michael bassett film solomon kane ( base on the character of the same name create by robert e. howard ) be a disappointing fantasy action adventure film and that despite have a few scene of genius fall flat with it awkward pacing and poor characterisation and general dullness . solomon kane ( james purefoy ) be a mercenary of queen elizabeth army fighting in africa and where he come face to face with the devil reaper a demon who collect the devil debt i. e. soul refuse to go to hell just yet and he evade the reaper and start a new life in an english monastery . with this new life and solomon have leave behind his culture of violence and bloodshed and instead now embrace the value of peace and non value . but once he be expel from the monastery due to the fear of the devil reaper returning and he must travel back to his home in devon and along the way he befriend a travel family of puritan head to the new world . on their journey through the british county and the family be attack and and their daughter meredith ( rachel hurd wood ) be abduct by the evil sorcerer malachi army and which be lead on the front line by the mysterious masked rider . now a man of peace and solomon must go back to his former life a a man of unrepentant violence and destruction to save meredith . despite have great source material to work from and and build upon to create potentially an exciting and endure medieval action adventure film and the film fail in three key area . the pacing of this film be terrible and which may have a lot to do with it incredibly short run time of only one hour and forty minute ( and this be most likely a consequence of the fact that they wish to turn this film into a trilogy ) . constantly jump between of drama and self characterisation to that of action and muddy bloodshed and somewhat kill the excitement of the action sequence . instead of keep the audience on the edge of their seat froth with the eagle eye anticipation and the film instead feel incredibly subdue and and this follow on the next piece of criticism and dull . despite be tout a an action adventure film or in some circle an action epic and solomon kane be almost most certainly not . the action be mundane and dull and and be generally finish before you have the chance to admire the beauty of a decapitation . finally and aside from solomon himself and there be very little characterisation within this film . for example we know little and because of this and care little and about the young woman that soloman set out on his journey to save . and i imagine again the filmmaker would refer this criticism to the fact that there be most likely go to be a second film which will hopefully touch upon these aspect that this film surely miss . it isn not an entirely terrible film however . james purefoy be give a fantastic performance a solomon and the mercenary who must decide whether or not to fall back on his conscience or his blade and and how his decision will impact not just upon himself and but those around him as well . while respect and admiration and and acknowledgement must also go to bassett and his crew as well and for create vivid location that beautifully reflect the period in which they be film . at time and it be hard not to get carry away with admire the beauty of the location and shot composition and mise en scene at show here . which certainly show that a lot of time and effort have be place into this film and unfortunately however that be not to say the same for the story and character at hand . solomon kane certainly have the potential to be something more than simply an action epic and however it seem that once again the lack of any real depth in the story and character have result in michael bassett create nothing more than a one dimensional look at swordplay during the medieval period .