Xathrodox86 reviews: "Solomon Kane"

On my blog I've reviewed games and books, but not any movies... until now. Let's take a look upon a quintessential Warhammer movie - "Solomon Kane".

Based on the classic witch hunter character created by the legendary Robert E. Howard, author of the most famous barbarian in history, "Solomon Kane" is a perfect example of a dark fantasy movie done right. Even with its modest budget of $40 million, it manages to deliver a fantastic tale of dark fantasy-action adventure, with a great lead role and a wonderful visual style.

I need this poster in my life!

The film begins in North Africa, where Solomon Kane, a ruthless mercenary, leads his band of ne'er-do-wells against the Ottoman soldiers, occupying a fortress town. After killing all of them, Kane and his men plan to steal their sweet loot for themselves, but a bunch of mirror demons have other plans and decide to interfere. They butcher the pirates and Solomon only manages to escape, after jumping out of a window... but not before exchanging a few, prophetic words with the grim reaper himself. Damn!

Following this unfortunate event, he declines violence and seeks refuge in a monastery. However his fate has been written. Kane must die and go to hell for his sins, and so the elderly abbot expels him from the only place, where he could've been relatively safe, holy ground and all that stuff. What an asshole. Anyway, Solomon decides to return to England, but his seven years of bad luck quickly catch up with him, as he is ambushed by robbers and left for dead. Fortunately he is found by a group of friendly Puritans, who nurse him back to health and accept Kane as one of their own. Naturally this is a movie about a badass witch hunter, and not an episode of a fucking "Little House on the Prairie", so the entire family is butchered by the servants of Malachi, an eeeevil wizard and arch-asshole extraordinaire. Kane decides that he has enough of this shit, puts on the signature wide-brimmed hat, stuffs two flintlocks behind his belt and goes to town on those devil-worshipping motherfuckers, while also trying to save Meredith, the last of the family that helped him in his hour of need.

Solomon Kane is basically a Warhammer Fantasy scenario in movie format. Kane travels the bleak, desolate wildlands of England, fighting cultists, ghouls and crazy priests, before his final confrontation with Malachi, himself a fantastically looking villain (seriously, the makeup artist working on that picture did a splendid job). Along the way he befriends some of his old pirate crew, who are now fighting against the vile Malachi and his enforcer, the enigmatic Masked Rider. There's also a friendly, old witch, who treats his wounds, after a particularly nasty case of crucifixion.

The cast is solid enough, and although the only really fleshed out character is Kane himself, the rest of the actors are doing a fine enough job of their own. James Purefoy as Solomon Kane really encapsulates the spirit of this dark and brooding character on a quest for redemption and it's a real joy to see him in a classical, witch hunter attire. Special mention goes to Jason Flemyng who portrays Malachi, the evil warlock. He chews the scenery so much, that it's beyond godly and every time he's on screen, he steals the show.

"I'll be shitting out wood for the next three months, after this movie is over."

"Solomon Kane" has some great fight scenes, with excellent choreography. There's no flair here, no fancy sword work. The combatants fight in a brutally realistic style, bludgeoning each other with swords, axes and maces and it really works well with the overall theme of this flick. The supernatural elements are scarce enough, but when they appear, there's this feeling of dread, of something dark and otherworldly. Even when Kane is saved by the old witch, one can only wonder what kind of magic she used on his flesh, that it was able to heal so quickly...

The soundtrack is top notch as well. I'm using it during my WFRP games, and it's really worth listening to. There are suitably dark themes, as well as more optimistic ones, playing by the end of the movie. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.

My only problem with this movie, is that it takes a fair bit for Kane to become the hero that we all know and love. There are also a fare few bits of him acting all emo, and sometimes it can be a bit cringey to watch. Other than that, however, I have no complaints. "Solomon Kane" is a solid piece of action fantasy, and a great movie to watch, if you're having a writer's block on that latest WFRP scenario, that you're working on. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Until next time!

Xathrodox86