The last time Pete Postlethwaite died onscreen, he was being gunned down in The Town. Now, nearly two years after the actor's actual death, he appears as a doomed man of God, whose daughter, Meredith (Rachel Hurd-Wood), is taken in a raid by demonic forces on horseback. It's up to former ship captain (and Robert E. Howard creation) Solomon Kane (James Purefoy) to save the lass, fulfilling her father's dying wish, while redeeming himself on a quest of holy vengeance. Before this turn of events, Kane had renounced violence, devoting himself to a puritanical life of peace in early 17th-century England. That time has ended, benefiting fans of bloody, violent action. Writer/director Michael J. Bassett stages the carnage under so much rain-soaked filth, you can almost smell the stench. It's a good stench. The movie's also seven minutes shorter than the version released in Europe three years ago, chopped with as little regard as those who dare face Kane's signature cutlass.
