James Purefoy shines in “Solomon Kane”

Believe it or not, there is an upside to mourning “The Sopranos.” Like a heroin addict trying to kick the smack, you look for a methadone replacement amongst the countless DVD box sets. At the same time, the crack habit you’ve developed waiting for the last season of “The Shield” is making your situation critical. Going cold turkey is not an option so you rip through “The Wire,” “Deadwood” and “Rome.”

Watching “Rome” means cheering in sheer disbelief at the antics of James Purefoy’s Marc Anthony. Like an X-rated Richard Burton Purefoy chews up the scenery, gargles with it, then spits it out on the floor to be mopped up by one of his slaves. Every time he’s on screen, your front room crackles with anticipation and life without Tony suddenly doesn’t seem so bad.

Burton could make B-movie trash sound like Hamlet every time, and Purefoy has that same knack in his first starring role in “Solomon Kane.” He’s in full Marc Anthony mode as the titular Kane, leading a massacre on a North African city. This is 1599, and the beginning of the British Empire. Under license from Queen Elizabeth, the first Kane is a privateer acting with bloody impunity since the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

“I am the only devil here,” he roars, and it’s hard to argue as he jams a sword into a victim’s neck leading him to a choking death. Its all bloody good fun as cannon balls fly and flames splash the screen. Kane is all rapier and moustache, cavalier with his men as his greed overtakes his sense.

Stepping into the throne room, the atmosphere immediately changes to one of dread as we spy horrific black mirrors lining both sides. Something dark slithers, and the discovery of the egg chamber in “Alien” by John Hurt’s character regurgitates violently in our memory. Like the old maps used to say, “Here be monsters,” and Purefoy’s Kane is the worst of all. His men slaughtered, Kane literally faces his demons, but with a snarling arrogance he denies them his soul by plunging into the tempestuous waters below.

A year later, and Kane has changed his ways. Finding sanctuary in an English monastery Kane has turned himself into an Elizabethan Max Cady, covered in religious tattoos to ward off Lucifer and his demons. Like “The Omen” Kane adorns the wall of his cell with pages of the Bible for even more protection. He’s given the church all his wealth and renounced his path of violence and how do they repay him? By kicking him out when it all comes on top for his holy protectors.

Forced to wander the lawless badlands of Avalon, Kane takes the audience down a familiar yet rarely trod milieu in recent years. This is the England of “The Witchfinder General,” “Excalibur,” “Jack The Giant Killer” and even “Hawk The Slayer” where all the centuries seem to combine into one filthy, mud-sodden landscape. Plague stains the population and the hangman’s noose creeps out like the tentacles of Cthulhu. Roving bands of possessed Cockneys enslave the survivors, whilst anyone else left starves to death. Is this England’s fate for embarking on its new course of conquest and Empire building?

The joy of films like “Solomon Kane,” where the main protagonist has renounced violence, is waiting to see how and when they will fly off the handle and cave someone’s head in. We know its coming, but we want to know who will drive them to it. A chance meeting with the Crowthorn family gives us a clue. Peace-loving and God-fearing, they are bound for The New World, but you don’t help a man like Kane without dire consequences.

Staring down a group of black eyed henchmen he grimaces,” If I kill you then I am bound for hell. It is a price I am willing to pay.” For a pulp hero, Purefoy really does give us a sense of the internal conflict raging within. When it does kick off after a particularly gruesome murder, Kane indulges in some of the most inventive butchery since someone had the bright idea to stuff an apple in a pig’s mouth.

Now fully condemned to burn in the pits of eternity, Kane has one shot at redemption: save the Crowthorns’ daughter, Meredith, kidnapped by the unseen sorcerer Malachi. It’s a straightforward quest from here on in, an episodic approach that features witches, mad priests, bloodthirsty demons and a CGI end-level boss that gives away the relatively low budget and sits uneasily with the generally high production values of the rest of the film.

This is all pretty standard fare, but done with an exuberant flourish and greatly benefits from the suitably nasty undercurrent that runs throughout. There is real trepidation in “Solomon Kane,” but hopefully its greatest achievement will not be to kick start yet another franchise (although this wouldn’t be entirely unwelcome), but act as a calling card to Hollywood for the criminally underrated Purefoy. If there’s room for Jason Statham then surely there’s got be room for James Purefoy.

If there isn’t, then the words of Kane himself should have movie executives running for their lives, “Now, let not one of these putrid heathens live!”