"maybe you should have made them smart instead of fast"

this has a brilliant 7 minute prologue without any character dialogue that perfectly establishes the plot, themes, visual style and character beats for the rest of the movie. looking at this after the bloated but fun excess of mortal kombat and the editing constraints he dealt with on event horizon, this is anderson for the first time at peak situational control. every light, every edit, every sound effect serves a purpose here. with this control comes the first great elaboration of said purpose; his concerns with human life faced against systems that are explicitly mechanistic and anti-human.

the fascism in this universe is vague, all-pervasive. churning out 'perfect' soldiers who are then replaced by the newest model of 'perfect' soldier. kurt russell's character literally gets thrown away with the refuse of society, not because he did something wrong, but because he wasn't up to the impossible fantasies of his militarist creators. they wanted a doll instead of a man. this is anderson's great humanism, the ability to find the humanity within 'dolls', within what we deem to be non-human, non-essential. this is done through a western-inspired democratic dialogue between the denizens of the junk planet, the message is clear and direct here: only by redeeming himself to the collectives of people who have been deemed 'useless' by fascist standards can russell gain the subjectivity he's always had. russell's performance in here is tear-jerking in how earnest it is, good enough to rival snake plisken himself. notice how he constantly refers to sandra as 'sir' regardless of her level of kindness to him, how his former unit themselves immediately convert over to his worker's revolt once they see the virtue and solidarity in his eyes, and how russell only can achieve victory over his 'replacement' through the use of a sickle (!), this is not accidental at all. anderson is a filmmaker who understands the greatest political gestures are the ones that go unnoticed, that fit seamlessly into the logic of the narrative tapestry he's weaving.

this is tender cinema, movies for the cold-hearted and perhaps cynical. soldier is an experience to open yourself up to the possibility of redemption, acceptance, love, connection, compassion, real feelings. in addition, kurt russell goes full commando and throws a sandstorm at the bad guys, which is fucking rad. fascism is obsolete!

how the hell is this a part of the blade runner universe though