Soldier, 1998.
Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson.
Starring Kurt Russell, Jason Scott Lee, Jason Isaacs, Connie Nielsen, Sean Pertwee, Gary Busey.
SYNOPSIS:
An aging but highly trained soldier is left for dead by an enhanced new type of super soldier, and is rescued by a peaceful community whom he must defend when the new breed come knocking.
Written by Blade Runner co-writer David Webb Peoples, 1998’s Soldier is very much a product of its time, echoing the themes of Peoples’ more famous script – and given how how many references there are to it you could assume that this movie takes place in the same universe, although Peoples has both denied and confirmed this at various times, depending on which way the wind was blowing – and treading similar territory to The Terminator (which was Peoples’ initial inspiration, apparently) and Universal Soldier, but also being caught in that transitional period between practical and CGI effects being the more dominant force in filmmaking.
Which makes Soldier an interesting time capsule if you were to study the history of filmmaking. However, that would be more interesting than the movie itself, because despite having some some solid action scenes and a cast that – on paper at least – should have lifted this material to a much higher level, Soldier just doesn’t command the same kind of awe-inspiring spectacle or rewatch appeal as the movies it should be sitting snuggly inside a box marked ‘Action/Sci-fi Blockbusters’ with, the end result coming across like a TV movie version of the previously mentioned hard hitters of the genre.
Which is a shame as you have Kurt Russell taking the lead as Sergeant Todd 3465, a role that both Schwarzenegger and Stallone were considered for, but with Russell being a little younger and his star not quite on the wane at the time, he could be seen as the better fit. Todd is an orphan who was raised and trained to be a highly efficient and dedicated soldier, but now at the age of 40 he and his unit, led by Captain Church (Gary Busey), are about to be replaced by a new breed of enhanced soldiers, created by project leader Colonel Mekum (Jason Isaacs) with their star pupil being the intimidating Caine 607 (Jason Scott Lee).
After a demonstration of their strength and stamina turns into a hostile takeover, Todd is left for dead by Caine and thrown into a galactic waste container, eventually being dumped on Arcadia 234, a waste planet where a colony of peaceful people now live. Todd is taken in by Mace (Sean Pertwee) and his wife Sandra (Connie Nielsen) but struggles to integrate with their non-combative way of life as all he is ever done is be ready for battle, but when Mekum decides to target Arcadia 234 as a training exercise for his soldiers the people now have a weapon to fight back with.
With only 104 words of dialogue and an impressively lean physique, Kurt Russell fits the role of Todd very well, his frame smaller than Jason Scott Lee, who has also clearly worked out and is a lot bulkier than he was when he played Bruce Lee in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. So you have Kurt Russell at possibly his peak fitness being led by a charismatic Gary Busey, who had appeared in Universal Solder II: Brothers in Arms the previous year so there’s another connection to that franchise, and the both of them facing off against a scenery-chewing Jason Issacs, but despite having the ingredients of something exciting and cool, Soldier instead feels very generic and workmanlike, despite the efforts of those onscreen.
There are little nuggets of things along the way that indicate David Webb Peoples and director Paul W.S. Anderson – himself fresh off the popcorn-friendly double-whammy of Mortal Kombat and Event Horizon – had pretentions of Soldier been a deeper, more meaningful sci-fi action romp than your average Universal Soldier knock-off, such as Todd’s strange sexual chemistry with Sandra or the plight of the pacifist inhabitants of Arcadia 234 against the mega-weaponry of the all-powerful fascist military (that’s been done before, surely?). However, none of the subtleties or subtext ever really play off, and instead we get repetitive action scenes of things exploding – and there are plenty of decent explosions – against CGI-generated backdrops that don’t actually look as bad as you would expect in 4K UHD, with the practical miniatures blending in as well as you would expect for 1998, and as long as you can accept 1990s CGI for the archaic beast that it is then Soldier hasn’t fared that badly when it comes to its visuals. At least, it seems Arrow’s transfer retains the clarity it was shot in without any noticeable tinkering.
Overall, however, Soldier is not as good or satisfying as the sum of its parts suggests it should be. As great as Kurt Russell is at playing the strong silent type and as enticing as it is to see Gary Busey and Jason Isaacs going head-to-head, the script just doesn’t allow for the exploitation of any of those things to result in the fun time at the movies it should be. Had it gone for the darker, dour tone that the deeper plot points hint at, or gone totally bonkers with the overly-theatrical performances of its supporting actors then Soldier could have been something to celebrate, but it fully embraces neither direction and – much like its special effects – becomes a hybrid caught between two styles that just doesn’t excite in either.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Chris Ward
