Inspired by Robert E. Howard's pulp short stories, Solomon Kane is the tale of an early 16th century Puritan who dresses ever in black and carries a rapier, cutlass and pair of pistols in his never-ending fight against evil. So, he's sort like The Punisher for a time before automatic weapons. It's fitting then that the film's producers would take advantage of Comic Con to release their latest trailer, which unfolds Kane's epic quest along with some grisly special effects. But there's something strange in the trailer below—courtesy of Yahoo. Take a look and see if you can pick it out.
Did you catch it? Here, I'll give you another hint. It's about the cast. How about now?
Among all the action and grit on display above it a beloved character actor who gets a lot of screentime but who died in January of 2011, English actor Pete Postlethwaite. That's the first hint that Solomon Kane was due to hit theaters long ago. And in fact it did, opening all over the world in 2009 and 2010, but never securing a U.S. distributor. It has however hit a couple of American film festivals, and even did the Comic Con circuit in 2009. But now at long last—and for no apparent reason—writer/director Michael J. Bassett's redemption epic has scored American distribution.
Typically, a release delay like this signals a film is pretty terrible, but Solomon Kane scored an impressively positive rating of 83% on Rotten Tomatoes upon its UK release, thanks in no small part to James Purefoy, whose glaring intensity in the title role wowed critics. So, let's give this pulp adaptation the benefit of the doubt, and just be glad we'll finally have a chance to see it.
Solomon Kane will hit VOD on August 24th, and opens Stateside September 28th.
