Film review: Solomon Kane (2009), directed by Michael J Bassett

In the Puritan Era (1600s for us mortals), Solomon Kane (James Purefoy) is a bad man. Kills people and everything. Then he meets the Devil’s Reaper (Ian Whyte) who has come to claim his soul. Kane isn’t ready to go yet, and manages to escape.

He finds his way to a monastery in England but is eventually turned away, so he sets off to Devon, his former home, where he hasn’t been since his father (Max von Sydow) banished him when Solomon was a child.

On the way to Devon Kane joins a Puritan family, the Crowthorns (headed by Pete Postlethwaite and Alice Krige). The daughter, Meredith (Rachel Hurd-Wood), is abducted by a group of Very Bad People, and Kane goes after them to rescue her. But these are dangerous times. Witches lurk about, horrible magical overlords (Sam Roukin) and their evil henchmen (Jason Flemyng plays one of them) are trying to control the world and everything in it, and it’s all a bit dark and gloomy.

Also starring Philip Winchester as some sort of soldier and Mackenzie Crook as a shifty priest.

Lots of CGI, lots of brooding, evil magics and fighting scenes. The identity of the big baddie should come as no surprise to anyone. Still, it was a decent horror/fantasy film, set in the 1600s, where people had those hats with buckles on.

I really enjoyed Postlethwaite’s and Krige’s characters, but Kane was a bit overly broody. Then again, can’t say that I blame him. After all, he did have the devil’s soul hunter after him. You could see Crook’s priest coming a mile off too, and not just because he was a pirate in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

Still, I wasn’t bowled over by this film. A little too predictable and a bit too grim for my liking, but if you like that sort of thing, there’s no reason why you won’t like this film.

3 out of 5 pyres.