48
Metascore
15 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75The PlaylistMark ZhuravsyThe PlaylistMark ZhuravsyIt's not everyone cup of bloody tea, but an unapologetic genre treat for those willing to dive in.
- 60EmpireDavid HughesEmpireDavid HughesIf weapons and wizardry get your blood up, and you prefer your movies dark and brooding and minus the sandals, Solomon Kane fits the bill. It may lack The Lord Of The Rings' majesty, but Robert E. Howard fans will lap it up.
- There's plenty that's good here: a serious tone, steady pacing, muddy and bloody scenery and a convincing turn by Purefoy in his own west country accent. But Kane is an ill fit into the origins tale template; it's a story with few surprises.
- 60Total FilmJonathan CrockerTotal FilmJonathan CrockerA brutal fusion of angst and action, this mini-epic gives the sword-and-sorcery genre a bleak, brusque new life. Watch it for some terrific limbchopping and a mighty turn by James Purefoy.
- 60Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonVillage VoiceMichael AtkinsonIt is, for a contemporary CGI-fraught fantasy-slash-living-video-game, not at all bad, dotted with moments of Bosch and steady on its storytelling feet.
- 50The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe A.V. ClubKeith PhippsIt's taken a while for Kane to make it to the big screen, maybe because fantasy barbarians and long-ago kings have more immediate appeal than pious, slouch-hat-wearing men with poor senses of humor, but Solomon Kane gives it a go anyway. The results suggest a compelling movie could be made from the material, even if it isn't this one.
- 40VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyThis muscular yet monotonous "Kane" just isn't much fun.
- 40Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfIn our chatty "Game of Thrones" moment, you'll thirst for a sidekick: a sly dwarf, a wisecracking female warrior, a huggable wolf, anything. Solomon Kane has none of these, and even heavyweight speechifiers like Max von Sydow and the late Pete Postlethwaite (that's how old the film is) have little to gnaw on.
- 38Slant MagazineSlant MagazineThe fight choreography has a gracefulness bordering on elegance, and so it's a shame that these standalone thrills aren't better integrated into the film as a fully formed narrative whole.
- 25Boston GlobeMark FeeneyBoston GlobeMark FeeneyIt's always raining or snowing or misting. This makes for a nice visual, but it also makes the scenes look interchangeable. This is even more of a problem because the writer-director, Michael J. Bassett, imparts no shape to the story. Many movies suffer from worse problems, but not many waste the talents of Max von Sydow, as Solomon's father, or Pete Postlethwaite.