Solomon Kane' (2009)


After a Christmas and New Year spent working my way through the 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Hobbit' movies, as well as various 'Conan' movies and 'Krull' of all things, I am very much in the mood for more of the same. Over the coming weeks (more than likely when I'm trying to finish a book off or have run out of time to post a review, I'm nothing if not honest...) you'll see a few more 'Sword and Sorcery' style movies pop up here, today it's the turn of 2009's 'Solomon Kane'...

I'll be completely honest, I find it so easy to get into 'Conan' that I end up forgetting that Robert E. Howard was very much not just about the Cimmerian. Howard knew his market and was prolific as far as writing characters, that would hit all the things his readers looked for in a story. I personally would never have guessed that the readers of the late nineteen twenties, and early thirties, were after tales of a sixteenth century puritan fighting evil; that's why Howard was the awesome storyteller and I'm... well... not.

I think I've read maybe one 'Solomon Kane' story (ever) and that's something I'll have to see if I can change over the next few weeks and months. For now though, I thought I'd ease myself in gently by watching the film. That and I've had the kids all afternoon so not a lot of time for reading then...

After an encounter with Satanic demon The Reaper while fighting in Africa, Kane embarks on a quest for redemption to save his soul from being damned eternally to Hell. He returns to England, converts to Puritanism and takes up residency in a monastery - but the dastardly deeds of an evil magician who has taken over his father's castle soon upset his plans, and he is forced to take up arms once again.

'There are many paths to redemption, not all of them peaceful'

Bloody hell, 'Solomon Kane' is a bleak film... I'm not just talking about the weather either, although it is clear that someone heard that it rains a lot in the UK and thought it must rain the WHOLE TIME. Seriously... Once Solomon leaves the monastery, it starts raining and just doesn't stop.

But that's not what I'm talking about here (sorry, got distracted). The over abundance of evil set against one man (who knows that if he fights back, he's going straight to hell)makes the first part of the movie very hard to get through and, yes, bleak. There is no hope of redemption, Solomon's life is about somehow trying to delay his inevitable hellbound journey. And woe betide you if you're in the supporting cast as that makes you a prime target for evil possessed raiders led by a man wearing someone's face to cover his own. So yep, very bleak. Reminds me of that bit in 'Excalibur' where the land rebels against the King and the peasants cop the worst of it.

And then suddenly it all changes when Pete Postlethwaite's 'William Crowthorn' tells James Purefoy's taciturn yet engaging 'Solomon Kane' that you can achieve redemption by fighting for what is right. I mean, you would have thought that Solomon could have worked that out for himself and why did the Abbot wait for Solomon to leave the monastery for saying the exact same thing to one of the other monks...?

I'll forgive it though and this means we're back to 'Solomon Kane, Killing Machine' which, after a quick burst of 'Solomon Kane, Runs Away From Vampires', is how he stays for the rest of the film. It's no coincidence that the film pretty much explodes into life as quickly as Solomon Kane takes lives, very quickly. It's all about the fights now which lead up to a twist that isn't as clever as it wants to be but fits in with the rest of the film so that's ok. It's worth toughing out the first part of the film for these moments as you can almost see the 'Solomon Kane' that Howard wanted his readers to see. It's great fun to watch with all the 'pulp' ingredients that you would expect to see.

Given that the movie is eleven years old now and still stands by itself, I think we can safely say that a sequel won't be happening and that's a real shame as I think James Purefoy had it in him to make that role his own. Oh well... What we're left with then is a film that sets the scene perhaps a little too well but then decides to throw everything into being an entertaining 'hack and slash' affair and hits the target. It's a keeper for me but maybe not one I'd watch loads... Definitely need to read more of the stories though.

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