Solomon Kane

The film is one of those things that you immediately "feel" it is wrong. No known actors except old guys like Max von Sydow, who get a small role anyway, an almost unknown lead character and a lot of attitude, like the movie is taking itself really seriously. Most of this kind of movies end up as pretentious flops.

Solomon Kane, however, did not. It was a reasonable movie, given the low production values and the video game like story. The thing is, the people working on it obviously made an effort. Strangely enough, it seems this sort of effort is what lacks in many films these days, even high budget ones, so this lifts Solomon Kane quite a lot.

Unfortunately, the film was not great. It was, I feel, the best they could do under the circumstances, and I applaud that, though. Better than The Book of Eli, but still the same superheroy feeling.

I found the "Solomon Kane" DVD in the local secondhand DVD store for about $2, so I bought it without knowing what it was about. Truth be told, then it was the cover that convinced me. And now having seen it I can only say wow, I have been missing out on something great.

This is a dark fantasy movie with lots of action, a deep storyline, great characters and good special effects. And I must admit that I was more than pleasantly surprised with this movie.

The story is about Solomon Kane, a man who left his past and heritage behind; a master of war, destruction and terror. His very being is cursed and is bound for Hell, and the Devil is sure to collect. But having changed his wicked ways, Solomon Kane seeks redemption, but can he find it with Hell's forces in hot pursuit?

I found the various aspects of the storyline to be interesting and nicely tied together. Director Michael J. Bassett managed to put together an interesting movie containing a good combination of action, fantasy and adventure.

James Purefoy was phenomenal in the role of Solomon Kane. I can't claim to be familiar with the work of James Purefoy prior to "Solomon Kane", but this movie sure did make a lasting impression.

"Solomon Kane" is an entertaining movie that you should watch if you enjoy the fantasy movie genre.

If you took the time to find it, then you wont be disappointed with this solid, old fashioned sword and sorcery movie.

The tales of Solomon Kane have been around longer than most, the character first appearing in mass market print back in the late twenties, but they've not been filmed. Many others, borrowing from it have been filmed so you will be quite familiar with the twists and turns having seen them elsewhere. The saving grace here is that it's all done quite well. James Purefoy is every part the tortured warrior and it's good to see Max Von Sydow and the legend that is Pete Poslethwaite up on the big screen. It's a creepy, dark movie at times and the extra effort they've put into the set design and cinematography really helps to set the scene. The story nips along to a satisfying conclusion. The fight choreography is very well done and FX are good as well.

For me this came out of nowhere. I wasn't expecting much but was absolutely delighted by just how good Solomon Kane was.

Great acting, again a surprise, dazzling special effects and a story that was enjoyable to follow.

Good film fun :)

'Solomon Kane' does twice as much with half the budget of similar genre films such as 'Van Helsing', 'Season of the Witch' and the recent 'Conan the Barbarian' (Which, like 'Solomon Kane', is based on a character created by Robert E. Howard). Unfortunately, doubling up those films still only adds up to average.

For a while it feels as if 'Solomon Kane' might actually be something special. Anchored by James Purefoy (channeling Hugh Jackman), and supported by strong performances from Rachel Hurd-Wood and the late Pete Postlethwaite, the first act firmly establishes a character and stakes that we care about. But around the half way point it begins to run out of steam, settling for generic genre conventions executed with little of the flair and none of the human focus evidenced earlier in the film.

'Solomon Kane' had all the pieces to be something special. That it ends up merely being a serviceable time-waster is ironically more frustrating than if it were simply a bad film.