Soldier (1998)

Soldier (1998), directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, written by David Webb Peoples, starring Kurt Russell, Jason Scott Lee, Jason Isaacs, Connie Nielsen, Gary Busey, Sean Pertwee

In the distant past of 1996, a group of babies are selected. They are put in a vigorous training programme, aimed to create a squadron of elite soldiers, who feel no pity or remorse and obey every order without questions. Todd (Russell) is one of them, men grew for war, with no other objective in their lives than to fight or die fighting.

After decades of service, Colonel Mekum (Isaacs) introduces his new breed of soldiers. These new men are not selected at birth, they have been manufactured by splicing DNA. Bigger, stronger, faster, with better endurance. After a series of tests, Todd is pitted against Caine (Scott Lee), who easily defeats 3 of the old soldiers. Believing, they all are dead, Mekum orders to dump the bodies to a distant waste disposal planet Arcadia 234.

But, as you might suspect, Todd did not die. As he wakes up, he finds that has been abandoned by his former masters. And that the planet he is on, is not empty. A group of crash-landed colonists have made their home there. After years of trying to arouse the attention of the automated trash ships, they have accepted their new life as settlers among the trash.

Todd, still wounded, is nursed back to life by a family of colonists. During his recovery, he witnesses life he has never seen or experienced himself, a family of people, who love each other. No strict rules, no orders, just a family trying to cope with what they have been given by the harsh reality of their surroundings.

While Todd is getting better, Mekum decides to give his new troops some much needed real-life practice. He decides to make a standard sweep on the Arcadia system. He does not expect any resistance but states everyone found there is to be treated as a hostile. Little does he know what is to come of this decision.

Soldier is not a movie that caters for any huge surprises. By most counts, it is by the numbers sci-fi action movie. It is also one of those movies, which are, despite how basic it is, far better it has any right to be. No matter how bad of a director Paul W.S. Anderson is, even his sloppy style of directing action doesn't manage to diminish the saving grace of the movie, Kurt Russell's performance as the dehumanized soldier, who manages to find the last remnants of humanity from within himself.

I do find it somewhat amusing, that the scenes which work the best are the silent character bits between the shlocky, hamfisted action. It's not really something I'd expect from the Anderson movie, but I guess that is more on how well the cast performs. And I'd guess some kudos should be given to the Peoples' script as well.

The action of the movie is at times hilariously bad. Anderson manages to add explosions to almost everything, including a tank driving over some trees. It's made more fun by the fact how serious tone the movie has, as there isn't a shred of self-irony present in anything. The style of action he is going for just isn't the kind of action the script is asking for.

Soldier is one of those bad movies, which are just the correct amount of bad. It isn't so bad that it would be unwatchable, it is so so bad that is better because of it. You can watch it and make fun of it and have a nice time doing so.

As a little extra bit of trivia, Soldier is actually set in the same universe as Blade Runner. The writer,
David Webb Peoples also wrote Blade Runner and did manage to slip in a couple of references tying the movies together. Not that it makes Soldier any worse or better.