Solomon Kane (film)
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''Solomon Kane'' is a 2009
action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
-
adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...
based on the
pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, 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 James Brian Mark Purefoy (born 3 June 1964) is an English actor. He played Mark Antony in the HBO series ''Rome'', Nick Jenkins in ''A Dance to the Music of Time'', college professor turned serial killer Joe Carroll in the series ''The Following ...
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 A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
, through the salvation of his soul by rescuing a
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
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 The 34th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 10 and September 19, 2009. The opening night gala presented the Charles Darwin biography ''Creation''. ''The Young Victoria'', based ...
. 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 Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
rating of 67%. The screenplay was novelised by award-winning fantasy author
Ramsey Campbell Ramsey Campbell (born 4 January 1946) is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them winners of literary awa ...
.


Plot

In the year 1600, in North Africa,
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
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 Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...
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 Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...
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 The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. P ...
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 Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...
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
coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...
tose, 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.


Cast

*
James Purefoy James Brian Mark Purefoy (born 3 June 1964) is an English actor. He played Mark Antony in the HBO series ''Rome'', Nick Jenkins in ''A Dance to the Music of Time'', college professor turned serial killer Joe Carroll in the series ''The Following ...
as
Solomon Kane Solomon Kane is a fictional character created by the pulp magazine, pulp-era writer Robert E. Howard. A late-16th-to-early-17th century Puritan, Solomon Kane is a somber-looking man who wanders the world with no apparent goal other than to vanqu ...
*
Max von Sydow Max von Sydow ( , ; born Carl Adolf von Sydow; 10 April 1929 – 8 March 2020) was a Swedish-French actor. He had a 70-year career in European and American cinema, television, and theatre, appearing in more than 150 films and several television ...
as Josiah Kane *
Rachel Hurd-Wood Rachel Clare Hurd-Wood (born 17 August 1990) is an English actress, best known for her film roles as Wendy Darling in ''Peter Pan'' (2003) and more recently for her television role as Rachel Maddox in ''Clique'' (2017–2018). Early life Backg ...
as Meredith Crowthorn *
Mackenzie Crook Paul James "Mackenzie" Crook (born 29 September 1971) is an English actor, comedian, director and writer. He played Gareth Keenan in ''The Office'', Ragetti in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' films, Orell in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones'', ...
as Father Michael *
Pete Postlethwaite Peter William Postlethwaite, (7 February 1946 – 2 January 2011) was an English character actor. After minor television appearances, including in '' The Professionals'', his first major success arose through the British autobiographical film ...
as William Crowthorn * Ian Whyte as The Devil's Reaper *
Alice Krige Alice Maud Krige (; born 28 June 1954) is a South African actress and producer. Her first feature film role was in ''Chariots of Fire'' (1981) as the Gilbert and Sullivan singer Sybil Gordon. She played the dual role of Eva Galli/Alma Mobley i ...
as Katherine Crowthorn *
Ben Steel Ben Steel () is an Australian actor and director who is most known for his regular role of Jude Lawson in Australian soap ''Home and Away''. Early life and acting training Steel's parents are Glenys Steel and Ray Steel. He has two older si ...
as Fletcher *
Jason Flemyng Jason Iain Flemyng''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 25 September 1966) is an English actor. He is known for roles in British films such as ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' (1998) ...
as Malachi *
Samuel Roukin Samuel Roukin (ROO-kin; born 15 August 1980) is an English actor and DJ. He is best known for his role as John Graves Simcoe in the series, '' Turn: Washington's Spies'' and Simon "Ghost" Riley in ''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.'' Early li ...
as Marcus Kane *
Philip Winchester Philip Charles Winchester (born March 24, 1981) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in '' The Patriot'', ''The Hi-Line'', '' LD 50 Lethal Dose'', '' Thunderbirds'', ''CSI: Miami'', ''King Lear'', '' Strike Back'', '' Flyboys'', ''In M ...
as Henry Telford *
Rory McCann Rory McCann (born 24 April 1969) is a Scottish actor, best known for portraying Sandor "The Hound" Clegane on the HBO series ''Game of Thrones'', Michael "Lurch" Armstrong in Edgar Wright's crime-comedy ''Hot Fuzz'', Jurgen the Brutal in the ...
as McNess


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 Christophe Guy Denis "Christopher" Lambert (; ; born March 29, 1957) is a French-American actor, producer, and novelist. He started his career playing supporting parts in several French films, and became internationally famous for portraying Ta ...
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 M. 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 she finished writing the script. Finally on 1 October 2007, it was announced that
James Purefoy James Brian Mark Purefoy (born 3 June 1964) is an English actor. He played Mark Antony in the HBO series ''Rome'', Nick Jenkins in ''A Dance to the Music of Time'', college professor turned serial killer Joe Carroll in the series ''The Following ...
was cast as the lead. Principal photography began in Prague on 14 January 2008 and was scheduled for a 12‑week shoot. Director M.J. 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". , 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 The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...
. On 16 April 2008, M.J. Bassett posted a message on her blog saying "Principal photography is completed on Kane. Now for the long-haul of post-production to get it all into shape". She 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 she 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 Sir Richard Grenville (15 June 1542 – 10 September 1591), also spelt Greynvile, Greeneville, and Greenfield, was an English privateer and explorer. Grenville was lord of the manors of Stowe, Cornwall and Bideford, Devon. He subsequently ...
". On 7 April 2009, Bassett announced that production of the film is complete. On 23 October 2009, Bassett announced on her 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


Theatrical

''Solomon Kane''s world premiere was on 16 September 2009 at the
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
. 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.


United Kingdom

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.


Worldwide

According to Bassett's blog, the North American wide release of the film was delayed due to legal reasons. The film was eventually released on 28 September 2012 in North America.


Home media

The DVD was released in the UK on 28 June 2010. It was the best selling DVD in week commencing 5 July 2010. The film was released on both Blu-ray and DVD to the home market in North America on 16 July 2013 by Starz/Anchor Bay. The US extras features included: Anamorphic 2.35:1 with a 5.1 English Dolby Digital track, Subtitles in English and Spanish only, Commentary with Michael J. Bassett and James Purefoy, The Making Of Solomon Kane (11:46), Cave Fight deleted scene (2:26), The Creation Of The Fire Demon (2:00), Interview With Writer/Director Michael J. Bassett (8:51), Interview with Actor James Purefoy (8:31) and Original Concept Art (1:15). A 2 disc Collector's Edition was released in France by Metropolitan. French extras features include: English and French audio, optional Subtitles in French, Introduction by the director, Commentary with James Purefoy and Michael J. Bassett, Interactive Diary, Partial interactive movie playback, Comparative film Storyboard of 7 sequences, Cave Fight Deleted Scene (with video introduction of the director), Making Of, Interview with Michael J. Bassett, Interview with James Purefoy, Interview with producers Samuel Hadida and Paul Berrow, Creation of the Fire Demon, Closing sequence Design, Production Drawings and Posters, Music Video, Trailer, Presentation at Comic Con. It was announced on 9 March 2012 that the film would have its Southeast US Regional Premiere as the Opening Night film of ''
ActionFest ActionFest was an annual film festival in Asheville, NC, started by Carolina Cinemas and Magnolia Pictures founder Bill Banowsky and action director/producer Aaron Norris ( Missing in Action III, Walker, Texas Ranger), along with Dennis Berman and ...
2012'' on 12 April 2012. This marks the second year in a row that a film starring James Purefoy and with sword and stunt coordination by Richard Ryan opened ''ActionFest'' (after 2011's ''
Ironclad An ironclad is a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by Wrought iron, iron or steel iron armor, armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships ...
'').


Soundtrack

# Opening Battle # Aftermath # Reaper # Marked Man # You Must Leave Us # Solomon Attacked # Solomon's Brother # Moving On # Witch Burning Aftermath # Kid Witch Tale # Village Pillage # Flashback Dream # Making Camp # Making Camp (Alt) # Bad Guys Attack Family # Master Fight # Get Her Back # Cloak And Dagger # Search For Meredith # Seeking Refuge # Meredith Escapes # Evil Is Already Here # Flesh Eaters Attack Solomon # Stooges # She's Dead!, She's Not!, Well... # Crucifixion (Part 1) # Crucifixion (Part 2) # Healed # Castle Approach # Father's Story # Single Blow (Part 1) # Single Blow (Part 2) # Malachi # Meredith


Reception


Critical response

Review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
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 Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
gives the film a weighted average score of 48 out of 100 based on reviews from 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". ''
Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'' 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 Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...
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 Perseus "Percy" Jackson is a fictional character, the title character and narrator of Rick Riordan's ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' series. He is also one of seven main protagonists of the sequel series ''The Heroes of Olympus'', appearing ...
'' 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 ''Total Film'' is a British film magazine published 13 times a year (published monthly and a summer issue is added every year since issue 91, 2004, which is published between July and August issue) by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched i ...
'' 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 limbchopping 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 Matthew Hopkins ( 1620 – 12 August 1647) was an English witch-hunter whose career flourished during the English Civil War. He claimed to hold the office of Witchfinder General, although that title was never bestowed by Parliament, a ...
'' and ''
The Blood on Satan's Claw ''The Blood on Satan's Claw'' is a 1971 British supernatural horror film directed by Piers Haggard and starring Patrick Wymark, Linda Hayden, and Barry Andrews. Set in early 18th-century England, it follows the residents of a rural village w ...
'', "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
hich Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
makes for a genuinely intriguing hero". He does note though that “it’s a shame that the film stumbles at the very end... ith whatlooks...like a Satanic Transformer. clashingly mainstream...’boss level’ esqeclimax that bedevils every superhero movie these days, puncturing the movie’s careful atmosphere of pre-Enlightenment dread.“ ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' 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 ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' 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 West Country English is a group of English language varieties and accents used by much of the native population of South West England, the area sometimes popularly known as the West Country. The West Country is often defined as encompassi ...
. 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.


Awards

;Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA 2014 ;Fantasporto 2010


References


External links

* * * {{M. J. Bassett 2009 films 2009 fantasy films British action adventure films British fantasy films Czech action films Czech fantasy films Dark fantasy films Demons in film Films scored by Klaus Badelt Films based on works by Robert E. Howard Films set in Africa Films set in castles Films set in England Films set in the 1600s Films set in the Ottoman Empire Films shot in the Czech Republic Films shot in the Scottish Borders French fantasy adventure films Sword and sorcery films English-language Czech films 2000s English-language films 2000s British films 2000s French films Czech dark fantasy films