Psycho's Movie Reviews #329: Solomon Kane (2009)

Solomon Kane is a 2009 French-British-Czech action-adventure film based on the pulp magazine character of the same name created in 1928 by Robert E. Howard. Written and directed by M. J. Bassett, the film stars James Purefoy in the title role. Despite obtaining the rights in 1997, filming did not begin until January 2008.

The film is an original story for the Kane character and was intended to be the first of a trilogy. The plot follows a redemption story for Kane, from the end of his life as a privateer, through the salvation of his soul by rescuing a Puritan girl and the beginning of his life as the Puritan avenger of the source material. It was produced by a consortium of French, Czech, and British companies and mostly filmed in the Czech Republic. The film was first shown at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. It went on general release in France, Spain, and the UK over the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010. It has a Rotten Tomatoes "fresh" rating of 67%.

The screenplay was novelised by award-winning fantasy author Ramsey Campbell.

Plot

In the year 1600, in North Africa, English privateer Solomon Kane leads his ship's crew into battle against the Ottoman defenders of a fortress town. After defeating the defenders, Kane and his men raid the fortress, where most of the crew are killed by demons. Kane fights his way to the throne room, but, before he can loot the riches, he is confronted by a powerful demon, calling itself the "Devil's Reaper", who tells him his soul is forfeit to Satan after his life of sin. Solomon rejects his fate and jumps out of a window to escape.

One year later, Solomon has returned to England and found sanctuary in a monastery, renouncing violence and donating his wealth to the Church in hopes of finding redemption. After a prophetic dream, the abbot apologetically expels Kane. On the road Kane is ambushed by robbers who mock his vow of pacifism and leave him for dead. He is found and treated by the Crowthorns, a family of Puritans traveling west to the New World. They find a witch, who marks Meredith Crowthorn. Later they're ambushed by followers of the evil sorcerer Malachi, who kidnap Meredith and kill her father and brothers. Kane renounces his vows and swears to rescue Meredith.

Kane battles Malachi's followers across the countryside, rescuing many captives but not finding Meredith. On his journey, he meets a deranged priest who explains Malachi's followers are taking the weaker survivors of their raids as slaves and corrupting the strong into soldiers. The priest tries to feed Kane to his parishioners, who have become ghouls, but Kane escapes, only to face the robbers who attacked him earlier, now corrupted servants of Malachi. He kills two of the robbers and interrogates the survivor, who tells Solomon that Meredith is dead. Kane throws the robber to the ghouls, and, believing his quest for redemption has failed, drinks to excess at a country inn. Former shipmates recognize him and try to recruit him as a leader of a resistance against Malachi, but Kane refuses. The inn is attacked by Malachi's followers, led by his lieutenant the Masked Rider. They crucify the leaders of the resistance, including Kane. As Kane hangs on the cross, Meredith cries out his name from her cage in the back of the raiders' wagon; Kane realizes that he still has a chance to save her and pulls himself free. Before Malachi's remaining men can finish him, they are killed by survivors of the resistance, who take Kane to safety. Kane is healed by a pagan woman and is soon anxious to confront the raiders.

The rebels explain Malachi's background as a former healer who made a bargain with the Devil. They reveal that he now lives in Kane's ancestral home, from which Kane had been expelled in his youth after defying his father. Kane leads them into the castle via an underground passage, and, as the resistance fights Malachi's minions, Kane heads for the dungeons and frees many of the captives. There he finds not Meredith but his father, who explains that the Masked Rider is Kane's older brother Marcus, whom Kane thought he had accidentally killed after his banishment. Instead, Marcus was rendered comatose, and when healers failed to revive him, his father turned to Malachi. Disfigured and turned to Malachi's will, Marcus became the Masked Rider. Solomon reluctantly kills his father at his request, then heads to the throne room to confront Malachi. Kane finds Meredith in a cage, and as she warns him of a trap, Marcus stabs him in the back. Kane tries to reason with Marcus, but they engage in a duel; Kane wins after setting Marcus on fire and decapitating him. Malachi uses Meredith's blood to release a monstrous demon sent to claim Kane's soul, but Kane shoots Malachi dead and sacrifices himself to close the portal. Both Malachi and the infernal creature are sucked back through the closing portal, leaving Solomon unconscious on the floor. He awakens and explains to Meredith that he has finally redeemed his soul. Kane buries his father and brother and reunites Meredith with her mother. In a final voice-over, he declares his new mission: to roam the Earth combating the forces of darkness.

Production

Wandering Star optioned the film and book publishing rights to Solomon Kane in 1997 from the Robert E. Howard Estate. In 2001, it was announced that Christopher Lambert was offered the role of Kane and was seriously "considering it as it's a very compelling part". At this point Don Murphy was a producer on the film, with Samuel Hadida of Davis Film and Paul Berrow and Michael Berrow of Wandering Star Pictures, and was attempting to set up the film with New Line Cinema. Murphy left the project in 2003 under a cloud when the negotiations fell apart with New Line. Things went quiet for a while during which time several scripts were developed around the African adventures of Solomon Kane from the classic text. Then Michael J Basset was hired as writer and director of the film, with a brief to write an origin story based loosely on the Howard poems and classic text, and in August 2006 he finished writing the script. Finally on 1 October 2007, it was announced that James Purefoy was cast as the lead. Principal photography began in Prague on 14 January 2008 and was scheduled for a 12‑week shoot. Director Bassett says of James Purefoy that he "is a delight to work with; he is giving his heart and soul to this. He's in brilliant physical shape and his sword fighting is just brilliant to behold and he's finding depth and sophistication within the character in ways I really hoped he would". As of the end of February 2008, sets were still being built for the later part of the production, and Max Von Sydow and Mackenzie Crook had yet to begin shooting. Jan Cileček, a Czech artist produced a number of sculptures for the film and there are some photographs available on his website. Some aerial sequences were shot at Stanhope and St. Abbs in the Scottish Borders. On 16 April 2008, Michael Bassett posted a message on his blog saying "Principal photography is completed on Kane. Now for the long-haul of post-production to get it all into shape". He also says that everything is set up for the future parts of the trilogy, which "will tap more completely into Howard's original stories". Finally he mentioned that "the final scenes of the film were shot in England on the North Devon coast. It was all done on a private estate which used to belong to the real Sir Richard Grenville". On 7 April 2009, Bassett announced that production of the film is complete. On 23 October 2009, Bassett announced on his blog that "Kane is slowly gearing up for its first set of release dates at the end of this year and early 2010". According to Paradox Entertainment CEO Fredrik Malmberg, the film's budget was $40 million.

Release/Reception/Box Office

Solomon Kane's world premiere was on 16 September 2009 at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film was featured at the 2009 San Diego Comic Con, which Basset and Purefoy both attended. It was released in France on 23 December 2009. It was released in Spain on 1 January 2010.

The United Kingdom theatrical release was on 19 February 2010; in its first week it opened at seventh place in the UK top ten with a weekend gross of £611,886 across 259 cinemas.

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 67% based on reviews from 46 critics, with an average rating of 6 out of 10. The consensus reads: "Solomon Kane's formulaic and bleak narrative is overcome by an entertaining, straightforward adherence to its genre, exciting gore, and a gratifying lead performance by James Purefoy." Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 48 out of 100 based on reviews from 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Empire rated the film at 3/5 stars, complimenting writer-director M. J. Bassett as handling the film "with the same level of commitment Peter Jackson brought to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the darker moments of which are an obvious influence on Bassett's film". The review says of the film as a whole: "For less than the effects budget of this year's other sword 'n' sorcery adventures, Percy Jackson and Clash of the Titans, Bassett has delivered a dark-as-balls Highlander for the 21st century, played with such conviction it's hard not to be swept along". Total Film also rated the film at 3/5 stars with the conclusion: "A brutal fusion of angst and action, this mini-epic gives the sword-and-sorcery genre a bleak, brusque new life. Watch it for some terrific limb chopping and a mighty turn by James Purefoy". Sister magazine SFX rated the film at 4/5 stars. The review describes the location work as one of the films "great strengths", comparing the film to Witchfinder General and The Blood on Satan's Claw, "a landscape alive with the sense of supernatural forces gathering beneath the frost and the empty fields". Purefoy is also acclaimed, with "a sense of huge faultiness coiling within him which makes for a genuinely intriguing hero". He does note though that “it’s a shame that the film stumbles at the very end...with what looks...like a Satanic Transformer. A clashingly mainstream...’boss level’(-esqe) climax that bedevils every superhero movie these days, puncturing the movie’s careful atmosphere of pre-Enlightenment dread.“

Variety gave the film a negative review, stating that the film "just isn't much fun". Bassett's direction is described as being handled "confidently if without much flair" while Purefoy "gamely endures heavy exertion throughout; it's not his fault the script lends his character might and a mission but little personality". Phelim O'Neill at The Guardian also gave the film 3/5 stars. Its conclusion was mixed, stating: "There's plenty that's good here: a serious tone, steady pacing, muddy and bloody scenery and a convincing turn by Purefoy in his own west country accent. But Kane is an ill fit into the origins tale template; it's a story with few surprises". Time Out awarded the film with 4/5 stars, giving a positive review which praised the originality of the story and sharp 17th-century setting.

Budget $40 million

Box office $19.6 million

My Review

As a massive fan of Robert E. Howard's fiction, I eagerly look forward to any film adaptations of his work. Some have been great (the original Conan The Barbarian), some have been goofy fun (Conan The Destroyer) and others have been lamentable (I'm looking at you, Kull The Conqueror). Solomon Kane looked to be something a bit different: a central anti-hero character that doesn't have the loyal fan base of Conan, and who only appeared in a handful of stories. When this British-made movie came out, I couldn't resist getting hold of it to find out what it was all about.

First, the Howard connection: it's scant, at best. Kane looks the part, but he's here given a back story and painted as a good character undergoing redemption, rather than the somewhat black-hearted character of the original stories. No matter; I'm keen on enjoying adaptations based on their own merits, rather than whether they stick to the source material or not.

Visually, this is an exemplary film. The canvas is dark and bleak, with cold, snowbound locales, crumbling ruins and sinister forests. It doesn't look much like 16th century England, but as a fantastic tableaux it works a treat. The monsters are varied: there are huge fire demons, a messenger from Satan, witches, zombies and sinister demon-possessed soldiers. Okay, so a few flourishes owe more than a nod to Lord Of The Rings, but for the most part the style in this film is refreshingly original.

I loved the fact that the script plays it straight. Too many recent fantasy films follow the Xena path of comedic fight scenes and jokey humour throughout (I'm thinking Van Helsing). Director Michael J. Bassett plays it dead right, making this a real hat trick (I liked his previous two efforts, Deathwatch and Wilderness, a lot too ). The action scenes are well handled, with plenty of swordplay. The effects are exemplary and there are some outstandingly bleak moments, too.

Cast-wise, James Purefoy is delightful. As far as I know, it's his first stab at an iconic character like this, and I can't fault him. I loved his West Country accent, too. The supporting cast, including such players as Pete Postlethwaite, Max Von Sydow, Jason Flemyng and Mackenzie Crook are also fine. In all, I had a ball with this movie, and I'm looking forward to seeing it again. Let's hope a sequel materialises. 9/10