Subject: Review: Soldier (1998)

From: Justin Felix <[email-masked]>
Date: 5 Nov 1998 04:08:52 GMT

SOLDIER (1998)
A film review by Justin Felix.
Copyright 1998 Justin Felix.
Other reviews by me may be found at
http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Justin+Felix
This review also appears in the Shrubbery --
http://www.theshrubbery.prohosting.com/1198/movie1.html

Rating: *** (out of five)

Screenplay by David Webb Peoples.  
Directed by Paul Anderson.  
Starring Kurt Russell, Jason Scott Lee, Gary Busey.  
Rated R (contains violence and profanity)  approx. 95 mins.

Synopsis:  In the near future, Sergeant Todd, trained from birth to be a
remorseless killing machine, and his squad of merciless soldiers are
replaced by genetically engineered warriors.  Believed dead, Todd is dumped
onto a garbage planet where a small group of colonists struggle to survive.
 Todd defends these colonists from the warriors who replaced him when their
superior officer decides the colonists would make good target practice.

Comments:  On paper, SOLDIER has the ingredients to make a superior film.
It is written by David Webb Peoples, who penned the screenplay to the
classic BLADE RUNNER and the critically-acclaimed 12 MONKEYS.  It is
directed by Paul Anderson, who was responsible for EVENT HORIZON, an
unfairly criticized cross-genre film, and MORTAL KOMBAT, a popular movie
based on the video game of the same name.  It even stars Kurt Russell, who
has acted in good science fiction films such as STARGATE and John
Carpenter's remake of THE THING.  Though SOLDIER is an entertaining and
visually interesting film, it proves to be somewhat disappointing
considering the talent involved in the film's production.  

SOLDIER begins in the year 1996, when Sergeant Todd is born.  Apparently,
on the date of his birth, Todd, along with a group of other babies, is
chosen to be involved in a government(?) program to raise and train a group
of fearless ground soldiers.  Through a series of rapid flashbacks, the
audience sees Todd grow to adulthood and some of the campaigns on other
worlds that he is involved in.  Already, the audience is keenly aware of
the major flaw in the movie: nothing is ever really explained.  SOLDIER
never details (a) who Todd fights for, (b) why a technologically savvy
society needs human ground troops when they could probably find less
expensive means of achieving military goals, or (c) how our planet becomes
an intergalactic colonizing force within the next 20 years.  Apparently,
the only things the filmmakers wish us to know is that Todd is a killing
machine and the person in charge is a really bad guy.  What follows is the
standard sci-fi cliche of the underdog against a supposedly superior
opponent; in this case, Sergeant Todd and a ragtag group of colonists try
to defend themselves from a horde of genetically-enhanced, heavily armed,
well-trained soldiers.  Guess who wins.  

Having criticized the screenplay, I can now say that I still enjoyed
SOLDIER.  This is a movie which attempts to cross genres to create
something different.  EVENT HORIZON, Paul Anderson's last film, combined
horror and science fiction, giving the audience a haunted spaceship.
Similarly, SOLDIER combines science fiction with the western and the action
movie, giving us SHANE on another planet.  The mix of genres works for the
most part.  Though the story, including the ultimate resolution, is quite
obvious, the film's landscape, an apocalyptic garbage dump of a planet
presented paradoxically beautiful in its harshness, and some brilliant
pyrotechnic fight scenes make SOLDIER a fun Saturday afternoon matinee
movie.  Like EVENT HORIZON, however, SOLDIER doesn't pull any punches [no
pun intended] when it comes to violence -- one of the reasons I suspect
EVENT HORIZON was so squarely criticized.  SOLDIER is violent; it has many
bloody scenes, a number of grisly deaths, and some rather sadistic moments
(these warriors, for instance, have no reservations shooting unarmed young
children in combat situations).

Kurt Russell plays Sergeant Todd quite effectively.  Todd does not have
much dialogue in the movie; he remains largely silent.  This silence,
however, adds to the tension of the film, as the colonists fear that his
training will make him snap at any moment.  SOLDIER, thus, like EVENT
HORIZON, is an extremely tense film.  Russell, though, exaggerates the
tough guy image a little too much at times, granting the film some much
needed melodramatic camp humor.  Gary Busey plays his signature stock
character, a slick though ultimately well-meaning individual, adequately
here.  Rising star Jason Scott Lee, like Russell, isn't given much
dialogue, but he portrays the main antagonist suitably enough.

SOLDIER strikes me as a made-for-the-SciFi-channel movie with a budget.
Despite the talent behind the film, it is not great.  SOLDIER, however,
doesn't seem to carry the pretense of greatness.  It's a little sci-fi
action film which delivers enough special effects and action sequences to
carry it through.  It's not worth six bucks, but it's certainly worth a
matinee price.  

Rated R, SOLDIER contains many graphic scenes of violence which may be
inappropriate for children.  Although, to give the movie credit, SOLDIER,
more so than other recent action films like the "video game"ish BLADE and
the humorous RUSH HOUR, shows the results of violence, both physically and
mentally, on its victims.

(Review written on October 24, 1998)