Getting a token theatrical release following its video-on-demand run nearly three years after it played in Europe, this cut-rate epic in the “Lord of the Rings” mold centers on the title character (via the pulp writer who created Conan the Barbarian), an English nobleman (James Purefoy) who’s exiled himself to a monastery after a demon places a curse on him.
Encouraged to re-enter society, Sol’s vow to eschew his violent past (“I’m burning, yearning to be a man of peace”) is sorely tested with predictable results when marauding barbarians slaughter a family of Puritans (including the late Pete Postlethwaite) he’s befriended before they leave for America.
It’s not every day that you see a hero get crucified at the behest of a masked villain, and the great Max von Sydow turns up for a couple of scenes to collect a paycheck as Sol’s father, with whom he has issues. Otherwise, Michael J. Bassett’s “Solomon Kane” is been there, done that.