These cuts were restored however, as well as the gore, for the unrated version, which was released on 27 August 2007. In total around ten minutes were cut out of the film. Nispel was also forced to trim down 23 scenes (including significant plot development) for reasons of time and pacing. Ghost, now finally respected as the bravest of the tribe and one of their own, assumes his position watching over the coast in case the Vikings ever return.įor the theatrical release and the initial DVD release, director Marcus Nispel had been forced to cut the gore and digitally remove some of the extreme violence out of at least 32 scenes, and also a scene of Ghost and Starfire making love in a cave, so that the film could gain an R rating from the MPAA. Ghost returns to Starfire with Pathfinder's necklace, thus making Starfire the new Pathfinder after her father. Ghost eventually kills Gunnar in a duel on a cliff's edge Ghost pretends to lead the Vikings to the tribe and kills most of them on the way, some drowning in a lake and others caught in an avalanche. The Vikings threaten to torture Starfire if Ghost will not betray the location of the other villages. Eventually, both Jester and Pathfinder are executed brutally, and Ghost and Starfire are captured. Pathfinder goes after his daughter and joins the fight. They defeat a few Vikings and collect their arms and armour. He is joined by Jester, a mute admirer who refuses to leave his side, and Starfire, who leaves the tribe for him. Ghost advises the villagers to flee and departs to take on the Vikings alone. He reaches the neighboring tribe and is tended to by Pathfinder and his daughter. Ghost is pursued by the Vikings and receives an arrow wound. He defeats Ulfar, cutting out his eye before escaping. Viking leader Gunnar challenges Ghost, who is still in possession of his father's sword. In an attack by a new group of Viking raiders, Ghost's village is destroyed and all its inhabitants killed, except a few tribesmen whom the attackers force into single combat. The only remembrance he keeps of his heritage is his father's sword. His romantic interest is Starfire, the daughter of the Pathfinder, an elderly chief of a neighboring tribe. Though he is socially accepted, he has yet to earn the status of a warrior. The boy is taken in by the local tribe and named "Ghost" for his paleness.įifteen years later, Ghost still lives among the tribe. The party is itself wiped out by another native tribe, the only survivor being the Viking leader's son, who is adopted by a native woman. But Nispel hobbles his potentially buff lead – hair and make-up inspired by Viggo Mortensen in Lord Of The Rings – with a production design based on the colour of mud, a visual cue which the drama obediently follows.A Viking Age expedition arrives in North America, intending to subjugate or slaughter the native " Skræling" population. No, Urban isn’t bad as Ghost, he’s chunky at least, substantial. Karl Urban plays Nispel’s hero Ghost – I say Nispel’s hero but this is in fact a remake of Nils Gaup’s better Norwegian original from 1987, Ofelas. Whether it started out as a protracted chase back and forth – Conan goes Commando – I don’t know, but that’s the way it has ended up. To be slightly fair to Nispel, the dead hand of the studio is all over Pathfinder, which was delayed again and again as bits were hacked off it until preview audiences lost the will to bitch. Which call is he going to obey – blood or upbringing? Offering the viewer the supposed delights of the clash of two of the world’s ur-peoples – the Viking and the Native American – Marcus Nispel’s follow-up to his fairly pointless remake of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre proves he’s still more at home with pop promos for Janet Jackson and Billy Joel than as a big screen director. A Viking orphan is raised by American Indians in Newfoundland, circa 1000AD, only to be confronted with the mother of all identity crises when the warlike Norsemen return years later, and set about raping and pillaging their way through the villages of his adoptive nation.