Universal Soldier

This film begins with an extremely influential mercenary known simply as "Ryker" (George Lazenby) coming out of retirement in order to assist an exiled African ruler overthrow the government of that particular country. Naturally, because of his mercenary mindset, Ryker makes it clear to everyone concerned that he is totally non-political and that his only concern revolves around the money--and nothing else. Curiously enough, while in the process of procuring arms in London, he suddenly begins to rethink his position and, together with his colleague "Jesse" (Ben Carruthers) decides to renege on his contract--with devastating consequences for all concerned. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that, in the course of watching this movie, I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. That moment never came as each and every scene seemed even more monotonous than the one preceding it. Likewise, the awful music accompanying many of these same scenes only made matters worse. In short, while there may be a few anti-war movies from this era that might be worth watching, this isn't one of them, and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

Maybe that will sound strange to you, but I have always confounded this movie, made in the early seventies, and the last of director Cy Endfield, with another mercenary tale, also from 1970-71, and also the last of another film maker: Gordon Flemyng, called THE LAST GRENADE. Both anti hero tales, as there were batches in those times, downbeat, gloomy, not for today's audiences anyway. I prefer THE LAST GRENADE, I don't know why....ha ha ha. Gordon Flemyng never gave us the same filmography as Cy Endfield. But of course both films are totally different. This one is a pacifist and totally improvised film in terms of script, not an action flick. Most audiences will find it tedious, because it is. We are here entirely in the seventies mood, hippy and so on...But this one is not charmless for old seventies dramas or thrillers. I don't care if that's not a masterpiece nor Cy Endfield's best work. I like it. Period. I would have imagined Nick cage in Lazenby's role, if it had to be remade. Maybe because of Cage in 2005 LORD OF WAR, also speaking of arms traffick.

This film was a lot better than I thought it was going to be and a lot better than its given credit for in my opinion. After leaving the Bond franchise after only one movie (1) George Lazenby was looking for a project that had personal meaning for him, rather than just a paycheque. It was the late 60s early '70s and he was sincerely inspired by the "make love not war" sentiment which defined those times for many. Enough to put his career on the line in order to try and get this message across. His comments at the time indicate that he put his heart and soul into it, but, for whatever reason, the movie critics and the ticket buying public remained unmoved. Looking back, a disheartened and disillusioned Lazenby has been dismissive and disparaging about the project, but I see it as, if not a great movie, at least a very worthy attempt to making one.

Cy Enfield does a good job of directing, in the less stage-bound, semi documentary style of the 60s and 70s, when outdoor shooting became much more common, finding plenty of interesting and imaginative camera angles. I didn't find the plot at all hard to follow, the dialogue is spare, containing little in the way of exposition, and the story is often advanced via musical montage sequences, which I'm not always a fan of, but in this case worked well enough. I particularly enjoyed the music, by a fellow called Phillip Goodhand-Tait, a talented songwriter in his own right who has released numerous albums and been covered by several well-known artists, which I found was nicely representative of the "Hairy rock" sound of those times. Lazenby's own performance is very good, understated and natural, as are those of the other performers involved (including the infamous Germaine Greer and also Lazenby's future wife in real life, who plays his girlfriend in the movie).

The Story is about a former mercenary who has tried to retire, but is reluctantly drawn back into "the life" as he is running out of money. His heart is not in it and, part way through, an unfortunate incident triggers him to abruptly abandon his involvement without completing his contract. He finds comfort among the more bohemian elements of London and hopes to live quietly among them, learning yoga and searching for spiritual peace. However his former associates and employers have other ideas and he is forced into taking counter measures. I won't say any more in order not to spoil it for anyone planning to watch the film.

(1) Re the Bond franchise, did he jump or was he pushed? We will never know for sure, as Bond management always prefer to allow the actors to say they chose to leave, in order to make the legacy seem warm and fuzzy rather than cold and calculating. The decisions a result of artistic differences, rather than driven by economically realities, and all good friends again now, with a vested interest in the continued good health of the franchise.

Universal Soldier was aired on British TV around 1980* and I watched it, as a young teenager, in our family sitting room on my own with the lights turned down. It was the first film I can recall having any kind of emotional effect on me (other than fear, which was the usual outcome watching 'scary stuff' like Dr. Who as, say, an eight-year old).

Having not seen the movie since then, this review might understandably be a little shaky in the fact department. All I am writing here is a memory of a film I saw over 20 years ago.

Universal Soldier stars ex-007 George Lazenby who plays a mercenary being hired by some African despot to carry out dirty deeds. The movie opens with him arriving off a long-haul flight and going to collect his pistol from the purser/ customs department in the arrivals hall (you could obviously do this sort of thing in 1971 especially if you had been Bond). Whilst back office he glimpses some long-haired bum having his body cavities searched for illicit substances, and gives him a wry smile. He is living a glamorous lifestyle with flash cars and a bird on each arm but the purpose of this visit is also work related: making contacts for his next assignment, testing some assault hovercraft on a country estate in England, that sort of thing.

Anyway, somehow along the way he meets fellow Australian Germaine Greer, the now-well known feminist, who plays a sexy hippie chick with a cool pad where they can both smoke pot and chill out. They fall for each other; she shows him the light and causes him to reject his immoral and unethical ways.

I am sure the movie is hiply shot and full of devices in fashion with filmmakers at the time, giving it a now much dated feel. (See the incongruous running-around-in-circles 'musical' scene in the otherwise excellent The Swimmer for example). But, at the time, I saw through that (or more likely, obliviously went along with it).

The film made a strong impact on me as a teen full of romantic ideals about love and war. Universal Soldier has many potent ingredients: dashing leads, cool gadgets, interesting plot, soft drugs, a strong female, sex and ethics. (I wonder what my ex-girlfriends think of this review). Incidentally, another film that appealed, viewed several years later, was Sherman's March.

In the days after seeing the film I kept coming back to it in my mind and marvelled at how a mere movie could have such an unexpected impact. From then on I saw all films with different eyes learning to pay close attention to what was going on to get the most out of them.

Since then movies have played a small but significant role in my life as I have served on the committee of my university film society, been a buyer for a video club and have over 300 movies at home on DVD and video.

In my memory of over 20 years ago, this is surely a cult classic but when I first looked up Universal Soldier on the IMDb in 1998 the title didn't even exist as an entry and now at time of writing only has 10 votes. If I saw it again would I be disappointed???

Edit 17 Oct 2014 - just found out the actual date this was broadcast due to the BBC genome project: 28 Feb 1981. http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/5042eb362d8b4cb89f97531ad4e90615

Following George Lazeny's one off stint as James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Lazenby tried to break away from Bond and his second starring film 1971's Universal Soldier was described by Lazenby as "Ant-War and Anti-Bond". The movie is very much defined by the counter culture era that gave us such films as Easy Rider and Lazenby certainly disappears into his role as the mercenary known as Stryker, but its satire is so broad and indulgent the movie really does become a monotonous watch with endless scenes of lingering on weapons with "ironic music" placement and the lack of direction in the movie becomes an endurance test.

At its core the movie is a satire of the military industrial complex and the messy political and economic machinations that keep the engine of warfare running, but that's basically the only real point the movie has as it just endlessly repeats meandering directionless scene after meandering directionless scene. I will say the Lazenby is committed in his performance, but the surrounding movie is just so suffocating it's hard to get engaged in his characters journey through various arms dealers and shadowy political figures because by Lazenby's own words the movie has "no plot" and is "just a series of happenings" so there's nothing keeping you invested. I didn't feel right giving this film a quantifiable rating because it's a loosely structured movie that's lacking a point by design and your experience will be subjective. What others will see as indulgent lack of direction, others will see as daring film making of the era.