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| All images courtesy: Arrow Video/Warner Bros |
Before his filmography became primarily defined by the Resident Evil series, Paul W.S. Anderson had a very interesting and eclectic career in the 1990s. He started out with the British indie crime thriller Shopping, which introduced the world to Jude Law (as well as the 90s-staple song Halcyon And On And On by Orbital, which was written for its soundtrack). Then he helmed the original Mortal Kombat movie, which remains one of the best video game movies, and a beloved 90s-action favorite in its own right, thanks to its fantastic visual style and art design, its great action, and its era-defining electronic soundtrack. After that, his demonic-horror-in-space genre hybrid Event Horizon, which may have bombed in theaters, but was quickly canonized as a cult classic on DVD. He ended the decade with Soldier, an ambitious and visually stunning Kurt Russell sci-fi/actioner which likewise failed to connect with audiences at the time, but has gradually grown into a minor cult favorite, although not one of Event Horizon proportions. Now Arrow Video is releasing Soldier on a lavish, extras-packed UHD special edition, in a move which might just canonize it with cult-classic status, in the company of the rest of Anderson’s ‘90s output.
THE FILM:
In a future where the Earth empire is some sort of fascistic military state, ruling over wild-west-style outer colonies with an iron fist, soldiers are raised from birth to be optimally tough, ruthless killers: they suppress all emotions, barely speak except to answer to orders, and function more like anthropomorphized weapons than actual people. The toughest of all these soldiers is Todd 3465 (Kurt Russell), whose kill count in combat is legendary. But when an upstart colonel (Jason Isaacs, playing the slimy villain to Gary Busey’s comparatively less evil commanding officer) creates an even more perfect kind of soldier – genetically engineered to be superhuman – the new model (Jason Scott Lee)’s first test is to kill Russell’s obsolete one. Dumped on a landfill planet and left for dead, Todd 3465 survives and is nursed back to health by a ragtag band of shipwrecked outer-colony pioneers (principally Sean Pertwee, Connie Nielsen, and Michael Chiklis), who try to teach him how to be an actual human. But when Isaacs and his supersoldiers show up on a campaign of genocide against unregulated pioneer colonies, they’ll need Todd’s ruthlessly efficient combat skills if they are to survive.
Soldier starts off with a bang, impressing from the start with its every-dollar-is-on-the-screen ambitious visuals. One of the best things about this movie is that it is from the last days of that era when sets and effects were as fully practical as possible, and CGI was used to augment, and to erase signs of artificiality, rather than to build the world whole-cloth. This film was shot on absolutely massive soundstages, housing huge, intricate, very expensive sets that construct a whole artificial world. And Paul Anderson knows how to film gigantic, practical sets: in Mortal Kombat and Event Horizon the environments are characters themselves, and the same is true here. This is a gorgeously shot film, using cranes and dollies to get the most visual impact out of every elaborately constructed environment, and it is consistently a joy to watch on the strength of the visuals alone. The first act is very strong, and hooks the viewer in immediately, as we are introduced to this very disconcerting fascist society. Solider never has the depth or subversive political ideas that make Paul Verhoeven’s films like RoboCop and Starship Troopers work so beautifully, but it is vaguely reaching for that kind of thing, and enough ideas are there that it works pretty well, especially when aided by the visuals. It also makes a very, very interesting choice which really sells the first act: outside of the occasional “yes, sir,” Kurt Russell’s title character is basically mute, and he delivers an entirely physical performance. It’s such a fascinatingly unexpected choice, and one that hooks the viewer in, to make us see just what kind of journey this weird character will go on.
Unfortunately that last bit that helps make act one so compelling turns into a bit of a liability in act two. After a very propulsive first 40 minutes or so, Soldier slows down a lot, to try and become a more thoughtful and contemplative sci-fi film about a barely-human living-weapon learning to be a person for the first time. It’s an interesting concept, and one that Russell and co-starts Pertwee and Nielsen do an admirable job of trying to sell, but slowing down this much has a striking sense of whiplash, considering that up to this point Solider has been an action movie. And this movie just isn’t smart and sensitive enough to really sell that plotline emotionally; this feels like a riff on early-90s Arnold flicks, it isn’t The Iron Giant (It’s also no Blade Runner, although a throwaway line and some narrative similarities famously imply that it is set in the same universe). This section is also where it’s a bit of a problem that our main character basically never speaks, and barely shows emotion; that makes a tricky chunk of the film trickier, and puts Anderson and company a tad out of their depth. Also, it’s an odd choice to cast a movie star like Kurt Russell, who is known for his quips and charisma and sense of humor and big personality, and not allow him to use any of those assets, instead playing a character whose modes are fighting or catatonic. It feels like a role written more for a Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Van Damme, or Lundgren (indeed, according to the film’s assistant director in the extras on this disc, it was written for Stallone), and sees Russell playing very much against type in a way that works most of the time but not always.
Fortunately, Soldier resolves this shaky middle act in a very satisfying way – thanks to some very strong moments of acting from Russell that pay off his against-type gamble – and shifts back to full action-movie mode for act three, which inevitably sees Todd 3465 having to go head-to-head on the battlefield against the new supersoldiers who replaced him and left him for dead. It’s a great last act, which once again makes excellent use of the geography of the huge soundstage sets. It also fully utilizes the physicality of not only Russell, but also supporting actors like Jason Scott Lee and James Black as the other soldiers. Anderson is back on solid footing here, playing to his strengths, and ending the movie on the high note with which it started.
Soldier is definitely an uneven film, thanks to that middle act that tries admirably but doesn’t quite work, making it the weakest of Paul W.S. Anderson’s four 1990s movies by default. But it is still a very fun and worthwhile one, thanks to its very strong first and last acts, its stacked action-movie cast, and especially its fantastic and largely-practical visuals. Even with how the middle of the film drags a bit, I am genuinely baffled by what a massive flop this was at the time; it deserved better. The only thing I can think is that Soldier just was not the kind of blockbuster that was fashionable in 1998. It is very much a throwback to late-80s/early-90s Arnold or Stallone vehicles, and it probably would have been a huge hit if it had come out in the era of Commando or Timecop. But in 1998, a few years post-Jurassic Park, even fewer years post Jackie-Chan-mania, and just a year before The Matrix, Soldier probably felt like a stylistic dinosaur that showed up too late. Fortunately, all these years later that is no longer a problem, and Soldier can be appreciated for the strong if flawed sci-fi/actioner that it is, no longer hampered by bad timing in its release. I definitely hope this Arrow disc gets it a further reappraisal.
THE ARROW SPECIAL EDITION:
Soldier comes to us from Arrow as limited edition UHD package – although oddly (and surely because of rights stipulations from Warner) UHD ONLY with no blu-ray counterpart, so if you don’t have a 4K player you’re out of luck on this one.
Arrow’s brand-new 4K restoration of the film, supervised and approved by Paul W.S. Anderson, looks insanely good; no joke, this is one of the most stunning restorations of a film that I’ve seen yet this year. The movie’s largely-practical visuals look incredible, and Anderson shot the film in a very color-rich, hypersaturated palette that looks quite comic-book inspired, and it benefits hugely from UHD. A subtle but noticeable grain structure is present, and I did not notice any indication that DNR has been applied. The audio mix likewise sounds great, although even on the stereo mix, the sound effects are so aggressive that the dialogue is quiet by comparison, so you may find yourself reaching for the remote if you live in an apartment and don’t want to annoy the neighbors with booming gunshots and explosions.
The extras are absolutely stacked, and fantastic. Unfortunately, despite supervising the restoration, Paul W.S. Anderson did not contribute to any new extras, although he is featured in an excellent archival commentary from a past disc, along with his longtime producing partner Jeremy Bolt, and actor Jason Isaacs. And while it would have been cool to hear Kurt Russell look back on this interestingly against-type, mostly-wordless performance, it’s no surprise that such a still-busy actor did not sit down to discuss one of his least-successful films. There are a ton of new extras though, with people involved in various aspects of the production, and they are really interesting.
The first new extra will be fascinating to a very specific type of cult-cinema nerd, of which I am one: an interview with actor James Black, who plays one of the other soldiers. What makes this interview so cool is that Black spends a lot of time talking about his origins in the microbudget, shot-on-VHS, early-90s film scene in Akron, Ohio, where he was a prolific leading man in films like Zombie Cop, Galaxy of the Dinosaurs, and Ozone. I am a big fan of Ozone – a wonderfully ambitious and well-made (despite being shot on tape) microbudget horror-noir by The Dead Next Door director JR Bookwalter, so it was very cool to hear him talk about it. He then goes on to discuss how the lessons learned making those no-budget films translated to his Hollywood work, and comparing the experience of shooting spaceship-piloting scenes in Galaxy of the Dinosaurs in some guy’s basement in Akron, and then in Soldier sitting next to Kurt Russell in an expensive cockpit set – great stuff. Then when the credits rolled on the extras, I saw that not only this interview, but all the new extras on this disc, were produced and edited by none other than Ozone filmmaker JR Bookwalter! Small world. For my fellow weirdos who enjoy regional shot-on-video horror from Ohio, and are also interested in the Arrow 4K of Soldier, this review is specifically for you!
The extras continue with in-depth interviews with assistant director Dennis Maguire and associate producer Fred Fontana, who both share some fascinating insights into the production of the film – including how the script had been passed around for a few years, and was originally envisioned for Sylvester Stallone, and later recast with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Keanu Reeves, before finally ending up with Kurt Russell. The three new features that will likely be of the most interest to many are those that dive into the film’s fantastic production design and visual effects, featuring production designer David L. Snyder and effects artists Craig Barron, Van Ling, and Michael Joyce. Rounding out the new extras are two new appreciations and analyses of the film, by film scholars Danny Stewart and Heath Holland. The disc also includes several vintage extras, including on-set interviews with the cast and crew shot for the digital press kit.
All in all, this is a stellar disc for Soldier. And a film that, despite its flaws, has a lot that makes it worth recommending, and that is absolutely worth this type of cult-classic treatment. While it’s no Mortal Kombat or Event Horizon, it is definitely a film I would recommend, and if you have any interest in it, this disc is the way to experience it.
- Christopher S. Jordan