I had such high hopes! Not long after Russell means and Daniel Day Lewis last of the Mohicans, this had to be within shouting distance of that, right? With the caliber of cast and story, how bad could it be? It's like a middle school production. The scenery is gorgeous, but everything else just has that two dimensional cardboard feel. Graham Greene and Michael Hogan! Laurie Holden and Russell Means! Stacy Keach for god sake! Sometimes they sort of don't suck, almost like their natural talent accidentally shone through. All of these actors have done terrific work before and after this, so it must have been the writing and direction. You know when you're watching a bunch of kids doing a show and you keep waiting for the wig to fall off? Kevin Dillon, ladies and gentlemen...

You might come across this gem after viewing Mann's 1992 Last of the Mohicans or reading Cooper's book, and thirsting for more. Unless you're desperate in the extreme, however, I can't recommend it. The two mains look like they stepped out of an 80's musical, and the costumes are all Walmart specials, fresh out of the laundromat.The one good part, which is why I watched it at all, was the occasional (not frequent) use of genuine scenery and "indians" running through the trees with muskets. As noted in other reviews, however, they are white and flabby, so it's a letdown anyway. As for story, historical reenactment, drama, anything redeemable, it's just plain absent from this show.

I too have seen this movie, although I saw it on like Austar or something. It would have to be one of the funniest movies I have ever seen....too bad it's meant to be serious. I have to agree that the acting was poor but it sure was fun laughing at the actors thinking they were really cool. The special effects were so lame, come on, I mean, an explosion was nowhere near these guys and you could actually see them jumping. The whole movie was a bit clichéd if you ask me, the whole 'hero saves the day' big tough guy thing. Pfft I gave this movie 2 out of 10, mainly because it was so shocking it was funny and I would buy it just to laugh at it.

The Pathfinder is the third in plot succession of James Fenimore Cooper's Leather-Stocking Tales, a series of five novels depicting life along early America's northeast frontier, each of which features adventures engaging Natty Bumppo, called Leather Stocking due to his long deerskin gaiters, and are full of exciting occurrences, the author's love of the native forests, and scenes ripe for performing artists' insights. We should expect to be grateful for this adaptation, with its more than adequate funding, an outstanding director and technician, Donald Shebib, and proven cast members including Graham Greene, Stephen Russell, Stacy Keach, and Laurie Holden, but the work's very opening scene, depicting the oftseen Flabby Bodied Non-Indians Stripped To The Waist, Daubed In War Paint, And Jiggling Their Soft Bellies Through The Woods, is a harbinger of the sloppy production values to come. The cardinal problem here involves wholesale changes in the plot of the novel, apparently scripted by committee, which includes unrequited love and its effects, altered drastically among the roles, with other sharp alterations bringing about losses of logic, suspense and dramatic continuity, shabby stunt direction and ragged editing also adding to the visual disharmony. Some of the players are quite effective in this beautifully costumed production, actually filmed on and about the Lake Ontario locations of the novel, especially Keach as a French general, Greene as Bumppo's Mohican mentor, Holden with a typically sincere performance, and excellent stage-trained Canadian Russell as the principal villain; however, the remainder of the casting is quaint at best, remarkably so in the case of the film's lead, Kevin Dillon, far too young and lacking in range for the fortyish Pathfinder, who gives one the perception throughout that showing up for this one was the most unpleasant thing he'd to do for a while.