
On the surface,
Soldier is a standard-issue SF action flick, with explosions and gunfire and hand-to-hand combat. And it can be thoroughly enjoyed on that level, popcorn, Junior Mints, and all.
But if watched closely, the attentive moviegoer will discover in this film unexpected depths to the characters and the story.
In a futuristic society, certain individuals are selected at birth to become soldiers, and are trained in such a manner that they become killing machines, with no emotional ties to anyone other than their brother soldiers. One of the most successful of these soldiers, Sgt. Todd (Kurt Russell), is pitted against one of a new breed of genetically engineered soldiers in a demonstration match, and loses. His usefulness at an end, he is dumped on a garbage planet and left for dead.
The garbage planet is inhabited, however, by a band of crash survivors, who find Todd and nurse him back to health. Discarded by the only family he had and wrenched from the only life he knew, Todd struggles to make himself useful to the settlers on the garbage planet in the only fashion he knows. His efforts are misunderstood, and he is banished.
Shortly thereafter, the settlers are attacked by the same new soldiers who replaced Todd and his troop. This time, Todd is on the other side of the destruction he once wrought, and he fights to protect the unarmed and defenseless survivor encampment. Todd's one-man war against the new breed of soldier is a great action sequence in and of itself. But again I tell you, watch closely. Todd wants to redeem himself. He wants to be forgiven, to be allowed back into the fold. And his fierce sense of honor drives him to fight, alone, against his brother soldiers, because "a Soldier deserves a Soldier." Yes, you can hear the capital letters when that line, one of less than a dozen spoken by Todd, is delivered.
As I said before, you can enjoy this movie as a simple popcorn flick. But pay close attention and you'll discover a hidden gem and a fine performance by Kurt Russell.