Soldier

Sandra: "But...one soldier against seventeen? What are you going to do?"
Todd: "I'm going to kill them all."

release year: 1998
genre: action
viewing setting: home Bluray 2/17/22 and 3/25/17 and 9/17/14 and home DVD, 11/1/12 and 5/22/10 and 10/22/00 and theater, 10/24/98

synopsis: In the near future, the best soldiers are born and bred that way. When an older one is rendered obselete by a newer model who's younger/faster/stronger, he is discarded...but finds a new home with some castaways on a remote planet.

impressions: Well, the plot wasn't rocket science, but you know what? I was never bored. This had the right mix of action and special effects, and it was well-paced. A good manly-man movie, this. It also avoided several common mistakes: it didn't bother with a stupid contrived love story, it didn't have a so-called comedic element such as Rob Schneider or a Wayans brother, and it didn't spare the lives of the children who got in the way of enemy fire. War is hell, and this movie depicts that.

acting: Kurt Russell won't win any Oscars for his minimal-dialogue role here, but he's quite effective, and it's obvious that he's been working out (the word is that he took a year off specifically to train for this role.) Jason Isaacs is an unlikeable officer, while Gary Busey is the tough lower-ranking officer who has to put up with him. Jason Scott Lee is good as the younger model soldier.

final word: solid sci-fi action

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