Soldier

Summary

“I’m going to kill them all, sir.”

In 1998, Paul W.S. Anderson had just come off of a critical misfire and box office phenomenon with 1995’s Mortal Kombat, which he followed with the commercially and critically unsuccessful (although eventually beloved) Event Horizon in 1997. Working from a script by David Webb Peoples, screenwriter for both Blade Runner (with Hampton Fincher) and Unforgiven, Anderson found himself once again given a very large budget to make a large scale science-fiction action film. Soldier was written by Peoples as a Blade Runner adjacent picture, and small knods are made to the classic film, but it is a very different movie. While Blade Runner was a noir detective story in a dystopian future, Soldier is a straight forward action picture starring a nearly mute Kurt Russell that takes place in the future on another planet. It is essentially a Space Western. Critics dismissed the film and it was a box office failure with only $14.6 million at the box office. International markets chose to avoid theatrical release and put the film straight to video, which completely destroyed its chances of realizing a profit. That is a tough pill to swallow after Jerry Weintraub and Warner invested $60 million in the elaborate production of the picture. While the film was not by any means considered the best work of any of the talented people involved, the film has continued to gain a following of fans. Arrow Video has given those fans a gift with a brand new 4K UHD that looks absolutely fantastic on the format.

1996 – Year Zero – Orphaned babies are classified by soldiers within the nursery with a designation 1A to participate in the Adam Project. This project trains orphans from birth to be killing machines that think fast on their feet. In year twelve, a boy who lags behind on a jogging exercise is shot by the soldiers monitoring the progress. In year seventeen, Todd is tattooed on a boy soldier’s face with his name and number – 3465. He is a decorated fighter in the War of the Six Cities, The Moscow Incident, and the Battle of Argentine Moons. At age 40, Todd 3465 (Kurt Russell) is between wars. Captain Church (Gary Busey) who oversees the Adam Project is approached by Colonel Mekum (Jason Isaacs.) They have started a new soldier program using specific DNA and have essentially created supersoldiers. After a series of tests that show that one of their soldiers, Caine 607 (Jason Scott Lee) is dramatically better than Todd’s batch of soldiers in every way, Todd is asked to fight Caine after climbing to the top of a chain rope. Mekum tells Church to send two more men up there to even the fight. Todd’s counterparts fall to their death, but Todd gets one of Caine’s eyes before being elbowed and falling to his apparent death. A P376 Waste Disposal Ship picks up the bodies of Todd and the two dead men, but Todd is actually still alive. Todd is dumped onto the Arcadia 234 Waste Disposal Planet. In the dusty windtorn wasteland, Todd sees some other survivors. He soon is taken in by an underground society that dwell on the planet. This includes the beautiful Sandra (Connie Nielsen) who has a son named Nathan with her partner Mace (Sean Pertwee.) Nathan tragically can no longer speak due to a snakebite. Todd is taken into the society, but has difficulty adapting to the culture that essentially lives a communal existence since being shipwrecked there years before. Todd is ousted from the society due to some of his soldierly ways, but just as Mace tries to bring him back, the supersoldiers arrive on the planet to perform routine exercises. On Colonel Mekum’s instructions, anyone found on the planet will be treated as a hostile. Todd works with the community to fight the oppressive army led by Colonel Mekum and Caine 607.

In some ways, Soldier is where the Western writing and science-fiction writing of David Webb Peoples converges. The theme of one man fending off a large group of attackers from destroying the innocent folks of a small village would fit into any number of Westerns (specifically Shane, as mentioned by Heath Holland in the special features.) The thoughts of a planet full of space junk and a future of super soldiers raised from birth to kill without thought is straight out of science fiction. So this is essentially a Space Western with a lot of action. The writing of the picture is a little bit undercooked, and I think even the film’s biggest advocates would concede that fact. Soldier feels like something you have seen before, but it struggles to feel convincing. It does not help that Kurt Russell is given less than a hundred and fifty words of dialogue to say in the whole film. In some scenes this silence from the character works well, but in some sequences it feels truly silly – especially considering the character is very capable of speaking. To enjoy Soldier, it is best to ignore or fully embrace the ridiculous elements of the film and allow it to entertain you. 

Paul W.S. Anderson excels at setting up elaborate setpieces and working with production designers to build cool stuff. The reason to see Soldier is that the picture has some truly incredible futuristic production design from David L. Snyder and some fantastic practical effects. Nearly the entire last half of the picture is a battle scene between Todd and the super soldiers, and that whole sequence is well orchestrated and well shot. Some of the CGI used in the film looks pretty weak in comparison to the amazing practical effects and matte paintings, but in some ways it added to the goofy allure of the film for me. All this is to say that I don’t blame Paul W.S. Anderson for the shortcomings of the picture as much as I believe a few small tweaks to the script (notably more dialogue for certain scenes with Kurt Russell) could have really made the film something special.

Kurt Russell is perfectly well cast in the film and got into absolutely tremendous shape for the role. This was probably the most physically demanding film of his career and he carries the weight like a pro. Since he is largely mute in the picture, he is forced to convey almost all of his character’s thoughts and emotions simply through facial expressions and actions. As I have said, this should have been tweaked. If they had the foresight to shoot alternate takes where he spoke, I have a feeling that more dialogue would have been used in a number of scenes that ended up feeling awkward. I also think this might be why some critics called the film “boring,” which is patently absurd. It also just feels wrong to have Kurt Russell, one of the greatest one-liner deliverers of all time, forced into silence. Connie Nielsen is well cast as Sandra, bringing some good motherly energy to the picture. Jason Isaacs is a fantastic actor that is often cast as a bastard, and he does well as Colonel Mekum. Sean Pertwee handles the role of Mace well, even thought there is not a ton there to work with. I enjoyed seeing Michael Chiklis slumming it in a small role. Jason Scott Lee memorably plays the tough-as-nails Caine 607 and the guy is built for the part. He is a true specimen and played the role perfectly. The compositions by Joel McNeeley deliver the goods and complement the futuristic action of the picture well. Lastly, Gary Busey in the Nineties is always welcome in any supporting role.

Overall – I can understand the critical and commercial failure of Soldier, because it would be very easy to get hung up on the aspects of the film that didn’t quite gel. That said, this film feels like one of the last big-budget practical effects films before Hollywood became more cautious and more reliant on CGI. A four story set would not be built to make this film now. The futuristic vehicles in the picture would be CGI now. There is no going back due to costs, and that is a shame. For that reason, Soldier definitely will appeal to some folks (including myself,) that miss grand scale production designs like this. While I understood that aspects of the film did not work completely, it did not stop me from having a good time watching it. 

Video

Presented in Native 4K in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, Soldier looks incredible in its UHD presentation. The liner notes state:

“Soldier has been restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original 2.39:1 aspect ratio with 2.0 stereo and 5.1 audio. The film is presented in 4K resolution in HDR10 and Dolby Vision. The original 35mm camera negative was scanned at 4K / 16 bit resolution at Warner Brothers Motion Picture Imaging. The film was restored in 4K resolution and color graded at Duplitech. All materials source for this new mater were made available by Warner Brothers. QC review was completed by Pixelogic. The New restoration has been approved by director Paul W.S. Anderson.”

Recently, Warner and Arrow teamed up on the exceptional 4K release of Under Siege, and I claimed that it had never looked better. With Soldier, this teaming up has once again provided truly phenomenal results. I remember years ago watching Soldier in my friend’s fraternity apartment on DVD and the film looked pretty rough. Seeing the picture in 4K, I could see all of the meticulous work that went into the production design. The coloring of the film that looked muddy and strange on DVD, looks gorgeous on 4K. The HDR brings out the very best of the film’s palette, and the film’s color timing works like a charm in this format. If you are a fan of this film, you owe it to yourself to see it in 4K. This presentation fully deserves a perfect score.

Audio

Arrow has provided a solid DTS-HD MA 5.1 track. The film is action packed and loud. Directionality is pretty solid and the score by Joel McNeeley compliments all the science fiction action. Obviously, an Atmos track would have probably been fantastic for this film, but I was still more than happy with what was provided. 

Supplements:

• Commentary by Paul W.S. Anderson, Jeremy Bolt & Jason Isaacs 
• Reporting for Duty – in this 2025 interview with actor James Black, he lays out his humble beginnings in films made in Ohio after his career playing for the Cleveland Browns. His memories of working with Kurt Russell seem to bring him a lot of joy. 
• Fire in the Hole! – in this 2025 interview with assistant director Dennis Maguire, he discusses how he began his career working as a production assistant and building sets before he worked his way up to second assistant director on some large productions and eventually assistant director on Soldier with Jerry Weintraub’s approval.
• On the Front Lines – in this 2025 interview with associate producer Fred Fontana, he looks back on his memories of working on the set of Soldier.
• Designing for the Future – this 2025 interview with production designer David L. Snyder is the best interview on the disc. The brilliant production designer whose work speaks for itself (Blade Runner, Demolition Man, Super Mario Bros.) discusses how he got the job working on Soldier and dives into the immense undertaking of creating a four story set on a soundstage at Warner Bros. Definitely watch this!
• VFX Before and After – this brief 2025 featurette with visual effects supervisor Craig Barron shows how some of the effects were created.
• Weapons of Mass Creation – the second best feature on this disc, features new interviews with visual effects supervisors Craig Barron and Van Ling, as well as with miniature supervisor Michael Joyce. For those who want to understand more about the movie magic from that time, this is a really solid piece.
• A Soldier’s Journey – Danny Stewart, author of Soldier: From Script to Screen talks about how Soldier became an obsession for him and led to him writing a book about its production.
• We Don’t Need Another Hero – this retrospective from film historian Heath Holland (of Cereal at Midnight) lays out the case for reevaluating Soldier.
• EPK Featurette 
• Behind the Scenes Footage
• On Set Interviews 
• Theatrical Trailers 
• Image Gallery 

Overall Scores:

Video – 5/5 

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 4.5/5

Overall – 4/5

Soldier was a critical and commercial disappointment for Warner Bros., Kurt Russell, and Paul W.S. Anderson upon its theatrical release in 1998. When the picture was not picked up internationally for distribution theatrically, its fate was sealed. Over the years, the picture has had staying power on home video with VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray releases. The film definitely has some aspects that don’t fully work, but the production design and some of the action setpieces are brilliantly realized. In my opinion, all of the issues with the film can be traced to weak points of the script, especially the lack of dialogue for Todd 3465. Those aspects that don’t fully work don’t completely destroy the whole. I found myself enjoying Soldier, in spite of those issues. Working with Warner, Arrow has done a tremendous job of preserving Soldier to be experienced in the best way possible. The 4K transfer is essentially perfect. A new Atmos track would have been a welcome addition, but the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track still packs a whallop. The special features are well appointed and will be a treat to anyone interested in production designs and visual effects from that era. The interview with David L. Snyder is particularly well conducted. If you are on the fence, you may want to check out the film prior to a purchase. If you are a fan of this film, don’t hesitate to buy this release immediately.