Merrick would've been a wussy Viking...

Many people haven’t heard of PATHFINDER yet.

Yes, it’s a damn Nissan SUV – but that’s not what we’re talking about here. It’s also a rover we sent to the Martian surface, but that’s not what we’re talking about, either.

This PATHFINDER is a new movie from director Marcus Nispel (THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE). It’s about a Viking child left behind during a raid on Native Americans. The boy is raised by these Native Americans, and ultimately must defend his new “family” when the Norsemen return.

The film stars Karl Urban (THE LORD OF THE RINGS, BOURNE SUPREMACY, DOOM), Russell Means (Chingachgook!), and Clancy Brown (Kurgan in HIGHLANDER, Rawhide in BUCKAROO BANZAI, Sergeant Zim in STARSHIP TROOPERS, as well as an amazing array of voice work).

Despite such coolness, a ++++GEEK WARNING!!!++++ must now be issued: PATHFINDER is written by Laeta Kalogridis – who scripted Oliver Stone’s self-absorbed sleaze fest ALEXANDER, and developed/Executive Produced The WB’s heinously misguided BIRDS OF PREY. This is truly unfortunate.

However, she also co-scripted NOCHNOY DOZOR (NIGHT WATCH) – which didn’t impress me at all…but I know some of you out there are hot for that film…so perhaps this will redeem Laeta in your eyes, if only just a little.

You can now check out PATHFINDER’s trailer HERE!

Looks like CONAN meets THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, with a touch of THE 13th WARRIOR mixed in. Which, in principle, sounds pretty awesome. However, something seems "off" about this trailer (to me at least); can't quite pin it down. What do you think?