Sergeant Todd (Kurt Russell, Big Trouble In Little China) was raised from birth to be a merciless, emotionless killing machine for the military. The decorated soldier fought around the world and galaxy for decades, only to face his biggest battle at home. A unit of genetically engineered super soldiers arrives at Todd’s headquarters. Captain Church (Gary Busey, Point Break) pits Todd and his best men against the new breed, including Caine (Jason Scott Lee, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story) and led by Colonel Mekum (Jason Isaacs, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets). The brutal competition doesn’t end well for the veterans. Todd’s busted-up body is dropped on a waste disposal planet, where he finds a group of peaceful scavengers living among the scrap heaps who teach him what it’s like to be social and act human. The inner growth comes to an abrupt end when Todd’s old captain drops by so the new troops can engage in live target practice. Soldier is filled with exciting stunts scenes from action impresario Paul W.S. Anderson (Mortal Kombat & Resident Evil). The movie also stars Connie Nielsen (Gladiator), Sean Pertwee (Dog Soldiers), Michael Chiklis (The Shield), and Wyatt Russell (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters).
What We Thought:
Soldier is a movie that should be way better than what it is. It’s a movie I should love because it’s a movie that is made for guys like me. It stars Kurt Russell. It’s a sci-fi flick with over the top action. It feels like a ton of other movies I enjoy like Universal Soldier and Pitch Black and for some reason, I’ve never loved Soldier. It’s fine to watch, but man should it be great.
The film is about orphans bred to be soldiers who are then being replaced by the latest and greatest versions of newer soldiers. Kurt Russell is Todd, one of the original soldiers who ends up losing a fight and is believed to be dead and dumped off as garbage on another planet. There he realizes there are forgotten people on this planet and joins them until the new generation of soldiers go there to clear out the place.
The biggest issue to me is that you take one of cinema’s most charismatic leading men (Kurt Russell) and make him a wooden, almost robotic type character. Russell is Snake Plissken, Wyatt Earp, Jack Burton, R.J. MacReady. The man has played Elvis freaking Presley. I don’t know if he says more than 100 words the entire film. I understand the character is a stoic, emotionless killing machine type, but Russell is so underused in it that you were better off casting someone else. He handles the action well of course and the action sequences are pretty solid coming from director Paul W.S. Anderson.
Soldier was a box office bomb. It gained a bit of a following later on, but isn’t a beloved movie in Kurt Russell’s filmography. Anderson would go on to have hits with the Resident Evil films and it has a great supporting cast including Jason Scott Lee, Jason Isaacs, Connie Nielsen, Michael Chiklis, Sean Pertwee and Gary Busey. It even has a young Wyatt Russell playing a younger version of his dad like he does nowadays. It should be a movie I secretly love because of the talent involved and it even has ties to Blade Runner, but it’s not a movie I go back to often. But if you are a fan the new 4K looks fantastic and sounds even better and the bonus features have some cool interviews, commentary and behind-the-scenes elements.
Special features include a 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentations in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible); original DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio and stereo audio; optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing; an archival audio commentary by director Paul W.S. Anderson, actor Jason Isaacs and others; brand new interviews with actor James Black and others; a brand new behind-the-scenes look at how the film’s special effects were created with visual effects supervisor Craig Barron and others; a brand new retrospective on the film; the archival electronic press kit; on-set interviews with cast and crew; trailers; and a collectors’ booklet.
The Nerds Templar 