Soldier (1998)

A soldier trained from birth is deemed obsolete and dumped on a waste planet where he is reluctantly taken in by a community of defenseless, stranded wayfarers.

Director:

Paul W.S. Anderson (as Paul Anderson)

Writer:

David Webb Peoples

Stars:

Kurt Russell, Jason Scott Lee, Jason Isaacs

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kurt Russell	...	Todd 3465
Jason Scott Lee	...	Caine 607
Jason Isaacs	...	Colonel Mekum
Connie Nielsen	...	Sandra
Sean Pertwee	...	Mace
Jared Thorne	...	Nathan
Taylor Thorne	...	Nathan
Mark Bringelson	...	Rubrick
Gary Busey	...	Church
K.K. Dodds	...	Sloan
James Black	...	Riley
Mark De Alessandro	...	Goines
Vladimir Orlov	...	Romero
Carsten Norgaard	...	Green
Duffy Gaver	...	Chelsey

Storyline

In a futuristic society, some people are selected at birth to become soldiers, and trained in such a manner that they become inhuman killing machines. One of the most succesfull and older of these soldiers (Russell) is pitted against a new breed of soldiers, and after the confrontation is believed to be dead. His body is left behind in a semi-abandoned colonial planet, where everything is peaceful, and he is taught about the other aspects of life. But eventually he has to fight the new breed of soldiers again, this time to defend his new home...

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Plot Keywords:

time bomb | soldier | planet | crash survivor | survivor | 

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Taglines:

Left for dead on a remote planet for obsolete machines and people, a fallen hero has one last battle to fight

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and brief language

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros.

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 October 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Soldado Implacável

Filming Locations:

Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,447,237, 25 October 1998, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$14,567,883, 6 December 1998

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Morgan Creek Entertainment Group, Jerry Weintraub Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Writer David Webb Peoples has said that Soldier is a "side-quel" to Blade Runner (1982) (which he also wrote) because it takes place in the same universe, and in fact the vehicles used by the Blade Runners - spinners - are also used in Soldier. The premise of Soldier was actually based on an unused opening scene for Blade Runner, where a group of Replicants are dumped and left for dead on an Off-world colony. Both films were released by Warner Brothers, and both were box-office failures that gained a cult following after being released on home video.

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Goofs

After Cain exits his broken vehicle, he is bleeding from his left shoulder. In the next scene he is bleeding from the right shoulder, and his left shoulder is uninjured. In a later scene, he again bleeds from his left shoulder, with his right shoulder uninjured.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Female Voice: [to audience of very young boys] A soldier does not speak until spoken to by a superior officer. A soldier shows no mercy. Mercy is weakness. Weakness is death. A soldier...
[squealing pig led in for slaughter]

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Connections

References Aliens (1986)

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Soundtracks

The Flowing Bowl
Traditional Arranged by Solas
Courtesy of Shanachie Entertainment Corp.

User Reviews

Well, I liked it

OK, so Soldier isn't deep and meaningful like Blade Runner or as big budget as Terminator 2 but on the whole I found it quite enjoyable.

The fact that Kurt Russell stayed in character not speaking and being virtually emotionless made the moments when his humanity broke through all the more poignant. I found his portrayal of restricted emotional development more touching than Arnie's in the T films (and before I get comments yes I know that Arnie was a cyborg and Kurt was human but the premise put forward by both films was the same).

So to the film itself, a reasonable US/Brit cast are able to flesh out this little story. Not really sure if Gary Busey and his two deputies were baddies or goodies, so was unable to decide whether I liked them or not. The colony was a little more realistic neither a misguided bunch of peace loving/gullible/cowardly hicks who get wiped out from the get go nor a group of subversive aggressive terrorists paranoid about offworlders and each other.

Kurt Russell is good and unlike other comments I do not feel this will have a negative impact on his career (unlike maybe Escape from LA - sequels are such fickle creatures!). Sean Pertwee has really done his late father proud by continuing the families noble Sci-Fi lineage. And the rest of the cast helped flesh out this pathetic band of people making the most of a bad situation and not doing too badly.

If you see this on your TV schedule I would recommend giving it a chance. I don't think you will be disappointed.