Soldier

Rating:
Summary: A solid sci-fi action film with Kurt Russell.
Review: This on the surface looks like a typical cliched movie however it works. As many other reviewers have pointed out, this movie after you have watched it does stay with you. Kurt Russell gives a solid performance as a hardened soldier trained to kill since boyhood and feel no emotion. Finding himself old and obsolete he is forced into a fight to the death with his replacements, a new bread of killer soldier. He loses and finds himself dumped on a garbage waste planet and left for dead. The rest of the movie focuses on Russell's character slowly finding his human side again. When a group of unarmed inhabitants who took him in as one of their own then rejected him because he could not fit are threatened by the military, Russell steps up and the action is fast and enjoyable. The inhabitants have been targeted to test the killing efficiency of the military's new stronger, faster, deadlier group of elite killer soldiers. This is more than just a bog standard sci-fi action film. It has a good heart at the centre of the story which makes you get behind Russell's character 100%. The movie tanked at the box office on its original release for unknown reasons yet I have not met one person who has seen it and failed to enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Sci-fi with Soul
Review: Unlike many sci-fi/action films, "Soldier" stays with you, because it touches the heart with a few poignant, memorable scenes, has an interesting script and character development, and though some of it is derivative and silly, the film has Soul.
Much of this is due to a superb performance by Kurt Russell, in the almost mute part of Todd 3465, who was bred and trained to kill, and whose only feelings and thoughts are of "fear and discipline".
Todd 3465 was born in 1996 for the Adam Project, and we see him at 38, replaced by a faster and more durable model of soldier. Todd, presumed dead, is dumped with the trash on Arcadia, a "waste disposal planet".

There are no big budget special effects, but the visuals and cinematography (by David Tattersall) are excellent, the direction by Paul Anderson is perfectly paced, and Joel McNeely's score, along with the atmospheric sound effects, add a lot to the film.
Sean Partwee and Connie Nielsen are good as the Arcadian couple who befriend Todd, Gary Busey puts in a fine turn as Todd's captain, and Jason Isaacs plays the bad guy with appropriate meanness.
There are some terrific mano-a-mano fight scenes between Russell and his "replacement" Caine 607, played well by Jason Scott Lee, who was marvelous in "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story", and shows his martial arts expertise in this film as well.

The film is free of foul language except for one instance (and one has to wonder why they ruined a perfect score with it), and despite the violence, would make suitable family viewing, because the violence has purpose and meaning...there is nothing gratuitous in this film, which is another reason I appreciate it, and most of all, it has that rare thing in a Hollywood film, a satisfying ending...one that will bring a tear to your eyes.


Rating:
Summary: your men are obsolete
Review: After seeing this film on TV a few times, I decided to go out to the video store and rent it. To me, this is one of those films that really sticks with me for a long time. I thought that Kurt Russell's portrayal as "Todd" (a super soldier selected and trained from birth) was very compelling. Call me weird or crazy, but there is a certain fascination I have for characters who play these lonewolf/mysterious types. These are the types of characters who give some people a creepy feeling down the back of their neck because their screen presence is so powerful and unusual.

The story line is mostly biographical. A group of babies are specially selected at birth for a special operations unit. These kids are indoctrinated as soldiers through 17 + years of brutal training. At various stages in the training, those who do not make the cut are simply killed. The story focuses on Todd. After Todd fights various campaigns we meet him again at the age of 38 when a comanding officer questions his and his platoon's abilities compared to another platoon of super soldiers. A contest is given where Todd and a number of men from his platoon square off against the "new and improved" soldiers. Todd along with a few of his men are left for dead and dumped on a planet designated for garbage disposal. Todd was the only one of his kind to survive. This planet it turns out is inhabited. The natives cautiously welcome him and help him for a while. Eventually, they abandon him after deciding that he simply isn't a good fit for their community. Later however, they find out that they've made a big mistake.

Although Todd was raised to be a soldier only, later in the film we see that he is making somewhat of a transition to being more compassionate and emotional.



Rating:
Summary: Style and story
Review: Good storyline.

Good acting (a bit stilted) but I like it. Kurt Russell PLAYS the part of an emotionally empty soldier dumped into a society.

Negatives:
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> Feels low budget. The storyline is good but could have had a better and been a bit less bleak. I don't mind dark but the visual feel of the movie was "B movie"

If you are looking for amazing dialog look elsewhere, if you are looking for Kurt representing caged emotion you will find it.

If you are looking for cool special effects look to Star Wars or I Robot or any other recent movie. If you want a good story with plausible (albeit flat effects) you will find it here.

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That said I bought it because of the action, and story.

In some ways this is a cliché film, it has the "one guy against overwhelming odds" storyline. I like the interaction and the "healing process" which includes him dealing with everyone else as "sir" and finally figuring out some don't deserve the title. I just love the concept of a conditioned "pure" soldier dropped out of his controlled environment, and gravitating to what is truly "right" (protecting innocents).

Plus a good ending is a prerequisite for a 5 star from me.

As I said 5 stars: Action, good story, and good acting (mostly) + my gratuitous happy ending.


Rating:
Summary: Experience Trumps Strength
Review: Kurt Russell plays Sgt. Todd, #3465, among the first genetically engineered soldiers born and raised to fight. After many years, decades even, of loyal and effective service, a new generation of soldier has been developed. The new generation is stronger with faster reflexes. Of course, in the world of movies there must be a drawback. The drawback is that the new generation has too much arrogance, too little experience, and perhaps way too little common sense.

After a demonstration between the new soldiers, one which has little to do with fighting in the real world, Sgt. Todd is apparently dead and is dropped onto an uninhabited trash world; a huge open-air landfill for civilizations across the inhabited space of mankind. However, Sgt. Todd quickly discovers that the trash world is not uninhabited.

A group of pioneers crashlanded on the planet on the way to another planet, and no one knows they are there. Sgt. Todd has no reason to behave as a soldier towards these people; they do not threaten him and in fact welcome him to their homes. Eventually they come to distrust his soldierly mein and boot him out of their settlement.

By a complete and bizarre coincidence, the new generation of genetically engineered soldiers has been sent to the trash planet to eradicate the squatters, who are somehow now armed and dangerous, at least so far as the soldiers have been told. Of course, even though Sgt. Todd has been booted out of the settlement, he cares for these people and returns to defend them, showing that in actual combat experience and creativity will outweigh sheer strength as long as the odds are somewhat reasonable.

Kurt's character is a perfect blend of Spock and any action hero you care to name. He kills only when necessary, and he has an incredible code of honor. His code of honor extends only to those who act honorably, as we discover in the movie.

The movie is uncharacteristic in that is relies more on the development of Sgt. Todd's character than on special effects and action. The suspense near the end is a bit overly dramatic in places, with more than a little hokum, but in the end the movie is effective and enjoyable.

If you are looking for another variation on the theme of "Mad Max" and "The Road Warrior," with a character who is nearly unemotional, then this movie may fit the bill.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining with a tad of morality
Review: It is interesting how we use Sci-fi to mask or enhance moral tales.

Sergeant Todd "the old model soldier" finds himself protecting the protectless:
Todd is the old model and disposed of in a trash heap that is occupied by kindly lowly people.

They find them self's befriending the befreindless:
The people have to invest time in Todd. But will he be able to change or at least understand their society? Worse still will he become a bad influence?

And together they defeat the defeatless:
Todd's new found friends, after being aggravated by his aggressiveness, snub him. Soon they find that they need his protection. Looks the planet is going to be used for war games and they are the vermin to be distorted.

Will and can Todd help?

Kurt Russell as Todd, takes this from what could have been a two dimensional future shoot-um-up and makes it a multidimensional story that one can relate to.

Rating:
Summary: A Total Waste of Time
Review: This has to be one of the worst sci-fi movies of all time and definitely the worst movie Kurt Russel has ever done. A total waste of time.

The genetically-bred/robot soldier story has become so cliche and overdone that it would now take a lot more imagination for such a film to be good than what this trash has to offer. Kurt Russel doesn't really act in this movie as he has an even smaller script than Schwarzenneger had in "Terminator." In terms of quality, "Escape From New York" would really be Oscar material in light of this garbage.

The story is utterly predictable and the action is weak. Terrible film. Don't believe the great reviews for this movie and save yourselves both money and time.



Rating:
Summary: Stark and subtle tail
Review: I loved this movie. This movie plot has been done before many, many times. Intimidating fighter is thrust into different culture and learns to value it and realizes what he has been missing all this time. What I liked about this movie is the programming the soldiers went through seemed realistic and very possible. I think most people that make movies with the same plot always make the mistake of have the main characters changing too much. This has always seemed unrealistic to me, and quite frankly a little insulting. This movie lets you see the changes in subtle little ways Kurt Russell acts. I would say subtle describes this whole movie. Instead of pounding points into the viewers face, it lets you make your own conclusions on how you would feel if you lived a similar life.

Rating:
Summary: My favourite action movie...not saying much, actually
Review: There are several reviews here which provide a perfectly adequate overview of the movie as a whole, but I want to put in a plug for what is, to me, its greatest appeal. This was one of the first DVDs I ever watched, and it has the first commentary track I ever listened to.
I am a tremendous admirer of Jason Isaacs, who plays a sneering bully (Col. Mekum) in this movie. His role is quite small, but he joins Paul Anderson on the director's commentary and reveals himself to be a man of unusual intelligence and wit. Anderson and the producer, I think, get completely absorbed in self-congratulatory Fanboy minutiae, but I thought Isaacs was hysterically funny. An unusual treat for that reason.