Nils Gaup created the original Pathfinder. It's only on VHS tape, it may be very hard to find, but find it you should because it's beautiful, rich, exotic, heartfelt, exciting, frightening, strong, clear.
When you've finished reading reviews of this film, find reviews of Gaup's & read them! I noticed that the director of this new version credits Gaup for having inspired the new Pathfinder. Pitifully, he wasn't really inspired to make a good film, because he he punctured & deflated a timeless story made by a real artist.
This current version modifies the story line but doesn't improve on it, & takes the bare-bones of a common experience in all cultures - the rough male hunters with better weapons killing the settled, family-based tribal groups, & turns it into a sappy, unconvincing, feckless exercise in Big Bad Guys & Nice Good Guys.
You will enjoy the original - the reality of the story will feel somehow familiar. You may remember playing hide & seek as a child, or simple chasing games, thrilling precisely because they are real. You will admire & appreciate the young man who becomes the Pathfinder in the original - he defines what it means to have greatness thrust upon you. You will like the elder who instructs the young man. You will appreciate the silence of the snow, the forbidding landscape, that everything's made by hand, the view of primitive life that is yet not so different from ours in its simplest elements.
The original Pathfinder features dialog in Sammi, & uses exotic looking actors. The village people are fresh, simple. Watching them almost feels like a documentary.
The bad guys in the original are very scary - big, strong, dark, relentless. They have lots of big metal swords, they have tough clothing, they have good boots. All those details are done artistically & beautifully. The scariest thing about them is not their "beserker" outlook, emphasized in the remake, but the hard fact that they have planned out the annihilation of their prey dispassionately. You don't simply hate them, you fear their strength of will & their vision of utter destruction.
The young hero is as terrified as anyone would be by seeing these cruel & massively powerful killers come closer & closer to his loved ones. How he handles his fear, & what he does to become the Pathfinder, is especially what's missing from the remake.
But I'm not going to even talk about this current version since I think it's not worthy of conversation. As an adventure movie, it's just OK, nothing great. But you might want to see Conan the Barbarian instead.
Nope, there's nothing remarkable about the new Pathfinder, but if it gets Gaup's film released on DVD, it will have been worth the effort it took to make it.
Watch it if you must. But then, Please! Find the original!
When you've finished reading reviews of this film, find reviews of Gaup's & read them! I noticed that the director of this new version credits Gaup for having inspired the new Pathfinder. Pitifully, he wasn't really inspired to make a good film, because he he punctured & deflated a timeless story made by a real artist.
This current version modifies the story line but doesn't improve on it, & takes the bare-bones of a common experience in all cultures - the rough male hunters with better weapons killing the settled, family-based tribal groups, & turns it into a sappy, unconvincing, feckless exercise in Big Bad Guys & Nice Good Guys.
You will enjoy the original - the reality of the story will feel somehow familiar. You may remember playing hide & seek as a child, or simple chasing games, thrilling precisely because they are real. You will admire & appreciate the young man who becomes the Pathfinder in the original - he defines what it means to have greatness thrust upon you. You will like the elder who instructs the young man. You will appreciate the silence of the snow, the forbidding landscape, that everything's made by hand, the view of primitive life that is yet not so different from ours in its simplest elements.
The original Pathfinder features dialog in Sammi, & uses exotic looking actors. The village people are fresh, simple. Watching them almost feels like a documentary.
The bad guys in the original are very scary - big, strong, dark, relentless. They have lots of big metal swords, they have tough clothing, they have good boots. All those details are done artistically & beautifully. The scariest thing about them is not their "beserker" outlook, emphasized in the remake, but the hard fact that they have planned out the annihilation of their prey dispassionately. You don't simply hate them, you fear their strength of will & their vision of utter destruction.
The young hero is as terrified as anyone would be by seeing these cruel & massively powerful killers come closer & closer to his loved ones. How he handles his fear, & what he does to become the Pathfinder, is especially what's missing from the remake.
But I'm not going to even talk about this current version since I think it's not worthy of conversation. As an adventure movie, it's just OK, nothing great. But you might want to see Conan the Barbarian instead.
Nope, there's nothing remarkable about the new Pathfinder, but if it gets Gaup's film released on DVD, it will have been worth the effort it took to make it.
Watch it if you must. But then, Please! Find the original!