Soldier (1998)
Director: Paul WS Anderson
Starring: Kurt Russell, Sean Pertwee, Connie Nielsen, Jason Isaacs
Primary genre: Science fiction
Secondary genre: Action
From a bird’s eye view, Paul WS Anderson has quite the resume when you exclude all these Resident Evil movies (2002-2016). Starting with Mortal Kombat in 1995, one of the few beloved videogame adaptations, he then proceeded to give us the horror classic Event Horizon (1997). Despite its box office failure, he managed to get an extra $60 million to work for his next genre entry: a science fiction action flick called Soldier. However, it was deemed another box office flop for the British director and not a memorable one at that. Mainstream cinephiles have forgotten it though even if it has a peak-physique Kurt Russell and a relationship with the world of Blade Runner (1982). For some strange reason though, like most of Anderson’s outputs, it earned a cult status and deserves to be re-evaluated after almost three decades.
“Soldiers deserve soldiers, Sir.”
At its core, the film centers around a very narrow concept which besides the futuristic (albeit in a minimalistic presentation) twist, does little to deliver anything new. We have seen several other movies showcasing emotionless soldiers being programmed to kill enemies against their human nature (Universal Soldier (1992)) and Soldier has nothing truly spectacular or novel to go for it. While there are elements that could have provided the necessary moral and emotional heart in its story, the film ends as quickly as it starts. This makes this science fiction tale less of a space adventure which the poster promises and more of a direct-to-video dud with high production value. Yet, even the production design seems limited in scope taking place in a waste disposal planet. This prohibits Anderson from being inventive in both his set pieces or the world representation besides some verbal references (e.g., Tannhäuser Gate!) to Blade Runner’s ideas and concepts.
For the most part, the special effects are solid, the action is well-staged if not truly ground-breaking, and the stuntwork above average with the director doing his best to bring some of the creative flair he showed in Mortal Kombat and Event Horizon: zooms, pans, pull-out shots, slo-mo, and more but you can’t help but sense how everything is stale; from the music to the dialogue, there is no serious gravitas to have us truly invested in a story where characters have a handful of growth or cinematic interest. So it is all up to the movie god that is Kurt Russell to save the film, and save he does. Under a bare minimum of spoken lines (maybe 11 or something), his commanding presence as Todd is enough to elevate the mediocre proceedings. His performance is adequate although it might be perceived as a disappointment considering the beloved actor behaves emotionless in every shot.
The supporting cast is interesting ranging from Gary Busey to Jason Isaacs, but the lack of a clear villain and an engaging development of a banal story template is ultimately what keeps Soldier as a decent, if not an underwhelming entry in Anderson’s filmography.
Adequate if not mediocre sci-fi
+Kurt Russell is Kurt Russell
+Solid action
+Good production design
+Good pace
-Small in scope despite budget
-Blade Runner connection is pointless
-Russell is emotionless throughout
-Been there, done there