Robert E. Howard is best known to fantasy fans for his “Conan” stories (and probably even more so for their film adaptations starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jason Momoa). But Howard has created other characters as well, including death-haunted pirate Solomon Kane, the protagonist of the 2009 action fantasy of the same name.
“Solomon Kane‘, starring James Purefoy (‘Rome’, ‘Altered Carbon’) in the title role, will air on Tele 5 on May 27, 2023 at 10:25 PM – and if you have a soft spot for fantasy blockbusters and/or cloak-and-dagger stories, you should definitely check it out. Alternatively, “Solomon Kane” can also be streamed by VoD providers such as Amazon Prime Video, but only at an additional cost:
“Solomon Kane”: Better than his reputation
On the review portal Metacritic, Solomon Kane, which unfortunately flopped quite a bit at the global box office, has an average rating of 48 points out of 100, Rotten Tomatoes rates 66 percent of the reviews positively with an average of 5.9 points out of 10 .
These aren’t usually great reviews, but we can still recommend Solomon Kane: ashes unashamed B-movie, in which director MJ Bassett does not deny the trashy aspects, and as a grim redemption story full of biblical images in cold winter images, played without false embarrassment by a stunningly charismatic James Purefoy.
It’s thanks to the protagonist that Solomon Kane works so well. “Its gritty and charming appearance ensures that the cocky Howard adaptation doesn’t remain a theological treatise in a dirty genre guise, but is also a lot of fun,” according to our 3.5-star review.
What is Solomon Kane about?
Solomon Kane (James Purefoy) has made a name for himself as a ruthless pirate lord, but one day the just punishment overtakes him: Death wants to collect his soul and Kane manages to save himself from eternal damnation at the last moment. He swears off violence and carnage and lives in peace in a monastery for a year until he is asked to leave the abbey as the Dark Forces are still after him.
Traveling through plague-ravaged Britain in the late 16th century, he eventually meets William Crowthorne (Pete Postlethwaite) and his family, who take him in. When ruthless mercenaries led by the evil mage Malachi (Jason Flemyng) attack Kane’s new family and kidnap daughter Meredith (Rachel Hurd-Wood), the reformed man is forced to take up arms again – even though his soul is lost forever. …