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Soldier

Soldier (1998) Movie Poster
  •  UK / USA  •    •  99m  •    •  Directed by: Paul W.S. Anderson.  •  Starring: Kurt Russell, Jason Scott Lee, Jason Isaacs, Connie Nielsen, Sean Pertwee, Jared Thorne, Taylor Thorne, Mark Bringelson, Gary Busey, K.K. Dodds, James Black, Mark De Alessandro, Vladimir Orlov.  •  Music by: Joel McNeely.
        In a futuristic society, some people are selected at birth to become soldiers, and trained in such a manner that they become inhuman killing machines. One of the most succesfull and older of these soldiers is pitted against a new breed of soldiers, and after the confrontation is believed to be dead. His body is left behind in a semi-abandoned colonial planet, where everything is peaceful, and he is taught about the other aspects of life. But eventually he has to fight the new breed of soldiers again, this time to defend his new home...

Trailers:

   Length:  Languages:  Subtitles:
 2:12
 
 1:32
 
 

Review:

Image from: Soldier (1998)
Image from: Soldier (1998)
Image from: Soldier (1998)
Image from: Soldier (1998)
Image from: Soldier (1998)
Image from: Soldier (1998)
Image from: Soldier (1998)
Image from: Soldier (1998)
Image from: Soldier (1998)
Spoiler Alert! Antihero is probably the right word for Todd (Kurt Russell), the trained-from-birth soldier in a dystopic far future that is hardly delineated at all in this movie, unlike the earthbound near future shown in Curt Russell's earlier Escape From New York (1981). While his character had a detailed mission in EFNY (namely to rescue the president of the USA whose plane has crashed within the walls of the prison that Long Island has been made into, and given over to the inmates' control), the Soldier is the victim of circumstances and much of this movie is a portrait of his damaged psyche.

I had to keep reminding myself that this is a sci-fi movie made in 1998 because everything about it looks like it was made in the 1980s or 1970s. That means no computer generated realistic images, everything is done with painted backdrops, a few small sets, models and stunt work. The movie has some slight computer awareness, and uses the visual cliché of showing us the computer display that a man is seeing - projected on his face! SPOILERS ahead, you have been warned!

We are introduced to Todd when he is a member of a battle-hardened squad; flashbacks during the film show the society where babies are selected for exclusive training as merciless fighters. Unfortunately for the squad, a dapper colonel arrives with another squad of soldiers who are faster, better, stronger - because they have been bio-engineered in a new way. To prove the point, Todd and two of his comrades are pitched against one of the super soldiers, Caine 607 (Jason Scott Lee). Although Todd manages to put out one of Caine's eyes, the three are vanquished and summarily disposed of: in a consignment of trash dumped on the trash planet Arcadia!

Todd alone survives, due to the help he receives from a society of scavengers that live on Arcadia. Arcadia is an interesting place. I have to stretch my disbelief to accept that it makes economic sense to transport large amounts of scrap metal to a remote planet, and this would have been easier had not some of the trash looked like 1970-model US automobiles and even an aircraft carrier. There are frequent sandstorms on Arcadia and the inhabitants have thoughtfully provided guide ropes to hold on to when that occurs. But the ropes are held up by parking meters huh? I find that strange.

The inhabitants, let me call them Arcadians, are families that were on their way to colonise somewhere else but their ship crashed on Arcadia. They have a woman leader, and the movie would gain from showing us more than it does of their society and personalities. However the intention is to show how Todd with his stunted personality fails to socialise with them. This is presented in scenes where Todd is unable to respond to the kindness of Sandra (Connie Nielsen), mother of the family that has taken him in, (he continues to address her as "Sir"), and he just stares at their small boy Nathan. Although Todd with his strength and fast reactions shows some usefulness to the community, they feel ill at ease with such a fighter in their midst and politely ask Todd to leave. He does so, but just before the Arcadian settlement is attacked by a military spaceship on a search-and-destroy exercise. It is no surprise that the dapper colonel, his super-soldiers plus remaining members of Todd's old squad are all on board. Todd decides to fight alone on behalf of the Arcadians, and the battle scene is set.

The soldiers' weaponry is all powerful and noisy but of primitive design. Two teams drive out from the spaceship in armoured wheeled trucks that they call "crawlers". I can't get rid of the idea that a "crawler" should be a tracked rather than a vehicle with wheels, and that the former is a more suitable means of propulsion on a trash heap on an unknown planet. The driver of one of the crawlers is Caine 607 so we know Todd has a score to settle with him. For me there was a continuity fault in their confrontation: first we see Todd manage to drop grenades through the open hatch of Caine's crawler which afterwards bursts into flames. That seemed conclusively lethal, but moments later Caine is out on the ground taking pep-up pills. These restore him enough for a fistfight with Todd.

Continuity suffers again in the happy ending. Todd and his erstwhile comrades take over the spaceship, eject dapper commander and take off. Dapper commander is left to try to disarm the planet-buster super-bomb that he has ordered placed on Arcadia. He fails, and Todd and company escape just ahead of the titanic explosion. Now we discover that all the colonists are aboard, but when did they including children and wounded have a chance to embark? Anyway, everyone is headed to presumably a better life at the colonists' intended destination.

In summary, Soldier gives an interesting psychological portrait of a stunted personality, which Curt Russell only has to play in a wooden manner. The music lifts this movie above mediocre. The score is well done with a militaristic mood where needed, without being intrusive. Unfortunately a song in metal pop genre is sung for no reason at all during the credits. I do dislike being exposed to irrelevant audio material during closing credits, and it should be obvious that nothing done at that point can ever improve a movie. I won't harp on the point here because after the song, the main music of the movie returns, just proving that there was no shortage of good orchestral material.


Review by Gaylord M'sagro from the Internet Movie Database.