Subject: Review: Soldier (1998)

From: [email-masked] (Michael Redman)
Date: 28 Oct 1998 16:12:52 GMT

Old soldiers never die, they just turn into cliches

Soldier
A Film Review By Michael Redman
Copyright 1998 By Michael Redman

*1/2 (Out of ****)

The Warrior and the Lover are two personality aspects that find it difficult
to exist in the same body. Jungian archetypes, these two opposites need each
other to create a whole, but it's difficult to integrate both. 

Often we'll encounter Lovers who think everything is just wonderful and, with
the help of Jung's Magician, sit around imagining grand schemes. Without the
drive to manifest their plans, much less the wisdom to recognize the darkness,
all they have are dreams.

Warriors on the other hand, are ready to go to war at the drop of a hat, and
will do combat with every last bit of their energy.  They don't care enough
about anything to know what's worth fighting for: gladiators who live only for
the battle.

This dichotomy not only describes individuals that we all know, but can also
illustrate societies. America during the late sixties was a conflict between
old style Cold Warriors and the new hippie Lovers.

Todd 3465 (Kurt Russell) is a living, breathing archetype. Chosen from birth
as a soldier, he is raised by the government to be a killing machine. His
childhood is cruelty and competition. He is indoctrinated with the big rules.
Never question authority. Winning is everything. Strength beats knowledge.

A veteran of numerous intergalactic wars, Todd is 40 and he's obsolete. A new
generation of genetically engineered soldiers are faster and stronger. Left
for dead after a test battle with the best of the new killers, Caine 607
(Jason Scott Lee), he's unceremoniously dumped as trash on Arcadia 234, a
garbage world.

Obviously our hero is still alive. He finds a group of shipwrecked settlers
abandoned on the planet who nurse him back to health. When the peace-loving
colonists get a good look at who Todd is, they are afraid of him and he is
exiled to live by himself amid the junk on an environmentally hostile world.
They are the other good guys.

These Lovers find that they need a Warrior when the military coincidentally
chooses this world to conduct exercises for their improved human weapons. Todd
finds himself in the role of protector.

What could have been a fascinating look at the roles played in our culture and
the fears of an ultra-right wing future is ruined by turning the film into a
cartoon. The effects are mostly second-rate explosions or jerky slow motion.
The plot is old hat. We don't get even a glimpse at the society that created
the soldiers. Hardly anything makes sense.

The film's science fares badly. With all the remarkable advances we've made in
just 37 years (the film takes place in 2036), we're still stupid. After
conquering the stars, for some reason we use vast amounts of energy to load up
huge space ships with rubbish tote it to a landfill light years away. Even
stranger, the garbage barges appear to double as time machines. Virtually all
the trash is vintage 1960.

There is nothing in the story that is not predictable. The first thing that
Todd sees after coming back to life is Sandra (Connie Nielsen), the woman just
a little too beautiful to be living in such harsh conditions who is taking
care of him. It doesn't take a genius to foresee that her husband isn't going
to be around much longer. Is it a shock to find out that the film's climax is
an unarmed battle between Todd and Caine? Who would you guess wins?

Some of the scenes would work if this were a comedy. Todd's first awakening of
human emotion comes when he glimpses Connie's nipple poking through her thin
blouse. Later as he sits by his lonely campfire, a tear rolls down his
dramatically lighted cheek in slow motion. Supposedly this cliché isn't meant
to be humorous. Dastardly Col. Mekum (Jason Isaacs) with a pencil-thin
mustache is as real as Snidley Whiplash.

Responsible for last year's quirky and visually enticing but problematic "The
Fifth Element", director Paul Anderson sees the film as "Shane" in outer
space. Maybe, if Shane were played by Sylvester Stallone in Rambo mode. The
movie doesn't even work as an action film. There is never a question as to the
outcome. Somehow the new superior soldiers don't prove much of a match for Todd.

The acting isn't anything to write home about. Nielsen almost comes across as
a real person but is soon relegated to a background victim. Russell is
buffed-up and does a credible job but it's not much of a challenge. Uttering
around 100 words during the film, mostly what Todd does is hit things and
stare grimly into space. Gary Busey as Todd's commanding officer is completely
wasted in his low-key role.

Everything blows up and occasionally it looks cool. Sometimes the sets are
impressive. Unfortunately "occasionally" and "sometimes" don't make a film.

Most disappointing is that the screenplay is by David Webb Peoples who wrote
"Blade Runner", possibly the best science fiction movie ever made. Sharp-eyed
viewers will notice a few obscure references to that film. Peoples says that
this is not a "Blade Runner" sequel, but a "sidequel" that takes place in the
same universe.

Although that may have been the intent in his original script, the result is
more like a bad television series that the "Blade Runner" replicants watch to
pass time. Perhaps those artificial humans would find this entertaining.

(Michael Redman has written this column for over 23 years and wants to wish
everyone an appropriate Halloween...whatever you'd like it to be.)

[This appeared in the 10/29/98 "Bloomington Independent", Bloomington,
Indiana. Michael Redman can be contacted at [email-masked]]

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