Film Review - Soldier (1998)

Soldier starts in the past; 1996 to be specific. This is year zero of the Adam Project, a military program designed to raise the perfect soldiers from birth. The prospective soldiers are raised in a military school, subjected to harsh training, and mentally conditioned to do nothing but follow orders.

After the conclusion of training, we leap to year 38 of the Project. Todd (Kurt Russel) is one of the elite soldiers. He and his fellow troops have been in numerous wars (we get glimpses of the War of the Six Cities, the Moscow Incident, and the Battle of the Argentine Moons (FTL travel exists some time before 2036). How they survive any of them is a bit of a mystery since their tactical acumen seems limited to “walk down the middle of the street firing.” But, hey, it looks bad-ass.

Unfortunately for Todd and his fellow soldiers, there’s something new on the horizon; Colonel Mekum (Jason Isaacs in full-on needless jerk mode) and his genetically engineered, test-tube baby troopers. They prove to be physically superior to the Todd and his comrades. Todd is apparently killed during a fight with one the super-soldiers - Caine 607 (Jason Scott Lee), and his body is dumped with a shipload of garbage on Arcadia 234, a desolate planet used for waste disposal

Todd finds the planet inhabited by a small colony of marooned humans who live off the junk. He attempts to fit in, although it is very difficult due to his training; he knows nothing but war. After he accidentally attacks a colonist, he is exiled; but, when Mekum and his troops arrive and the Colonel decides to eradicate the colony as a training exercise, Todd finds a cause to fight for.

Screenplay writer David Peoples originally conceived of Soldier as a sidequel to Blade Runner. There are a few references to that film sprinkled about, such as a Spinner on the junk planet and Todd having fought at the Tannhauser Gate, which is one of the battles Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) mentions in Blade Runner. It isn’t hard to see Caine and the other supersoldiers as a variation on the Replicants. And, the story does touch on some of the themes of Blade Runner, namely what is it that makes a person human, can we really get away from our nature as emotional creatures, and is there such a thing as the soul inherent in human consciousness.

While the acting is pretty good, the characters are poorly developed. Colonel Mekum is cartoonishly cruel, to the point of seeing civilians as targets for his troops because he doesn’t want “paperwork.” The soldiers, including our protagonist, have very little dialogue. While Kurt Russell does a serviceable job of trying to show Todd’s inner conflicts, the mostly silent, stoic portrayal - and a third act devoted to action - mean he comes across as shallow.

The film looks good. The designs of Arcadia, the colony cobbled together from civilization’s garbage, and the high tech military hardware are well done (although the APC - see below - would be a missile magnet; there’s a reason we don’t build vehicles the size of barns). Paul Anderson, best known for the Resident Evil films, demonstrates he can tell an interesting visual story, something not evident in his later work. He also works in a visual reference to Event Horizon, his superior film from the previous year.

The film really begins to fall apart in the third act. Instead of continuing to show Todd’s character developing into a full human being, the movie devolves into a pointless orgy of explosions and gunfire. Even though Todd is defending the colonists from Mekum’s soldiers, it is hard to feel good about it. After all, they are following orders and are no more (or less) remorseless killers than he is. And, frankly, Todd’s ability to kill off all of the enemy troops is hard to believe, given how proficient they are supposed to be. It comes across as perfunctory, relying on the enemy being painfully dumb. We know Todd will win, we know they’ll be a showdown between Todd and Caine, we know that Mekum will get his (although, it is from a “planet killer” bomb…so, that’s cool). We’ve seen it all before. Which isn’t a problem in and off itself; but, it is when we’ve seen it done better. Take a look at a movie like Die Hard. We know that Bruce Willis will win; but the story is told in a fun fashion and the action is visually engaging.

With a script that relied less on cliches and more time spent on character development, Soldier would have been a better film. With a third act that didn’t seem so tired, then maybe some of the promising themes could have been further developed. As it is, Soldier is a decent sci-fi/action film, but not as good as it could have been.