Soldier

[jliedeka]

Anybody else remember this Kurt Russell film from 1998? I've had the DVD for a while and have mostly regarded it as a guilty pleasure - a B movie that I couldn't really explain why I liked it.

I watched it again tonight and changed my mind. It's a good movie. Not a great movie but a good movie. I really paid attention to how Kurt Russell and the other soldiers played characters who were not really human in the full sense of the word. I think the acting was top notch and I can almost forgive him for doing Tango & Cash.

This movie was not without it's flaws. The bad guy was pretty one-dimensional. I read that this movie had a budget of $60 million. I have no idea how they spent that since the special effects were models and matte paintings. It would have been a brilliant $5 million movie.

Anyway, I started looking around the net to see what people were saying about it. There were a few lone voices in the wilderness like me saying this movie was underrated. The "professional" reviewers, however, almost universally panned this film. After seeing a number of negative blurbs, I have to wonder if they saw the same film I did. They seem to harp on it being a testosterone or explosion driven movie. That totally misses the point. The point is what happens when someone is raised from birth to be a soldier and suddenly has to fit in with a community. The other criticisms tend to be how it's a western disguised as sci-fi. Hello, sci-fi and westerns are the same damn thing. Instead of horses, you have X-wing fighters. Think of something original to complain about.

I'm not saying this movies rises far above B-movie fare but when you take it for what it is, it's really interesting.

Jim

 

[Matt34]

Anybody else remember this Kurt Russell film from 1998? I've had the DVD for a while and have mostly regarded it as a guilty pleasure - a B movie that I couldn't really explain why I liked it.

I watched it again tonight and changed my mind. It's a good movie. Not a great movie but a good movie. I really paid attention to how Kurt Russell and the other soldiers played characters who were not really human in the full sense of the word. I think the acting was top notch and I can almost forgive him for doing Tango & Cash.

This movie was not without it's flaws. The bad guy was pretty one-dimensional. I read that this movie had a budget of $60 million. I have no idea how they spent that since the special effects were models and matte paintings. It would have been a brilliant $5 million movie.

Anyway, I started looking around the net to see what people were saying about it. There were a few lone voices in the wilderness like me saying this movie was underrated. The "professional" reviewers, however, almost universally panned this film. After seeing a number of negative blurbs, I have to wonder if they saw the same film I did. They seem to harp on it being a testosterone or explosion driven movie. That totally misses the point. The point is what happens when someone is raised from birth to be a soldier and suddenly has to fit in with a community. The other criticisms tend to be how it's a western disguised as sci-fi. Hello, sci-fi and westerns are the same damn thing. Instead of horses, you have X-wing fighters. Think of something original to complain about.

I'm not saying this movies rises far above B-movie fare but when you take it for what it is, it's really interesting.

Jim

I love this movie, always have.

 

[mike c]

i like this movie. but have to add, while the "old" soldiers were indeed outclassed by a single new "bad" soldier ... kurt's character owned all the other new soldiers. dunno, it just didn't weigh right.

I mean, they could have gotten JUST kurt russell and the bruce lee guy and pretty much conquered the universe.

 

[Davemcc]

I like this movie, too. I have to admit that I am a B movie afficionado.

What I like about it is how the soldier acts on his humanity without identifying or understanding it.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I like this movie a lot too. I watched in theaters and then bought it on DVD. If it comes out on blu-ray, I will buy it again too.

 

[Gimpy Ric]

i like this movie. but have to add, while the "old" soldiers were indeed outclassed by a single new "bad" soldier ... kurt's character owned all the other new soldiers. dunno, it just didn't weigh right.

I mean, they could have gotten JUST kurt russell and the bruce lee guy and pretty much conquered the universe.

Yeah this is one of my favorite 80's milspec 810 movies.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Anybody else remember this Kurt Russell film from 1998? I've had the DVD for a while and have mostly regarded it as a guilty pleasure - a B movie that I couldn't really explain why I liked it.

I watched it again tonight and changed my mind. It's a good movie. Not a great movie but a good movie. I really paid attention to how Kurt Russell and the other soldiers played characters who were not really human in the full sense of the word. I think the acting was top notch and I can almost forgive him for doing Tango & Cash.

This movie was not without it's flaws. The bad guy was pretty one-dimensional. I read that this movie had a budget of $60 million. I have no idea how they spent that since the special effects were models and matte paintings. It would have been a brilliant $5 million movie.

Anyway, I started looking around the net to see what people were saying about it. There were a few lone voices in the wilderness like me saying this movie was underrated. The "professional" reviewers, however, almost universally panned this film. After seeing a number of negative blurbs, I have to wonder if they saw the same film I did. They seem to harp on it being a testosterone or explosion driven movie. That totally misses the point. The point is what happens when someone is raised from birth to be a soldier and suddenly has to fit in with a community. The other criticisms tend to be how it's a western disguised as sci-fi. Hello, sci-fi and westerns are the same damn thing. Instead of horses, you have X-wing fighters. Think of something original to complain about.

I'm not saying this movies rises far above B-movie fare but when you take it for what it is, it's really interesting.

Jim

I like this movie as well. Interesting message in it, out with the old, in with the new. And, noticed all the terrorist battles he participated in? Kind of interesting.
I have seen it a number of times. Need it in hi def

 

[Audioholics]

We did a bunch of the post production of this movie at Soundelux. It was one of the films in house when I worked there (though I didn't work on it personally). I loved it then, even thought I probably saw it about 300 times. Nice to know it's not just nostalgic affection...

 

[majorloser]

I thought it was one of Kurt Russell's best parts. A sequel would have been nice, too.

 

[darien87]

I thought it was ok. Not great, it didn't suck, but it was entertaining.

Wanna hear something funny? When I was in the Army, going on long runs, I would think of the scene where Kurt Russell and the Asian dude were running against each other. I would try to put myself in that mindset of, "You're a machine and your order is to run."

 

[Rob Babcock]

I've always loved that movie! The sound is good, lots of LFE. I thought it was well written & well acted- Russell was great I liked Connie Nielsen a lot. Jason Isaacs was a great villian, as usual (although his character in The Patriot was even more despicable!) It wasn't perfect, but I'd call it a neglected & overlooked gem of a sci-fi movie.

 

[Jack Hammer]

It's a personal favorite of mine...

...I last watched it a few months back. I really liked the message of the movie that not everything old is outdated, antiquated, and useless junk that should be tossed away and forgotten. That's made especially true, with a large dose of entertainment, men the slow weak old man opens a can of experience laden whoop *** on the new models.

I'm gonna watch it again tonight.

Jack

 

[mtrycrafts]

...I last watched it a few months back. I really liked the message of the movie that not everything old is outdated, antiquated, and useless junk that should be tossed away and forgotten. That's made especially true, with a large dose of entertainment, men the slow weak old man opens a can of experience laden whoop *** on the new models.

I'm gonna watch it again tonight.

Jack

Time for it to come out in hi-def

 

[Jack Hammer]

Watched it last night. Both PQ and SQ are pretty good on the dvd release, no complaints come to mind with either.

One thing I really thought was funny that most people seem to miss is about ten minutes into the movie, after they finish showing his training. They show a computer file of his battles, with # of kills, and on the left they show all his awards which are named after previous characters Kurt Russell played.

I may be a little off on the specific medal names but there was the Plissken Patch (escape from new york), Cash award for bravery(tango and cash), Maccready cross (the thing), Cpt Ron Trohpy (captain ron), and the Mcaffrey Fire Award (Backdraft), plus a few others I forget.

I always like when movies add an insider sense of humor to stuff like that.

Jack