O Soldado do Futuro

Kurt Russell is strong and (mostly) silent in this futuristic action-thriller from Paul Anderson (Event Horizon, Resident Evil.) Set on a garbage-dump planet, Soldier plays like a cross between Rambo and Shane, with Russell barely speaking as the title character, an "obsolete" genetic soldier left for dead. The supporting cast of colonists, including Connie Nielsen, Sean Pertwee and a surprisingly hirsute Michael Chiklis, is able. They spend most of the movie being scared of Russell, and the rest of it running for their lives. Russell's performance here is one of the best he's ever given. With almost no words to say, he conveys emotion, feeling and meaning with looks and glances. It is almost a mime performance. When the action sequences kick into gear, he kicks ass--and does so in a strong, silent, matter-of fact way. There are flaws. Jason Scott Lee is brutish as a "superior" genetic soldier. Jason Isaacs does a great impression of Frank Burns from M*A*S*H as a weaselly commanding officer, and Gary Busey busts a gut (and nearly busts his girdle) as Todd's mentor. This is an underrated, and excellent sci-fi flick, and recommended for anyone who wants a second visit to the universe of Blade Runner--David Webb Peoples wrote both screenplays.

A childhood movie of mine which I cherish a lot and had a lot of good memories with. This is also the first time I personally got introduced to Kurt Russell. My bias aside, this was a great movie with a lot of fun and action and story poured into it. A little dark at the start with some child violence and stuff but it's all cool. It's a very fun movie to watch. It's very hard for me to look at "Soldier" with an outside perspective because my bias won't allow me, I honestly loved this movie from start to finish. What I will however admit though, is that it's by no means perfect or anything, hence the 7/10 rating.

I bought the Laser Disk of this movie and watched it for the first time last night. I thought it was pretty cool, and the audio commentary by the director, producer and co-star was first rate. Highly recommended purchase on LD, or DVD. And if you have a Pro-logic or Ac3 amp it sounds brilliant.

The first two sequences of this movie set up the two conflicts: the -thematic- conflict between the soldier Todd and his suppressed humanity, and the -physical- conflict between Todd and his bio-engineered replacement. Both sequences are quite gripping in different ways.

Peoples' screenplay falters somewhat by resolving the first of these arcs half-way through the movie, which means the second half is little more than a straightforward action romp.

Nonetheless, kudos to the makers for creating an genre action piece with heart and even a bit of soul and especially to Kurt Russell who conveys much with very little.

Not a great film, but one worth seeing.

I don't know what I was doing when this movie originally came out, because I watched this first time today. This was, and still is a movie for me.

Background, lighting and camerawork reminded me of Aliens. Plot was similar to several movies of this genre. I have a feeling that lot was borrowed from Universal Soldier. I detected glimpses of the Terminator-franchise as well. Generally I hate it when I can pinpoint copying or "paying homage" (I'm looking at you, Waterworld...), but the team behind Soldier managed to make the experience enjoyable.

Todd was suitably awkward given his long military career and training. The couple who took him in were in my eyes your basic married-with-children husband and wife very much in love with each other. Their son was a nice surprise. Quiet and sensible kid who didn't get anybody in trouble or killed. Even villains of this movie were tolerable. Predictable as heck but not annoyingly childish.

Solid 8 stars.