A thousand years in the past, a young Norse boy is left behind after his clan shipwrecks on the Eastern shores. Despite his lineage, the boy is raised by the very Indians his kinsmen set out to destroy. Now, as the Vikings return to stage another barbaric raid on his village, the 25 year-old Norse warrior wages a personal war to stop the Vikings' trail of death and destruction. Forging his own path, his destiny is revealed and his identity re-claimed. - skip ad - Genres: Action/Adventure and Remake Running Time: 1 hr. 39 min. Release Date: April 13th, 2007 (wide) MPAA Rating: R for strong brutal violence throughout. Distributor: 20th Century Fox Distribution Cast And Credits Starring: Karl Urban, Moon Bloodgood, Russell Means, Clancy Brown, Nathaniel Arcand Directed by: Marcus Nispel Produced by: Lee Nelson, Bradley Fischer, John M. Jacobsen (II)

All grunting, all goring, the witless action flick "Pathfinder" has little to recommend it, though Terrence Malick completists may be interested to know that it rips off a few setups from that master's magnum opus "The New World." The time is the 10th century A.D., "500 years before Columbus," or so it says in some introductory text, and the place is some pastoral if murkily shaded, almost monochromatic, stretch of coast, where native peoples hunt, fish and smile with what's meant to be the wisdom of the ages but registers as cultural cliché.

Into this paradise comes a Norseman of the apocalypse, or rather a whole boatload, thundering off a ship from the Old World to pillage and wreak ruin with clanging steel, swinging mace and lots and lots of grunting. There's a hero, of course, a Viking throwaway who had been dropped on the native doorstep some 15 years earlier and has grown up to become Karl Urban or, actually, a vaporous character named Ghost. The Vikings return; carnage ensues.

ThThe director, Marcus Nispel, takes his butchery very seriously. (He was the lead vivisectionist for the remake of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.") He may not be able to make this movie move, but, man, can he make an eyeball fly.

"Pathfinder" is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). A splatterfest.