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Pathfinder | 2007 | R | - 3.9.1

Adventure story that takes place during the beginning of the first millennium, when according to some historians, Norsemen came to North American and tried to establish colonies. During one raid a young boy is left to fend for himself when he refuses to participate in a brutal attack on Native Americans, who end up adopting him as their one. Years later, when Vikings return to attack once again, he wages a personal war to stop the invaders and protect those he loves. With Karl Urban, Moon Bloodgood, Russell Means, Clancy Brown and Nathaniel Arcand. Directed by Marcus Nispel. [1:33]

SEX/NUDITY 3 - We see the carcass of a moose in a river, two warriors shove a woman against it and rip the back of her clothing preparing to rape her but they are stopped.
 A man and a woman are shown lying together and it is not clear whether they have had sex.
 A woman touches a man's hands, chest and face tenderly, a man caresses a woman's face and she sighs, and a man and a woman look at each other with interest.
 Native American men wear loin cloth-type garments that reveal bare legs and part of their bare buttocks, as well as bare chests.


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VIOLENCE/GORE 9 - There are many scenes that depict a group of warriors (presumably Vikings) who wear large heavy animal skins as coats, large helmets with horns, and their faces are painted and they snarl and growl like animals.
 Warriors on horses charge into a village killing everyone, and they swing heavy spiked metal balls: a woman is struck in the head (blood splatters), a man's head is lopped off (blood and matter sprays and we see head bounce on the ground), a man's arm is lopped off, a woman raises her hand to protect herself and it is lopped off (blood and matter is shown), a man is stabbed, and a woman is shot with an arrow through the back of the head and it pokes out through her eye; we see people trying to run away and screaming in fear, fires are started and shelters and belongings burn.
 A Native American chief is surrounded by many armed warriors; he swings his sword at them, he is struck by a mace (blood spurts) and stabbed through the chest (we hear crunch and see blood on his chest and in his mouth).
 A man uses a sword to attack many warriors: he slashes one across the face and his eye is cut out (we see the eye bounce on the ground), the man runs away and is chased by other warriors who shoot arrows at him.
 A man is tied by his feet to a pole and hung over a fire; his head is placed into the fire, he screams and writhes, and another man shoots him with an arrow killing him.
 A man is tied by the hands and feet and stretched between four horses: the horses are whipped and they pull in opposite directions until the man is torn apart (we see blood splatter on a man and a woman's face).
 Two men and a woman fight with warriors with slashing swords and axes (we see blood spurting and hear squishing as many are slain); the top of a warrior's head is cut off and his brain is visible.
 A warrior slashes another man's mouth by pulling the knife that he is holding between his teeth. A warrior is shot through the eye with an arrow. A warrior's gaping eye wound is stitched up roughly with a needle and string (we hear squishing as the string pulls through the skin.
 A man slashes a warrior across the abdomen (blood gushes), and another warrior raises an ax over the man, but he pushes his shield against the ax, forcing it back and into the warrior's chest (blood gushes); the man then throws the shield, striking yet another warrior across the throat (blood spurts).
 Many Native Americans charge toward warriors and across a trap, they fall through and many are impaled in a pit; others attack the warriors and fighting ensues (many Native Americans are killed and we see slashing and blood spurting and spraying). A trap is sprung that causes a warrior to be thrown off his horse and into spikes where he is impaled.
 A man slashes the throat of a warrior (blood spurts), a trap impales another warrior, another is stabbed in the throat (blood spurts and sprays), and another is thrown off his horse and stabbed (blood spurts). A man cuts off the head of a warrior by using two swords (the head rolls onto the ground). A man and a warrior on horseback collide; one lunges toward the other and stabs him repeatedly with a sword (we hear crunching).
 A man remembers watching warriors slaughter a group of Native Americans: we see people being bound with chains, blood spurts as they are struck by swords, and heads are lopped off and they fall to the ground; one man orders a boy to kill a baby, he refuses, and so the man kills the baby (blood spurts on the boy's face) and the boy is then whipped repeatedly on the back.
 A man is struck in the back by an arrow, he falls onto his shield and uses it as a sled to race down a hill, while he is chased by warriors on a sled, that shoot arrows at him and strike his shield with maces; one warrior is flung off his sled, and another is impaled by a spiked tree limb (we hear a crunch).
 A warrior attacks a man, a woman jumps on the warrior's back, bites his ear and spits the bloody fragment in his face.
 A young girl walks alone through thick woods, she is grabbed around the neck by someone, she runs away screaming, her dog is killed by a man with an ax (we hear a cry and see blood drip from the ax). A grizzly bear snarls and smacks several men in a cave, and the bear charges toward one man who impales it with a spear (the bear roars and dies).
 A warrior brings a sword down striking a man who screams as he is struck (we do not see the blow but we see him covered with blood as he dies). A warrior beats another warrior to death with a shield.
 A man holds the severed head of a warrior in the air and throws it onto the ground. A woman stumbles into a river where a ship has wrecked; she walks through the shell of the ship and finds many chained dead bodies (they are bloated and discolored from water exposure and one has a crab crawl out of its mouth). We see the bodies of many men hanging in trees. After attacks we see piles of bodies and wild dogs eat from the remains. We see piles of human skulls in a few scenes.
 A warrior falls from a narrow path, a rope tied around his waist is also tied around a woman's throat, she struggles to free herself, a man cuts the rope and the man begins to fall; the two men then swing from the rope, fight each other and struggle to get back up to the path.
 A man performs a healing ritual over a wounded man and pulls out an arrowhead from his back (the man screams in pain and falls unconscious and we see the bloody arrow head as it is dropped into water).
 A woman strikes a warrior hard in the crotch (he groans and falls to the ground). A woman beats a warrior in the head with a rock.
 We see the carcass of a moose in a river, two warriors shove a woman against it and rip the back of her clothing preparing to rape her but they are stopped.
 A man sails off a cliff and falls into water below (he is assumed dead but we see him unconscious on shore later). Several warriors are pulled off a path on a steep mountainside (they are tied together), and we see some perched on ledges and others dangling from the rope.
 A warrior places a woman's hand on a block and prepares to cut it off with an ax.
 Many warriors and a man and a woman walk along a frozen lake, the ice begins to break up, many warriors are thrown into the water and are trapped under the ice, and the woman is nearly pulled under the ice. An avalanche is started and many are carried away by the force of shifting snow and ice.
 A large party of warriors and a man and a woman walk along a steep and narrow path, one warrior falls over the ledge and to his death.
 A woman smears what looks like blood on the foreheads of men as part of a ritual. A young boy has lash marks on his back.
 A young boy holds a sword to a woman and threatens her, but he collapses and cries. A man practices fighting with a heavy sword.

LANGUAGE 1 - 3 mild obscenities, name-calling (clumsy).

SUBSTANCE USE - A man smokes something from a pipe and blows it into a wounded man's face.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - The Viking invasion of North America, prophecies, disappointment, fear, identity, assimilation, love, hate, barbarism, savagery, honor, legacy, rituals, belonging, vengeance, knowing who you are.

MESSAGE - Savagery is in the eye of the beholder.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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