Solomon Kane

Quite apart from the thrills associated with Robert E Howard's pulp adventures, there's mileage in this specific version of Solomon Kane. He's an uncaring, incompetent leader that rushes brashly into battle; a whirlwind of blades and hate that eviscerates everything in his path. He's also a mopey depressive with a martyr complex. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much interest in really digging in and exploring any of that. Instead this adaptation is an endless, anecdotal trudge through rain-lashed England, briefly enlivened by the threat of an entertaining swordfight. Threat, mind you. Actual combat in Kane breaks down to the airless slow motion sweeps and quick cutting typical of incompetent action films. Director Michael J Bassett's Solomon Kane is free of interest snagging incident then, a big screen blow-up that takes with awkward continuity burps but doesn't repay the viewer with anything entertainingly nasty.

Weird Trail

Debut shill for forthcoming Robert E Howard adapt Solomon Kane. Kane, a solemn pulp adventurer, drifts across the world, matching evil in all its guises. Rather than ground the film in the fey realism of John Milius' Hyperboria, director Michael J Bassett pitches closer to the realised allegory of Howard's text. The trail boasts twisted, physical manifestations of satanic peril, and even a rumbling black angel. Being fairly pulp un-read, my nearest brush with Kane was a back-up strip in an old issue of Savage Sword of Conan. Able to flunk the Comic Code by virtue of technically being a magazine, the book skirted saucy. The Kane strip, in particular, struck quite a chord; Kane, trailing a brutal killer, happens across a a burning homestead and a weeping boy. Kane takes in the child, continuing his mission. Over the course of a few nasty accidents it becomes clear that the child is the perp. Kane flintlocks the minor with barely a tremor. Balls nasty!