Fantasy Flix: February 2012

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Solomon Kane (2009)

Written and Directed by: Michael J. Bassett

Based on characters by: Robert E. Howard

James Purefoy stars as Solomon Kane, a wandering 16th century hero whose haunted past forces him to redeem himself by battling a growing evil in his homeland in this big-screen incarnation of Robert E. Howard's cloaked pulp character. Deathwatch's Michael J. Bassett directs from his own script, with Max von Sydow, Pete Postlethwaite, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Alice Krige, and Mackenzie Crook co-starring.

I struggled with deciding if I wanted to add this movie to my blog. I generally don't want guns in my fantasy flicks. However, after watching this film, I decided that it needed to go in. Take out a small handful of gun-shots, a reference to "the new world", and ignore the date, and this is totally a "fantasy flick".

It is extremely unfortunate that this movie was never released and is not available in the United States. It is, however, available with more nefarious means. If you can get your hands on it, I do recommend this movie. As usual, I'm not saying this is a masterpiece, but I think it's quite good and deserves to be seen. I do not understand why this movie was never released.

The film-makers do an excellent job here with a relatively small budget. The film does have a few disjointed quirks, but they can be easily ignored. The story flows nicely and you should never be bored.

The action is quite good and nicely violent. I like the fact that while being "Hollywood" action, they try to add a little realism to the fight scenes. In one instance a "beheading" takes more than one swing, while Kane's sword is difficult for him to remove from a victim.

The acting is pretty damn good as well. I have no complaints here. James Purefoy is always one of my favorites and he does not fail here. I've never read the books, but I think he plays this perfectly. The rest of the cast is also quite good.

Overall, I definitely recommend you try and get a hold of a copy and watch this. I think I can make an exception to the use of guns in this film as it is a "fantasy flick" through and through.

Verdict: Recommended despite the guns and time-frame.

The Cast

James Purefoy ... Solomon Kane

Rachel Hurd-Wood ... Meredith Crowthorn

Pete Postlethwaite ... William Crowthorn

Philip Winchester ... Henry Telford

Alice Krige ... Katherine Crowthorn

Patrick Hurd-Wood ... Samuel Crowthorn

Mackenzie Crook ... Father Michael

Anthony Wilks ... Edward Crowthorn

Geoff Bell ... Beard

James Babson ... Skinhead

Marek Vasut ... Tattoo

Isabel Bassett ... The Witch

Max von Sydow ... Josiah Kane

Lucas Stone ... Young Solomon

Samuel Roukin ... Marcus Kane

Jason Flemyng ... Malachi

Friday, February 3, 2012

Barbarian Queen II: The Empress Strikes Back (1992)

Director: Joe Finley
Writers: Howard R. Cohen, Lance Smith

In a final and epic battle in the thrilling sequel to the now classic "Barbarian Queen", Althalia, leads a revolt of peasants and female warriors against the wicked ruler, Arkaris, to regain her throne.

I previously related to you how I quite enjoyed the original Barbarian Queen. Well, I think I liked that one about as much as I dislike this one. Barbarian Queen II has absolutely nothing to do with the original movie. The only thing it has in common is the main actress Lana Clarkson, who doesn't even play the same character.

This movie is missing so much that made the original enjoyable for me. First, It's lacking the fun of the first. This movie seems to try to take itself more seriously, with a smaller budget.

Second, the action scenes are terrible. The first movies action scenes were not good, but this one just seems worse. They don't even try to hide the fact that the sword fights are done with plastic swords with no effects for realism.

Third, while there is nudity in this movie, there isn't nearly as much as the first. This film could be quickly edited for television and appear on Syfy with just a few scenes clipped.

The acting is on par with the first, maybe even a bit better in places. I'm not saying that it's good in the least, just decent. A real standout for me, however was Cecilia Tijerina, who plays a pretty excellent little brat. Elizabeth A. Jaeger is cute is hell and I'm really sad she only made two movies.

Overall, this is your standard 80's/90's fantasy fair along with the first. But this definitely does not live up to the first movie, which in itself isn't very good.