Solomon Kane (2012)

Solomon Kane is a literary creation from the legendary Robert E. Howard (1906-1936), who was also the creator of Conan the Barbarian and the father of modern heroic fantasy.I've been waiting on this film for a while and I finally got my hands on the dvd from overseas since the film has not got a U.S. release date as of this writing and I have to say this film ended up being a very entertaining film with very good action scenes and a well written screenplay which constructed the main character on a quite interesting way.

Director Michael J. Bassett has only two other movies in his filmography (the modest but excellent war horror film Deathwatch; and Wilderness, which I have not seen), and the idea of putting him in front of an ambitious multi-national co-production may sounded risky, but the truth is that he made a very solid work in Solomon Kane.As for the screenplay (which was written also by Bassett), I appreciated the fact that it did not try to "modernize" the story; it would have been easier (and more economic) to move the story to modern times, but if the film had done that, it would have lost the heroic "taste" from the main character, as well as the historical content from Howard's tales, and his almost academic examination of the social contrasts during the puritan period in England.However, I cannot deny that the classic conflict between God and Satan, along with the many Christian references, could be interpreted as simple religious propaganda nowadays.

James Purefoy was excellent in the titular role. Frankly speaking, I had little faith in a lesser-known actor playing a titular role, but James proved everybody wrong. He was like the shining armor for the movie. Others, even though little-known, played their part decently enough to leave any bad impression.

"Solomon Kane" strength is clearly its stylish direction, taut storyline, fine character development, ample sword play, and adequate running time. Kudos to the Director Michael Bassett, who gives the movie a very stylish look. The camera-work, slow-motion sequence, action choreography added great depth to the movie. Giving scope for character development is very important and it was properly showcased.

The movie derides itself a bit in the ending. Like most action movies, the ending is reduced to One-Versus-All fight, giving a little unrealistic feel. Also, the ending came a little too fast. Meaning, the So-Called-Very-Bad-Guys were overpowered quite quickly and easily by the protagonist. Having said that, this movie is far better than most movies in the similar category.

Overall, "Solomon Kane" is a very good movie that will hopefully find a U.S. release date one day.