell Means, and Ghost's love interest - Starfire - is nicely portrayed by Moon Bloodgood. Urban has great physical talent, but this story did not lend itself to testing his ability to create drama and mood, so there isn't much to say about his performance. Likewise, most of the Norse characters were so under-developed and one-dimensional that it is impossible to comment on the performances involved.

Although the story relies on stereotypes to develop both its Norse and Native American characters, since so little is actually known about the Norse colonies, this seems forgivable. What is not really forgivable, in my opinion, is the reiteration of the trope established in Dances with Wolves and other similar works which suggests that it takes a European to effectively fight off Europeans. Although the characterizations of the protagonists in both films are adequate to explain their behavior, the character and behavior of the Native Americans attached to them is less well developed, and there is a lingering, inaccurate and disturbing shadow of inferiority implied in their apparent inability to strategize and effectively lead in combat.

However, Pathfinder refuses to touch reality with any length of pole, so, sit back and enjoy the action, costumes and sets.

The film contains a lot of violence, most of which is convincingly shot. The costuming is excellent, and the sets are lovely. if you can get past the problems - which are several - you may just enjoy it.

What a waste.

The only redeeming feature of this movie were the well made action scenes (not all were good, but overall there were more enjoyable fight sequences than boring ones).

The story is clichéd and predictable. The acting is terrible (the main role is so horribly sketched out that you can barely blame the actor, the supporting roles all make a mark for their blandness). The main couple have no chemistry, the dialog is UN-enjoyably bad and the editing looks like it was done by a blind man. Scenes start and end with absolutely no flow. One scene was particularly bad (I wont spoil it for you, suffice to say its the one where the Indians charge into battle against the hero's wishes). That is the only scene when I laughed in the movie, and its supposed to be a sad/rousing scene.

The trailer of this film looked really pretty, but then again the consisted of mostly the fight scenes so I'm not surprised at all. The director seems to have had a good eye for visuals, but his effort has ended there.

Pathfinder = 5/10 Five for the fight scenes.

I was trying to find a path out of the theater at many times during the movie.

"Pathfinder" is one hell of a brilliant intense historic warrior adventure film about a young boy who is saved & raised by Native Americans but is the last survivor of a Viking expedition & years later as a young man he must defend his village against another brutal Viking expedition. That's the basic set up for an Awesome ultra-violent warrior movie. This epic action adventure is visually stunning & striking with just fantastic cinematography & a scary dark look & Atmosphere, also this film is Directed by the BRILLIANT Marcus Nispel who directed one of the greatest Horror remakes of all time with his visually striking & terrifying "The Texas chainsaw Massacre" from 2003!!! That movie is even better than the original 70's CLASSIC!!! He is a visionary director full of style & an exciting vision, i love both of these films. Also we get the veteran actor Clancy Brown as the head Viking villain "Gunner" although you probably wouldn't know it because of his huge beard & helmet & Armour but he does make for a huge menacing presence on screen. The excellent but underrated KARL URBAN is fantastic here as "Ghost" the warrior with hate in his heart & a quest of bloody vengeance, mr.Urban is a great actor & screen presence & he blew me away with his portrayal of the tough futuristic Cop named "Judge Dredd" when he played him in the 2011 Cult Classic "Dredd" & he was excellent there & is excellent here in "Pathfinder" so yeah he's a great actor & I'm a big fan!!!

The look of this epic adventure is drained muted colours so it looks dull, gloomy, dark & scary almost like a Horror film & the big Viking warriors are scary as hell, they are huge with big metal armour & big horned helmets & animal skins & really look terrifying!!! The Vikings are merciless & savage as they slaughter their way through villages of helpless people including women & children, so it's AWESOME when our warrior hero "Ghost" starts to hunt them down & slaughter them in Cool ways with traps & weapons. Like i said the look is great & gritty with beautiful shots & scenes mixed with the Horror of savage killings & the killings are brutal & blood soaked, this is a very gory film as it should be & "Ghost" really delivers on his quest for bloody vengeance & the evil Vikings deserve their deaths.

I was on the edge of my seat watching this excellent film as it was tense & gripping, "Pathfinder" is definitely one of the best "Warrior" films I've ever seen!!! Definitely one of the most entertaining & exciting one's too!!! I can see this is another way underrated yet brilliant movie with an excellent lead in "Karl Urban" but i loved it & consider this a "Cult Classic" in my opinion. Terrific,Tense & exciting

While the story is good, the flaws begin to stand out.

Yes, all the little things that should have been important to the filmmakers in production and in filming.

Like - airplanes in the sky.

It seems to be winter or early spring but snow doesn't stick to anything, nobody's face or skin turns overly cold or white or purple due to it. Snow doesn't turn to water when collecting on anybodies's face, the pelts they wear do not freeze after they fall through ice into the river Natives have very straight, clean teeth and very clean hair and skin - even after going through battle.

Vikings wear heavy amour but move swift, fast and easily through the forest.

Climbing the edge of a mountain, nobody is freezing wearing virtually no clothing.

There are tire tracks in the mud.

Even though a slew of swords are used and arrows are shot, no horses get injured.

There are a bunch of things like that - after watching the movie, just begins to make you wonder how this can be thought out and actually given an OK.

Snow that blows all over the place, but in some areas of open space, there is none and then several feet away there is several feet of it.

Caves with light coming in from all directions.

Swords that seem to weigh as much as a can of pop - being easily flung across a field or lifted and swung without much force or effort.

I can go on,but I won't.

This movie was gorgeous and everything I ever wanted in a "Viking" lands on North America film. I thought this film was very underrated and with the Judd Apatow dreck that gets called film-making these days this really stands up in beauty and depth of story. The cinematography of the Northwest coast was amazing and incorporating the dense forests and lush environments into the shooting process was simply amazing.

The acting was perfect and at times understated in wonderfully blocked scenes between the characters. I thought the action is unmatched by many films pretending to be the action blockbusters they are often sold as. I often marveled at the length in which the filmmakers brought the setting to us no matter how difficult the set-ups seemed.

I hope he keeps making films for years to come! Beautiful!