Soldier (1998)

This sci-fi action pic about a possible future for mankind has been severely criticized by 'pro' critics and fans alike. To me, it almost seems like there was bad word early on - many people look down on the director, Paul W.S. Anderson - and then many others jumped on the bandwagon. It's certainly not a masterpiece, but, to me, it's very watchable; I've seen it several times already and some of the criticism, directed at such stuff as actor Russell's very sparse dialog, is not very rational.
The film begins in the year 1996, when a set of new-born babies are picked by the military for an intense training experiment - Project Adam. The newborns are literally trained from birth to be the perfect soldiers. We see quick glimpses of the training during the first few minutes of the film, covering year 5, year 8, year 12, year 16 and so on. The best of the trainees seems to be Todd (Russell plays him as a 40-year old, while Russell's son plays him in one of the early scenes as a kid), who becomes Sergeant of the group. The early scenes also show glimpses of the various military engagements Todd's group participates in, including, as one of the last ones, on some moon of another planetary system.
This is one of the problems I had with the film - these odd logistics: within Todd's lifetime, the film shows that mankind has colonized planets light years away; even if we made accidental contact with aliens around the year 2015 (as one possible explanation), this strains credibility. Most sci-fi films, actually, overestimate our future progress but this went way overboard. However, I liked the entire film's approach, an amplification of the military's usual intent to destroy an individual's personality during training and build a new one. This stuff works within the film's context.

Russell is robotic, almost Terminator-styled in his approach, but it makes sense in view of his character's severe background. My favorite scenes are when the new soldiers are introduced (including one played by Jason Scott Lee): bald, slightly unnatural-looking physical specimens; these are soldiers bred in the womb, making Todd's group instantly obsolete (in theory). The sequence which pits Todd's abilities against those of a new model soldier are pretty exciting.

Most of the film takes place on a planet known simply as the 'garbage world' - it's where mankind disposes most of its trash apparently (again, this may have made better sense if it took place 200 years from now, but oh, well). It's also a planet on which a group of colonists are stranded (one of these is played by actor Chiklis, who would become his own tough guy in the TV series The Shield).
Todd is dumped there, left for dead and recovers under the care of the colonists, gradually gaining the bare minimum of more natural human interaction. The colonists take him in but are fearful of him (Russell spent a year getting into shape for this, gaining enough bulk to look suitably imposing). Though it does appear that such a soldier will never truly fit in with such nice colonists, all matters are taken out of everyone's hands when the military arrives for some impromptu training exercise with the new model soldiers.
I wasn't really sure what to make of the rationale for the final half-hour of bedlam and guerrilla warfare. The resulting villain in all this, a slimy colonel (Isaacs), is somewhat over-the-top, not to mention he's a total idiot at times, and I'm not clear on why he seems able to prowl the galaxy with his new soldiers and point them towards his own private war-as-military-exercise anytime or anywhere he pleases, so this conflict in the final act is a bit out of left field. But, it gives Russell a chance to go total Rambo in a futuristic setting, proving once-and-for-all, that old soldiers never just fade away - they just kill them all! And, it's amusing to anticipate the downfall of the rotten colonel. The theme is a little confused: the inhumanity of the military suggests that we're in for endless conflict and we must turn away from such brutality; yet, the pacifist colonists sorely need Todd's killing abilities. Perhaps, that little humanity he gained from the colonists helps him in defeating the new soldiers? Hm. Nahhh... BoG's Score: 7.5 out of 10
Soldier Trivia: This film was a box office bust, earning about $15 million while costing at least $60 million to produce. It kind of stalled Russell's career, since he was considered a good bet for an action movie up to this point. But, he wasn't too sad about this one, I suspect; he was paid a record (for him) $15 million to star in this back then. This film was similar to Universal Soldier (1992) in tone, pace and themes. If you like such action features, this one should go over well with you. The film's official website: http://www.wb-soldier.com/