Word: soldiers
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Austin was the final Harvard soldier lost in the Great War, adding to the 372 others, ranging from Robert Bacon, Class of 1880 who entered the war when he was 54 and a member of the Harvard Corporation, to Herbert Dickson '22, who had barely enrolled in the College...
Director Paul Anderson envisions Soldier as a sci-fi/western hybrid, perhaps something along the lines of Road Warrior or Waterworld. Apart from barren settings, however, the three films have little in common. Soldier takes itself quite seriously, but the story's take-home message is so blatantly obvious that viewers may wonder whether the movie is actually some sort of farce poking fun at itself. Subtly crafted lines such as "My daddy always said, `If you want to put a nail in a board, you don't do anything fancy, you just use a hammer'" spoil any hope...
...film's themes are, by themselves, perfectly fine, but Soldier is just not the vehicle to deliver them. The audience is made to feel sympathy for Todd and the other replaced men. They have all killed hundreds of men for their country only to be summarily dismissed after Cain 607 proves himself superior. In the end, of course, the new men are not up to the challenge of tackling Kurt Russell, so viewers realize that progress is not necessarily for the best. Okay, but Todd is not exactly a Boy Scout. He was picked at birth, and along with...
...movie focuses on more than the soldiers. The people who rescue Todd after his fall from the garbage carrier are unlucky colonists who crashed on the planet years ago. Stranded, they have managed to build a small community, using as raw materials only the things that others have discarded. So just as the settlers have found use in others' garbage, so also do viewers see that both Todd and the colonists have worth, despite being tossed aside by society. The film leaves little ambiguity regarding its interpretation, unless one is confused by Soldier's apparent attempt to paint the Darwinian...
With only one character, Soldier relegates everyone but Russell to the background. Even the little one sees of the supporting cast is no meaningful basis on which to judge their acting abilities. One nice twist in the story is that Todd, the only character to give any signs of development throughout during the film, has probably about ten lines of dialogue in the whole move. Russell does a good job of portraying Todd, who does not speak because he cannot cope with life beyond the military. He even comes close to evoking a bit of pity for the character...