Solomon Kane

I’m like how badass and gritty this film is, but in terms of quality it’s average at best. Solomon Kane has pretty much all the clichés of the genre, which I don’t necessarily mind, but unlike other viewers, I don’t think it works well with them, which I do mind – it was very clear how many of the scenes would unfold, already when it shouldn’t have been so. To avoid spoilers, I will explain this with an example that has nothing to do with this film: a twist where the story is only a dream of the protagonist is a cliché. If it doesn’t occur to me that this will be the twist while watching the film, I won’t mind the cliché. But if it is clear after ten minutes, that’s bad. In Solomon Kane, unfortunately, almost everything is clear from the start. On top of that, it’s often too serious for me to take seriously. 5/10 (28/06/2010)

Total satisfaction. This is what every Howard fantasy movie was supposed to look like. Bassett made a movie on a small budget that can proudly stand side by side with, say, The Lord of the Rings. The story is straightforward, but it pleasantly surprises several times, mainly through how realistic it feels at times (like in the short stories). And James Purefoy? Awesome. I don't think they could have picked a better Solomon Kane. He manages to transform himself from an evil bastard into a more moderate evil bastard who wants to snatch his soul from Satan's clutches. The action scenes, full of blood and mud, are admirable. Just superb. The whole thing is colored by Badelt’s wonderful score. Hopefully one day we'll see a sequel. If you save our child, your soul, too, will be saved. (22/05/2010)

B-movie ambitions are in place. Solomon Kane is not bad, you can see it has a different approach. It doesn’t try to be monumental and over-the-top like Van Helsing, and it is visually attractive and relatively well put together; it even has an interesting plot in the first half. Although the basic storyline is banal, Purefoy and the straightforwardness of the plot make it work. Unfortunately, the film reaches its peak around the halfway mark, with a thrilling and fantastically shot battle scene in a forest. Things go downhill from there with excessive “fantasy elements” that degrade it. The ending, although restrained, is still uninteresting considering the gloomy aesthetic of the film. Overall, it is solid but uneven in the details. (14/11/2010)

By the time I finished watching Solomon Kane, I was practically convinced that the director Basset must be the same guy who made Frontier(s). Exactly the right set of effectively (and well) composed shots that ultimately don't hold together very well. Most of the scenes are at least a minute longer than they should be and the fights, for example, look pretty amateurish. There was also a fair amount of digital effects sporadically, but I forgive the heavily criticized final monster because it was really cute in its Heroes of Might and Magic style. Likewise the creatures in the mirrors at the beginning (although it was a mega-useless scene). I wrestled with the backdrops that were just backdrops, but I think the main character was what pissed me off the most. I mean, the introduction to the character at the beginning was awesome, and I loved the cynical guy. Why he then had to turn into a whiny sock puppet during the course of the film, who I wanted to slap from time to time and yell at him to man up and go do something, is a mystery to me, because I don't imagine the target audience wanted that. But on the plus side: it's finally a fantasy, a FANTASY! Not a medieval fantasy with fantasy elements, an ancient loosely interpreted legend, or a comic book adaptation – it's fantasy. All the witches, spells, monsters, and the like are not dispensed with God knows what kind of wit, and I enjoyed it. In its light artlessness it made me feel like it was really being made by fans and not producers, and I loved the spectacular props like the bloody throne, the inquisitor masks, and Jason Flemyng as the heavily styled bad guy. It's fun and I'm glad they make movies like this, but if only Snyder.... (29/09/2011)

Put together Van Helsing's grade-A movie budget with Solomon’s courage to cut little boys’ throats, and everyone is happy. Anyway, although this movie is amusing enough, it comes across as a farce with all its aspects borrowed from other movies. Purefoy’s performance is alright. (13/07/2010)