Soldier [HD]

To enter the future you have to leave the past.
Soldier is a rare experience that is far more than the plot, which has been outlined by the editorial comments. This is a journey taken by a strong warrior into his own humanity. I cannot even count the number of times that I have watched this movie, but I know it is more than twenty. I see more each time.

Kurt Russell's extraordinary and powerful acting skills make Sergeant Todd real. Successfully creating a character without dialogue is an art -- and he mastered it. This movie provides insight into today's violent world as well.

Todd has known nothing but war or training since he was born. He was conscripted in the hospital; he never knew love, or laughter, or how to play. He obeyed orders and did not speak unless spoken to. The perfect soldier could not have emotions. If the only way to kill an enemy was to kill innocent victims, then he did what was required.

Todd is the best soldier of the "old timers," and he has been bested a new, genetically...

Fear . . .Discipline
This is one of the great, unsung science fiction films of recent times. The story revolves around a future where soldiers are segregated and trained from the crib to be merciless, killing machines. Kurt Russel, in a great performance, plays one of these soldiers who are soon to be replaced by a genetically enhanced new breed of soldier. Sgt. Todd 3465 (Russel) is believed killed in a training exercise and disposed of like yesterday's garbage on a waste-disposal planet. He survives, finds refuge amongst a colony of planet refugees, and tries to fit in.

This is, on a very rewarding level, a tremendous action film. Russel's nemesis in the film, Sgt. Caine 607 (played by Jason Scott Lee) is an imposing presence, and the fight scenes between the two are excellent and convincing. The special effects and battle scenes are impressive as well, and really transport you to a harsh, bleak, metallic future.

On another level the film is about the discovery of emotion in the highly trained...

One soldier against the dictatorship. -- Shirley Keller
It's a 10. Superb acting by Kurt Russell; directed by Paul Anderson, genius behind _Blade Runner_. He captured the essence of dictatorship and its opposite: individualism. Initially the protagonist, Todd, follows orders, used as a means to the ends of the State, a fighting machine who's then discarded. But Todd survives being dumped on a heap of refuse on a desert planet, to make his way to a small settlement of free people. There he learns what it means to have selfish values and to love a woman. When the totalitarians return to threaten her, only Todd can destroy them. Fight scenes and interpersonal dynamics were masterfully done. This is not a simplistic action movie with bullets flying everywhere. This is action melded with intellectual strategy, melded with a deep philosophical message. A sci fi classic, right along with Blade Runner.

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