Pathfinder

Pathfinder's main appeal will be to connoisseurs of gore, who will find no shortage of graphically rendered stabbings, shootings, smashings, severings and slicings.

The movie is filmed in a way that makes it seem like the camera has epilepsy and the color desaturation renders everything murky. Someone should remind director Marcus Nispel that there's a difference between making a music video and a feature film.

Pathfinder's moody, muddy look is courtesy of music-video director Marcus Nispel, who doesn't distinguish between people and tree trunks when it comes to emotional content.

This latest bit of historical balder-dash stands in direct defiance of proven action-movie formulas, trusting its brutal concept and striking visuals to overcome a lack of star power.

As dim and dank as a power failure in a peepshow, Pathfinder is Apocalypto without the laughs or 300 without the muscular visuals and elevating dialogue.

The official Pathfinder Web site is far more interesting than the movie itself, and you'll get better history lessons from the Vikings of Minnesota.

Had the camera been a firing squad pointed towards its actors, their careers would have taken less damage.

The fault here lies in the film's dead rhythm, which never lights the sparks necessary for an action film. The plot and action progress like an eroding lakeshore, but the energy and excitement are washed away in every scene.

Imagine a heavy metal album cover come suddenly to life and you pretty much have the measure of Pathfinder.

Without anything more to offer, the choreographed carnage gets stale very quickly.

Gory but disappointing.

Pathfinder is simultaneously action-packed and a total bore, a strange movie that never seems to move even though it consists of almost nothing but violence.