Soldier
Ivica_Pusticki

Review by Ivica_Pusticki Patron

Soldier 1998

★★★★½

Rewatched 31 Mar 2024

SCI-FIx52 [2024]
11. Watch a science-fiction film with action elements.

So...after finishing watching this, it got me thinking! SOLDIER is a perfect example of what today's generations would call "a dad movie"; a macho testosterone-filled violent action flick that middle-aged dads can watch a hundred times over and over because it makes them feel better!
But you know what...I'm perfectly fine with that, because I am a middle-aged dad, and I love bad-ass violent action movies...and SOLDIER is exactly that - a bad-ass violent action movie filled with macho bullshit and testosterone! And I LOVE IT!

But OK...all "jokes" aside...

SOLDIER is a simple action movie with a stripped-down narrative that focuses on the journey of its protagonist, Todd, who has been trained since birth to be the perfect warrior.
He is an emotionless killing machine that doesn't know mercy, empathy, or kindness...only fear and discipline! He never had a normal life, and he never had a family...the army is his only family!
But once he is replaced by a new generation of soldiers and left for dead on a remote planet used as a dumping ground for trash and discarded soldiers, where he is saved and taken in by a community of defenseless, stranded wayfarers...he will be forced to confront his own humanity and find feelings he didn't even know he had!

Now...despite common belief and a title that possibly suggests that this is a non-stop balls-to-the-wall action-packed movie...that's not the case with SOLDIER. Not at all!
Actually, the pace slows down in the middle part of the movie, allowing for deeper character development as Todd begins to grapple with unfamiliar emotions and confront his humanity, and as he learns to navigate the complexities of human interaction and emotions.

But once Todd starts to understand what empathy and compassion are, and learns the value of human life, and when the people who saved him find themselves in danger...the movie kicks into a higher gear, and shit hits the fan!
The last 20-30 minutes of SOLDIER are basically RAMBO in space, with Kurt Russell blasting violently enemy soldiers left and right, ending the whole thing with an awesome and brutal fight against Jason Scott Lee...

And speaking of Kurt Russell and Jason Scott Lee, it should be noted that the cast of SOLDIER is really great, and in addition to the mentioned two, there are also Jason Isaacs, Connie Nielsen, Sean Pertwee, Gary Busey, and Michael Chiklis with hair!
Russell was probably in the best shape of his life while making this movie because he worked out three or four hours a day for eighteen months prior to filming this movie. But that surely paid off since his muscles (and eyes) do most of the "talking" in the movie, as he speaks only a total of 104 words.

But anyway...SOLDIER is not necessarily classic material or even a great movie in terms of storytelling and acting, but it's an awesome sci-fi action flick, and as I said earlier...I LOVE IT!
I always loved this movie, and for years, this was always a 4-star movie in my book! But this time I enjoyed it even more, so I decided to amp up my rating to 4.5! Also, next to EVENT HORIZON and MORTAL KOMBAT, this is easily one of the best, if not the best movie Paul W.S. Anderson directed!

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