Solomon Kane (film) - Plot

Plot

The film opens in North Africa, 1600, with the English mercenary Solomon Kane leading the crew of his ship into battle against the Ottoman occupiers of a fortress town. After defeating the Ottoman defenders, Solomon and his men enter the fortress and find a room of enchanted mirrors. Demons trapped within the mirrors attack and kill most of the crew, but Solomon fights his way into the throne room of the fortress. Inside, as he helps himself to the fortress's treasure, a demon dressed in hooded black robes and armed with a flaming sword appears. The demon announces itself as "the Devil's Reaper" and tells Solomon his evil deeds have irrevocably damned his soul, and he is now destined for Hell. After a brief duel, Solomon leaps from the throne room window into the sea. As he falls to safety, the Reaper snarls that Solomon's soul will be the Devil's.

Following his encounter with the Devil's Reaper, Solomon returns to England and finds sanctuary in a monastery. The Abbot apologetically expels Kane after having a prophetic dream. Kane travels by foot to his ancestral estates in Devon, from which he had been exiled by his father in his teens. Along the way he is ambushed by robbers and, as he has fully embraced a life of peace and will not fight back, he is knocked unconscious. He is found and treated by William and Katherine Crowthorn and their three children, a family of Puritans traveling west to the New World. He travels with them but the family is itself ambushed by corrupted followers of the sorcerer Malachi and his brutal lieutenant, the Masked Rider. The marauders threaten the family and mock Kane as a "man of peace". Kane resists the family's call to action, and prays for guidance. The raiders mercilessly kill young Samuel. Kane realizes that he has no choice and attacks, killing most of the bandits. In the ensuing melee, William and his other son Edward are killed, and Meredith is kidnapped by the raiders. William declares with his last breath that Solomon's soul will be redeemed if he rescues Meredith. Solomon, believing that God's plan for him might be to use his violent skills against other killers, takes a horse, arms himself and sets out in pursuit.

Solomon battles Malachi's followers across the countryside, rescuing many captives but not finding Meredith. On his journey, he meets a deranged priest who informs him Malachi's followers are taking the weaker survivors of their raids as slaves, while corrupting the strong into soldiers. The priest tries to feed Solomon to his parishioners, who have become undead ghouls. Solomon escapes, only to be set upon by the robbers who attacked him earlier, who now work for Malachi. He kills two of the robbers and interrogates the survivor, who tells Solomon that Meredith is dead. Solomon throws the robber to the ghouls. Believing his quest for redemption has failed, Solomon drinks to excess at a country inn. Former shipmates recognise him and try to recruit him as a leader of a resistance against Malachi. Kane refuses. Malachi's followers attack the inn at dawn, crucifying the leaders of the resistance, including Kane. As Kane hangs on the cross, Meredith cries out his name from her cage in the back of the raiders' wagon. Kane realises that he still has a chance to save her and pulls himself free. Before Malachi's remaining men can kill him, they are killed by survivors of the resistance, who take Solomon to safety.

Kane is healed by an old witch and is soon anxious to confront the raiders. Members of the resistance explain some of Malachi's background as a former priest who made a bargain with the Devil, and reveal that he now lives in Kane's ancestral home. Kane leads them into the castle via an underground passage. As the resistance fights Malachi's soldiers, Kane heads for the dungeons and frees many of the captives. He does not find Meredith, but he does find his father. His father explains that the Masked Rider is really Kane's older brother Marcus, whom Solomon thought he had accidentally killed shortly after he was banished as a teenager. Marcus was only severely injured and left in a coma. When priests and healers failed to revive him, Solomon's father turned to Malachi. Marcus was horribly disfigured from the accident, and after Malachi's intervention his personality had changed and he was subservient to Malachi. Solomon reluctantly acquiesces to his father's request and kills him. Then he heads to the throne room to confront Malachi.

Malachi tries to convince Kane that his destiny has led him there to be taken by the Devil at last. Solomon finds Meredith caged in the throne room. As she warns him of a trap, Marcus stabs Solomon in the back. Despite his injury, Solomon tries to convince his brother to resist Malachi, to no avail. The brothers fight with Marcus dominating throughout, until Solomon sets Marcus's clothes alight and decapitates him. Malachi uses Meredith's "innocent blood" to open a portal, releasing a demon sent to claim Solomon's soul. After a desperate fight, Kane shoots Malachi in the head, sealing the portal and banishing the demon, but not before energy is pulled from Kane into the portal. Meredith believes Kane is dead, but he awakes and declares that he has redeemed his soul, and only his past misdeeds have been taken from him. Kane reunites her with Katherine and then buries his father and brother. In a final voice-over, he declares that he will roam the earth to oppose the forces of darkness.