soldier ( 1998 ) a film review by justin felix . copyright 1998 justin felix . other reviews by me may be found at <a href= " http : //us . imdb . com/m/reviews_by ? justin + felix " >http : //us . imdb . com/m/reviews_by ? justin + felix</a> this review also appears in the shrubbery -- <a href= " http : //www . theshrubbery . prohosting . com/1198/movie1 . html " >http : //www . theshrubbery . prohosting . com/1198/movie1 . html</a> screenplay by david webb peoples . directed by paul anderson . starring kurt russell , jason scott lee , gary busey . rated r ( contains violence and profanity ) approx . 95 mins . synopsis : in the near future , sergeant todd , trained from birth to be a remorseless killing machine , and his squad of merciless soldiers are replaced by genetically engineered warriors . believed dead , todd is dumped onto a garbage planet where a small group of colonists struggle to survive . todd defends these colonists from the warriors who replaced him when their superior officer decides the colonists would make good target practice . comments : on paper , soldier has the ingredients to make a superior film . it is written by david webb peoples , who penned the screenplay to the classic blade runner and the critically-acclaimed 12 monkeys . it is directed by paul anderson , who was responsible for event horizon , an unfairly criticized cross-genre film , and mortal kombat , a popular movie based on the video game of the same name . it even stars kurt russell , who has acted in good science fiction films such as stargate and john carpenter's remake of the thing . though soldier is an entertaining and visually interesting film , it proves to be somewhat disappointing considering the talent involved in the film's production . soldier begins in the year 1996 , when sergeant todd is born . apparently , on the date of his birth , todd , along with a group of other babies , is chosen to be involved in a government ( ? ) program to raise and train a group of fearless ground soldiers . through a series of rapid flashbacks , the audience sees todd grow to adulthood and some of the campaigns on other worlds that he is involved in . already , the audience is keenly aware of the major flaw in the movie : nothing is ever really explained . soldier never details ( a ) who todd fights for , ( b ) why a technologically savvy society needs human ground troops when they could probably find less expensive means of achieving military goals , or ( c ) how our planet becomes an intergalactic colonizing force within the next 20 years . apparently , the only things the filmmakers wish us to know is that todd is a killing machine and the person in charge is a really bad guy . what follows is the standard sci-fi cliche of the underdog against a supposedly superior opponent ; in this case , sergeant todd and a ragtag group of colonists try to defend themselves from a horde of genetically-enhanced , heavily armed , well-trained soldiers . guess who wins . having criticized the screenplay , i can now say that i still enjoyed soldier . this is a movie which attempts to cross genres to create something different . event horizon , paul anderson's last film , combined horror and science fiction , giving the audience a haunted spaceship . similarly , soldier combines science fiction with the western and the action movie , giving us shane on another planet . the mix of genres works for the most part . though the story , including the ultimate resolution , is quite obvious , the film's landscape , an apocalyptic garbage dump of a planet presented paradoxically beautiful in its harshness , and some brilliant pyrotechnic fight scenes make soldier a fun saturday afternoon matinee movie . like event horizon , however , soldier doesn't pull any punches [no pun intended] when it comes to violence -- one of the reasons i suspect event horizon was so squarely criticized . soldier is violent ; it has many bloody scenes , a number of grisly deaths , and some rather sadistic moments ( these warriors , for instance , have no reservations shooting unarmed young children in combat situations ) . kurt russell plays sergeant todd quite effectively . todd does not have much dialogue in the movie ; he remains largely silent . this silence , however , adds to the tension of the film , as the colonists fear that his training will make him snap at any moment . soldier , thus , like event horizon , is an extremely tense film . russell , though , exaggerates the tough guy image a little too much at times , granting the film some much needed melodramatic camp humor . gary busey plays his signature stock character , a slick though ultimately well-meaning individual , adequately here . rising star jason scott lee , like russell , isn't given much dialogue , but he portrays the main antagonist suitably enough . soldier strikes me as a made-for-the-scifi-channel movie with a budget . despite the talent behind the film , it is not great . soldier , however , doesn't seem to carry the pretense of greatness . it's a little sci-fi action film which delivers enough special effects and action sequences to carry it through . it's not worth six bucks , but it's certainly worth a matinee price . rated r , soldier contains many graphic scenes of violence which may be inappropriate for children . although , to give the movie credit , soldier , more so than other recent action films like the " video game " ish blade and the humorous rush hour , shows the results of violence , both physically and mentally , on its victims . 
