_Soldier_ (R) *
Literally blink, and you'll miss _Soldier_'s lone flash of wit: a fleeting glimpse of a computer screen listing futuristic supersoldier Todd's (Kurt Russell) numerous war commendations, among them the "Plissken Patch"--referring, of course, to Russell's character in John Carpenter's _Escape_from..._ movies. The rest of this sci-fi actioner is brainless junk though writer David Webb Peoples and director Paul Anderson serve up an interesting basic premise. In the future, a select few males are chosen at birth to be trained their whole life as soldiers, nothing more; veteran soldier Todd is among the best, if not _the_ best. But when a new genetically engineered brand of soldier is developed, Todd and his ilk are rendered obsolete.
>From here, the story takes a most uninspired turn. Presumed dead, Todd is dumped onto a trash dump planet, where he meets up with a peaceful community of people who look and act like extras from _The_Postman_. For reasons that are never clear, the new soldiers attack this trash planet, and the film becomes an outer space _Rambo_, boldly declaring, "I'm gonna kill 'em all, sir!" Thus ensues much machine gun action and laughable "emotional" content where Todd finds the humanity within his tough exterior. It plays even worse than it sounds.
Michael Dequina
mrbrown@iname.com | michael_jordan@geocities.com
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