If we can forget the errors in historical recreation and the blatant predictability of the script, it's a good film for an idle evening.
I don't know Robert E. Howard's literary work very well, but I confess that I don't like “Conan” and I feel that the fantasy genre has seen better days. However, what I saw in this film pleased me: it's good enough to entertain us satisfactorily, but it's not the kind of film we'll want to see more than a handful of times.
Solomon Kane is a mercenary, played by James Purefoy, in a great effort. The actor is truly good for the role: he has enough charisma to give himself the leading role he needs, he is not too old for the character nor does he seem too young. Pete Postlethwaite is also a magnificent addition to the cast as yet another character full of dignity and very likeable. Max von Sydow also provides discreet support. The only person I didn't like very much was Rachel Hurd-Wood: she doesn't have much to do other than being permanently in danger.
The script starts well, with a story about a cruel man who over the years committed looting and crimes, and finally understands that he will go to Hell. From then on he tries to change, but it becomes increasingly clear that this man will have to face his past at some point if he truly wants to redeem himself. This finally happens when he has to defeat an evil wizard. I don't want to say much more, but it's quite easy to see that the big problem with this script is the way in which we easily predict what's going to happen, the predictability of the whole story. This is the film's big problem.
Another problem with this film is the way in which the past was recreated: I didn't feel, on the part of the production, any desire to place the action precisely in time and space. The script, however, required it! It is quite evident that the story takes place around 1650 in the fields of South East England, in Dorset. The construction of the sets, costumes and props simply ignored this whenever they could. The cinematography, for example, is magnificently crafted and presents us with hazy, gloomy and dark landscapes, and semi-ruined places. We have no resemblance to the English countryside, but it is the ideal setting for the dark story that will unfold and creates an atmosphere in a very intelligent way. Anachronistic fighting styles, anachronistic weapons and accessories, clothing that doesn't resemble anything that existed in the past, flintlock pistols whose sound effect resembles that of a revolver... M. J. Bassett makes several mistakes. In return, there is a lot of action, fights for all tastes that give the film a lot of flow and movement, as if it were a music video, and excellent CGI that creates a vast multiplicity of evil creatures.
