Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Lament for Solomon Kane
Leo Grin of The Cimmerian weighs in on the trailer to the upcoming Solomon Kane movie and his opinion is much the same as my own. His agreement with my own feelings doesn't, of course, mean either of us is right in any absolute sense, but I nevertheless take some solace in knowing that, if I am a curmudgeonly pessimist, I am at least in august company.
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The director's comments on the conan.com messageboard suggest this was more of a "Scrappy Doo" move, to reference an earlier post of yours.
ReplyDeleteGah...
ReplyDeleteSure sounds bad! Playing the devil's advocate, I offer an alternate view:
ReplyDeleteSolomon Kane: http://www.aintitcool.com/talkback_display/41022?q=node/41022
LotR trilogy: http://chud.com/articles/articles/20399/1/THE-DEVIN039S-ADVOCATE-REMEMBERING-THE-UNLIKELIEST-BLOCKBUSTER/Page1.html
Personally, I will be seeing SK, but I am a Purefoy fan.
Oh dear. What part of puritan, didn't they understand...
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the trailer yet (the video has already been taken down), but I've been leery of the simple fact that they felt they had to give SK an origin story. To me, a Kane film should be not unlike Pale Rider; you don't necessarily know who this person is, but you get a sense of why he is doing what he is doing... and when he shows up, evil men are going to die, and all hell is going to break loose.
ReplyDelete@Knightsky
ReplyDeleteEXACTLY! Pale Rider or Unforgiven are perfect examples of tone that a film version of Solomon Kane ought to exemplify.
I saw the trailer...and it reminded me of the film 'Brothers Grimm'. Phbbbbt! Not at all what one might expect of a Solomon story. If the trailer is any indication, they've completely missed the boat on this one. Sad, there was so much potential.
I liked the trailer and I want to see the movie. I have to dismiss the comments of Leo Grin as I have heard them before about the LOTR movies, the new Star Trek and other movies I found enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteGrin is overly harsh, and I doubt a REH movie will ever be made that he admires (His admiration for the 1st Conan film is, IMO, hypocritical because the character Arnold plays is NOT Conan at all, but a generic barbarian characgter); however, this SK flick has bust written all over it. Too bad as Kane is my favorite REH character.
ReplyDeleteKuni,
ReplyDeleteYes, I read that and it saddens me. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, particularly since Kane isn't a well-known character, unlike Conan, but, even so, it's disappointing when the worst stereotypes about Hollywood seem to be proven correct.
I've been leery of the simple fact that they felt they had to give SK an origin story
ReplyDeleteVery much agreed. I don't quite understood the obsession with origin stories myself. I honestly think that many characters -- superheroes included -- work better without wasting time on explicit origin stories. I often prefer it when a character is introduced once he's come into his own, with his origin something only alluded to, if at all.
Grin is overly harsh, and I doubt a REH movie will ever be made that he admires (His admiration for the 1st Conan film is, IMO, hypocritical because the character Arnold plays is NOT Conan at all, but a generic barbarian characgter)
ReplyDeleteI actually agree with you on his stance WRT the Schwarzenegger film, which I find enjoyable only if I can convince myself that it's not a Conan movie but a generic S&W flick.
SOLOMON KANE ranks up there with CONAN and EL BORAK as the greatest Robert Howard characters ever.
ReplyDeleteI was so pumped when the RPG was announced, but I don't play SAVAGE WORLDS. I was so pumped when the movie was annouced, but it sounds so lame now. Much sadness, if this movie is as bad as it sounds.