Solomon Kane
Regie:
M.J. BassettDrehbuch:
M.J. BassettKamera:
Dan LaustsenBesetzung:
James Purefoy, Max von Sydow, Pete Postlethwaite, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Alice Krige, Mackenzie Crook, Philip Winchester, Marek Vašut, James Babson (mehr)Streaming (3)
Inhalte(1)
England im 16. Jahrhundert: Königin Elisabeth I. regiert das Land. In Europa herrschen brutale Religionskriege, besonders auf dem Land gilt das Recht des Stärkeren. Die englische Armee führt unter Queen Elisabeth I. in Afrika Krieg gegen die Spanier. Elisabeths gefürchtetster Kriegsherr heißt Solomon Kane, ein eiskalter Mörder... Als Teenager wird Solomon Kane von seinem Vater verstoßen. Er geht zur Armee und wird dort unter Königin Elisabeth I. der gefürchtetste Soldat. Seine Schlachten sind brutal und unbarmherzig. Bis Solomon Kane im Krieg gegen die Spanier schließlich Bekanntschaft mit dem Gesandten des Teufels persönlich macht. Als Strafe für seine Verbrechen will sich der Dämon Solomons Seele holen. Nur knapp entkommt der Soldat dem Tod. Von dem Moment an entscheidet sich Kane, für seine Sünden zu büßen und schwört der Gewalt ab. Er flüchtet nach England und versteckt sich in einem Kloster. Aber die Priester setzen ihn nach kurzer Zeit vor die Tür. Solomon Kane beginnt durch ein von Pest, plündernden Banden und den Armeen des teuflischen Zauberers Malachi geplagtes Land zu ziehen. Auf seiner Reise schließt er sich einer Gruppe gläubiger Puritaner an, die in die neue Welt, nach Amerika ziehen wollen. Von dem Ehepaar Crowthorn freundschaftlich aufgenommen, fühlt er sich in seinem Plan bestätigt, nie wieder Gewalt anzuwenden und ein neues tugendhaftes Leben zu führen. Doch als er bei einem Überfall hilflos zusehen muss, wie die Familie von den Folterknechten des schwarzen Magiers Malachi ermordet und die jüngste Tochter Meredith entführt wird, akzeptiert Kane seine wahre Bestimmung. Im Kampf für eine gerechte Sache versucht er seine Seele zu retten... (RTL)
(mehr)Kritiken (12)
Wenn man Van Helsings erstklassiges Budget und Solomons Mut, kleine Jungs zu töten, verbindet, freut man sich. Auf jeden Fall eine ausreichend unterhaltsame Farce, obwohl sie sich alles von irgendwoher ausgeborgt hat. Purefoy ist OK.
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I’m like how badass and gritty this film is, but in terms of quality it’s average at best. Solomon Kane has pretty much all the clichés of the genre, which I don’t necessarily mind, but unlike other viewers, I don’t think it works well with them, which I do mind – it was very clear how many of the scenes would unfold, already when it shouldn’t have been so. To avoid spoilers, I will explain this with an example that has nothing to do with this film: a twist where the story is only a dream of the protagonist is a cliché. If it doesn’t occur to me that this will be the twist while watching the film, I won’t mind the cliché. But if it is clear after ten minutes, that’s bad. In Solomon Kane, unfortunately, almost everything is clear from the start. On top of that, it’s often too serious for me to take seriously. 5/10
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An honest medieval bloodbath without any unnecessary special effects (except for the impressive ending), which relies on rain, mud, and blood, and the result is an uncompromising impact, perhaps marred by the slightly predictable plot. However, this time it doesn't matter so much because the main trump card of Bassett's film is James Purefoy. Anyone who has ever watched Rome knows that he is a charismatic bastard, and even here he lives up to his reputation. It is a pleasure to watch a protagonist who, even when uttering pathetic phrases, does not look ridiculous but instead makes the viewer's signal system shiver with a pleasant chill. Not to mention the moments when he picks up a sword (or better yet, two). Thumbs up. PS:
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Eine sympathische "schmutzige Fantasie", welche an der miesen Choreografie der Kämpfe (diese muten insgesamt widerlich ungeschickt und mechanisch an) und insbesondere am Mangel an Übertreibung scheitert, der zum Beispiel Salomos Bruder Conan – Der Barbar nicht fehlte. Solomon Kane ist im Grunde genommen eine Variation der Story über den gezähmten Wilden, obwohl hier anstelle eines erotischen Funkelns ein das Laken der katholischen Keuschheit umherweht mitsamt der etwas unattraktiven Beschwörungen der Gerechtigkeit Gottes. Glücklicherweise genießt Purefoy den Untergang geradezu und Max Von Sydows Gesicht ist eine Erfahrung für sich. Unter Hinzufügung der hochwertigen Expedition in die tschechischen Wiesen und Wälder, der soliden Musik und der faszinierenden Effekte ist Solomon Kane eine willkommene Alternative zur wütenden Fantasy-Demenz für unreife Kinder. Anstelle geschickter kleiner haariger Kreaturen verspüren wir hier einen verrottenden Gestank und hie und dort schlittert irgendein Kopf vorbei. Fleisch, Blut und "stolzer Brackliteratur", an alledem fehlt es dem modernen Phantasy-Film nicht. Aber Solomon hätte noch um ein Haar gewandter sein können. [65%]
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That Solomon will not reach Conan's qualities is to be expected, but I didn’t think he it would be deep in the shadow of the Russian Wolfhound. If it wasn't for the impressive chilly atmosphere, it wouldn't even be enough for a solid average.
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Klaus Badelt's soundtrack is running full throttle and the Czech realities are eagerly trying to disguise themselves as a dark medieval period, but this action-packed film won't receive any more praise from me. Solomon Kane tells a cheap fairytale instead of an ambitious fantasy. It could have worked in book form, but the film is surprisingly annoyingly transparent in its execution.
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Total satisfaction. This is what every Howard fantasy movie was supposed to look like. Bassett made a movie on a small budget that can proudly stand side by side with, say, The Lord of the Rings. The story is straightforward, but it pleasantly surprises several times, mainly through how realistic it feels at times (like in the short stories). And James Purefoy? Awesome. I don't think they could have picked a better Solomon Kane. He manages to transform himself from an evil bastard into a more moderate evil bastard who wants to snatch his soul from Satan's clutches. The action scenes, full of blood and mud, are admirable. Just superb. The whole thing is colored by Badelt’s wonderful score. Hopefully one day we'll see a sequel. If you save our child, your soul, too, will be saved.
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"Solomon Kane" is a classic by Robert E. Howard. His stories were published from 1928 in the magazine Weird Tales. In addition to this film, there have also been a number of comic book adaptations (Marvel, Dark Horse). Personally, I am not particularly drawn to fantasy adventures from the late 16th and early 17th centuries, whose main hero is a puritan, but so be it. In the context of genre tradition, it has value and the film itself is not that bad. Alongside Conan the Barbarian, Kull the Conqueror (and Red Sonja), Solomon Kane also does his author proud.
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B-movie ambitions are in place. Solomon Kane is not bad, you can see it has a different approach. It doesn’t try to be monumental and over-the-top like Van Helsing, and it is visually attractive and relatively well put together; it even has an interesting plot in the first half. Although the basic storyline is banal, Purefoy and the straightforwardness of the plot make it work. Unfortunately, the film reaches its peak around the halfway mark, with a thrilling and fantastically shot battle scene in a forest. Things go downhill from there with excessive “fantasy elements” that degrade it. The ending, although restrained, is still uninteresting considering the gloomy aesthetic of the film. Overall, it is solid but uneven in the details.
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Der sehr gute Klaus Badelt ist leider nicht der (durch und durch) legendäre Basil Poledouris. Wenn dem nicht so wäre, könnte man Solomon Kane in jeder Hinsicht mit Conan der Barbar vergleichen. Ich weiß nicht, was die anderen denken, ich habe aber gerade einen richtig soliden klassischen Fantasyfilm gesehen, der eine unglaublich beeindruckende, dreckige, mittelalterliche Stimmung (eine geschickte Regie, eine schöne sowie furchteinflößende Kamera, die Musik), einen guten Haupthelden und eine sehr, sehr harte und gelungene Geschichte (es ist egal, dass sie fast märchenhaft wirkt) über die Buße hat. Ich habe mich sehr gut amüsiert und wage zu behaupten, dass ich viele Szenen (die Einleitung, die Kirche, die Kreuzigung usw.) nicht so schnell vergessen werde. Ich gebe dem Film also vier starke Sterne (die normalerweise – d. h. ohne Poledouris – wahrscheinlich auch Conan der Barbar bekommen hätte) und runde sie sehr gern auf.__PS: Der digitale Schurke am Ende sah ein bisschen wie Balrog aus. Das hätte nicht sein müssen.
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By the time I finished watching Solomon Kane, I was practically convinced that the director Basset must be the same guy who made Frontier(s). Exactly the right set of effectively (and well) composed shots that ultimately don't hold together very well. Most of the scenes are at least a minute longer than they should be and the fights, for example, look pretty amateurish. There was also a fair amount of digital effects sporadically, but I forgive the heavily criticized final monster because it was really cute in its Heroes of Might and Magic style. Likewise the creatures in the mirrors at the beginning (although it was a mega-useless scene). I wrestled with the backdrops that were just backdrops, but I think the main character was what pissed me off the most. I mean, the introduction to the character at the beginning was awesome, and I loved the cynical guy. Why he then had to turn into a whiny sock puppet during the course of the film, who I wanted to slap from time to time and yell at him to man up and go do something, is a mystery to me, because I don't imagine the target audience wanted that. But on the plus side: it's finally a fantasy, a FANTASY! Not a medieval fantasy with fantasy elements, an ancient loosely interpreted legend, or a comic book adaptation – it's fantasy. All the witches, spells, monsters, and the like are not dispensed with God knows what kind of wit, and I enjoyed it. In its light artlessness it made me feel like it was really being made by fans and not producers, and I loved the spectacular props like the bloody throne, the inquisitor masks, and Jason Flemyng as the heavily styled bad guy. It's fun and I'm glad they make movies like this, but if only Snyder....
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The film pleasantly surprised me when I watched it again today. My original rating was strongly influenced by the fact that the Puritan in the film did not correspond to the way I knew him from R. E. Howard's stories. Today, I gave up on such comparisons, and I could enjoy a fast-paced fantasy film with fairy-tale motifs and brutal bloodshed. By no means was I bored, James Purefoy again reminded me more of a pervert than a religious fanatic /it's just his face, I guess:-)/ and I also enjoyed Jason Flemyng’s performance (he hasn't disappointed me once). As a whole, it deserves the fourth star.
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