"Soldier" - One Retread's As Good As Another

"Soldier" is one of the first batch of movies I saw on rented DVDs. I'm glad I only paid $3 to rent the movie, because I'd have been mad if I'd paid $10 to see it in the theater, or $14 to buy it. In a few words, it's a very predictable, familiar story, with a few decent special effects and fight scenes going for it.

"Soldier" details the near future, where individuals are selected at birth and taken to live under the tutelage of an SS-like military establishment, and trained to be professional soldiers. Their training includes isolation from the general public and any kind of family environment, religion, politics, and relentless brainwashing for total allegiance to the state. Weakness is not tolerated, and is either trained out of them, or, if that fails, the weak are executed.

Kurt Russell plays Todd, a youth who shows great promise at an early age, and becomes the best soldier of his time. He is sent to many theaters of war, including those on other planets, and he always does his job with extreme efficiency and effectiveness. However, the military has designed an even better type of soldier, genetically engineered to be the best. Some of them are brought by a WestPoint officer to Todd's base, and his commander puts Todd and two others against one of the "supermen" in a fight to the death. The "superman" wins, but not before Todd has pulled his eye out. His three opponents are dispatched; two killed, and Todd thought dead.

Todd and the other two soldiers are taken by a garbage ship and dumped on a remote world, supposedly uninhabited. There are people there, however, marooned; they scavenge to make a living. They rescue Todd and nurse him back to health. With the settlers he learns kindness, companionship, and devotion to a group other than the military. True to the familiar plot, he must rally the settlers to defend against a landing force of the "supermen", who are to exterminate all residents of the planet. It's here that Todd must again fight the "superman" who nearly killed him before.

One could fault the movie for having an overly familiar plot, and still rate it well, if it did not have other, significant problems. Unfortunately, that's not the case with "Soldier". One of the first things to notice is the resemblance of the military establishment to the SS; even the cut of the uniforms and their insignia are very similar to those in the children's training camp. Did the symbolism have to be that heavy handed?

I also found it odd that Todd's "body" wasn't checked after his fight with the "superman"; nobody looked to see if he was really dead or not! Even more odd, the WestPoint officer did put a bullet through the head of one of the other soldiers after the fight. And speaking of that officer, his character was a little too silly. A 21st century space-going soldier with a pearl-handled revolver on a hip-slung gun belt?

Todd's character could have used much more development; he had less than a dozen lines of dialog in the movie. You're also expected to believe that despite being nearly killed by one "superman", he later can kill dozens of them by himself. While the strong, silent type can be a good hero, it didn't work in this movie; Todd merely seemed to be sullen.

The special effects in the movie aren't bad, and the fight scenes are all right too, with an imaginative battle between soldiers hanging from chains. The garbage dump planet had a few interesting backdrops, including one scene where part of the garbage is a whole WW II aircraft carrier. However, that's not enough to carry the whole movie.

"Soldier" is an unimaginative adventure in the near future in a world that might be, but probably won't.