Pathfinder

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Nicely balances action and adventure with American Indian wisdom and a modest romance to provide a graphic-comic-book movie experience for males in urban markets.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Urban and Bloodgood make the most of their parts, locking eyes and arms, and occasionally using American English as if the snowy 10th century were another way of saying, "Where the après ski?"

TV Guide Ken Fox

It's undone by a murky palette, silly horror-movie cliches, dumb dialogue and a confusing climactic sequence.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Pathfinder is aimed more at the action-figure crowd than the history buffs.

New York Daily News Robert Dominguez

After the first 1,000 or so beheadings, impalements and severed limbs, Pathfinder's slash may just induce sleep.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A bizarre, bloody adventure movie.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

If this uninspired fight-fest had been delayed out of existence, it's unlikely anyone would have missed it.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

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.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

Mainly it's messy, and I don't just mean the gouged-out eyeball in a puddle.

Variety Peter Debruge

Like "300" and "Apocalypto," 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.

Empire Ian Nathan

For crying out loud, Marcus -- all you had to do was have Vikings fight Indians! How hard was that?

USA Today Claudia Puig

All cinematic creativity seems to have focused on devising the most repellent ways to maim and murder.

Los Angeles Times Michael Ordona

One of the funniest films of the year. That's not good news for this attempted action-adventure, which clearly lost its way in its own copious fog.

LA Weekly Jessica Grose

There is one redeeming skirmish -- the climactic fight involving a snowy cliff and an elaborate pulley system -- but from the guy who's directed videos for Cher, Amy Grant, Billy Joel, and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony? We expected more.

Film Threat Matthew Sorrento

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.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It's a tedious experience in almost every way: The acting is numbingly one-note, the CGI work is unconvincing and often downright shoddy, and the action is poorly staged and framed so close you can never tell for sure who is lopping off whose head.

New York Post Kyle Smith

The movie takes us on a journey to an ugly, contentious period in our misty, ancient past - all the way back to four months ago, when "Apocalypto" came out.

Miami Herald Colin Covert

Too small to be a spectacle, too humorless to take seriously and too stupid to pass muster at a middle school writing workshop.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

In a way, it's perfect: You can't imagine anyone seeing this mess and not feeling lesser for the experience.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Makes "Conan the Barbarian" seem like Dostoyevsky in its complexity.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

The 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.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

No more than a minute into this, and it becomes obvious that the next 98 are going to be trouble.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Here's my nomination for future grindhouse double-bill from hell: Pathfinder and "Apocalypto."