ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Kurt Russell gave the best performance of his career in this very unappreciated film. It never fails to impress me, no matter how often I see it.

The movie didn't do well at the box office — just another example of a great movie being ignored by movie audiences. The cast is magnificent, and the plot doesn't have a dull moment from start to finish.

Jason Scott Lee does just fine as the latest model in a group of genetically engineered super-soldiers, and Kurt is the obsolete version that gets dumped with the garbage on an alien planet where a ragged little colony of peaceful folks are trying to eek out a living.

When the colonists are chosen to be used for target practice by the ruthless handlers of the singled-minded super-soldiers, it's Kurt to the rescue, and things don't slow down until the closing credits start rolling.

If you haven't seen this, you're in for a treat.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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If you still haven't seen this movie, you're guilty of dereliction of duty, private, and subject to court martial by your superiors!

The training film at the link below is designed to resemble a fan-made trailer to fool the enemy if it ever falls into the wrong hands. It's required viewing. And yes, there will be a quiz.

Now, begin your indoctrination, soldier. Eyes front . . . and look sharp!



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Rick]

I'm not really sure this movie is all that good. Frankly, I remember some of it as being pretty darn dumb.

But...I absolutely agree with you about Kurt Russell. He's absolutely tremendous in a role which wouldn't seem to offer that much opportunity for thespic greatness. I can still hear him in my head saying, "I'm going to kill them all." Brrrrr. Great.

Is it the greatest performance of his career? Mmmm, that I'm not so sure about. He's a terrific actor and has served up lotsa good stuff. It might be his best....it might not. Doesn't matter much, though, 'cause it's still Great.
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Man need not kneel before the angels,
Nor lie in death forever,
But for the weakness of his feeble will.

[Robert (Butch) Day]

I meet Kurt accidentally at the 1962 Seattle Worlds Fair — Century 21 Exposition and we have communicated ever since. At the time when they were making Soldier he said it was his take on an old soldier from the Starship Troopers (1959) novel. "You spend a life-time as a soldier 'killing the enemy' it's hard to break that habit, ya know?"
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Common Sense ISN'T Common

[Gord Green]

I LOVED this movie! I was highly impressed by Kurt's character as well as Sean Pertwee's performance!

Very highly recommended for the military Sci-Fi fan!




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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]

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I'd love to watch it with you sometime in All Sci-Fi's Chatzy room. Just pick a day!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bogmeister]

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_____________________ Soldier 1998 Trailer


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This sci-fi action pic about a possible future for mankind has been severely criticized by 'pro' critics and fans alike. To me, it almost seems like there was bad word-of-mouth early on — many people look down on the director, Paul W.S. Anderson — and then many others jumped on the bandwagon.

It's certainly not a masterpiece, but to me, it's very watchable. I've seen it several times already and some of the criticism directed at things like actor Russell's sparse dialog is not very rational.

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The film begins in the year 1996, when a set of new-born babies are picked by the military for an intense training experiment — Project Adam. The newborns are literally trained from birth to be the perfect soldiers.

We see quick glimpses of the training during the first few minutes of the film, covering year 5, year 8, year 12, year 16 and so on. The best of the trainees seems to be Todd who becomes Sergeant of the group. Russell plays him as a 40-year old, while Russell's son plays him in one of the early scenes as a kid.

The early scenes also show glimpses of the various military engagements Todd's group participates in, including one of the last ones on some moon of another planetary system.

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This is one of the problems I had with the film — these odd logistics. Within Todd's lifetime the film shows that mankind has colonized planets light years away. Even if we made accidental contact with aliens around the year 2015 (as one possible explanation), this strains credibility.

Most sci-fi films actually overestimate our future progress, but this went way overboard. However, I liked the entire film's approach, an amplification of the military's usual intent to destroy an individual's personality during training and build a new one. This stuff works within the film's context.

Russell is robotic, almost Terminator-styled in his approach, but it makes sense in view of his character's severe background. My favorite scenes are when the new soldiers are introduced (including one played by Jason Scott Lee). They're bald, slightly unnatural-looking physical specimens. These are soldiers bred in the womb, making Todd's group instantly obsolete (in theory).

The sequence which pits Todd's abilities against those of a new model soldier are pretty exciting.

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Most of the film takes place on a planet known simply as the 'garbage world' — it's where mankind disposes most of its trash apparently (again, this may have made better sense if it took place 200 years from now, but oh well). It's also a planet on which a group of colonists are stranded.

One of these is played by actor Chiklis, who would become his own tough guy in the TV series The Shield).


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Todd is dumped there, left for dead, and recovers under the care of the colonists, gradually gaining the bare minimum of natural human interactions. The colonists take him in, but they're fearful of him.

Russell spent a year getting into shape for this, gaining enough bulk to look suitably imposing. Though it does appear that such a soldier will never truly fit in with such nice colonists, all matters are taken out of everyone's hands when the military arrives for some impromptu training exercise with the new model soldiers.

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I wasn't really sure what to make of the rationale for the final half-hour of bedlam and guerrilla warfare. The resulting villain in all this, a slimy colonel (Isaacs), is somewhat over-the-top, not to mention he's a total idiot at times. I'm not clear on why he seems able to prowl the galaxy with his new soldiers and point them towards his own private war-as-military-exercise anytime or anywhere he pleases. So, this conflict in the final act is a bit out of left field.

But it gives Russell a chance to go total Rambo in a futuristic setting, proving once-and-for-all, that old soldiers never just fade away — they just kill them all! And, it's amusing to anticipate the downfall of the rotten colonel. The theme is a little confused; the inhumanity of the military suggests that we're in for endless conflict and we must turn away from such brutality. Yet the pacifist colonists sorely need Todd's killing abilities. Perhaps that little humanity he gained from the colonists helps him in defeating the new soldiers? Hmmm.

Nahhh . . .

BoG's Score: 7.5 out of 10



BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has 42 trivia items for this movie. Here’s a few of the ones I found the most interesting, in the blue text.
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~ Kurt Russell's son Wyatt plays him as an eleven year old.

Note from me: I've always been impressed with the little guy who played young Kurt.

~ Writer David Webb Peoples has said that Soldier is a "side-quel" to Blade Runner (1982) (which he also wrote) because it takes place in the same universe, and in fact the vehicles used by the Blade Runners - spinners - are also used in Soldier. The premise of Soldier was actually based on an unused opening scene for Blade Runner, where a group of Replicants are dumped and left for dead on an Off-world colony. Both films were released by Warner Brothers, and both were box-office failures that gained a cult following after being released on home video.

Note from me: Cool! And this next item relates to the one above.

~ David Webb Peoples started writing the screenplay to Soldier while Blade Runner was being filmed. As the screenwriter of both films, he has long maintained that they are set in the same universe. Director Paul Anderson agrees, and says that if Kurt Russell's character were to go to Earth, he would have encountered Harrison Ford's Deckard.

Note from me: This next item "sort of" supports the two above because of the presence of the Blade Runner prop.

~ Among the garbage on the planet is the U.S.S. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the F-117X Remora from Executive Decision (1996), a spinner from Blade Runner (1982), and a piece of the Lewis & Clark from Event Horizon (1997).

Note from me: The "garbage dump" planet always struck me as an unrealistic idea. The wastefulness of transporting all that material to a distant planet instead of recycle it just doesn't make sense.

~ Todd, the main character of this movie, is on-screen over 85 percent of the time, but only speaks a total of 104 words.

Note from me: The amazing thing about Kurt's performance is how powerful it is without much dialog and almost no facial expression. He should have been nominated for an Oscar.

~ According to Paul W.S. Anderson, Kurt Russell worked out three or four hours a day for eighteen months to get himself into the "pumped-up" condition he displays in this film. Anderson says the making of "Soldier" was actually postponed to allow Russell to do this, because Russell thought it was so important to Sergeant Todd's character; Anderson made Event Horizon (1997) in the interim, while Russell made no other movies during that time.

Note from me: It saddens me to think about how disappointing the box office was after so much work, talent, and imagination were put into it.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[tmlindsey]

____ SOLDIER (1998) miniature effects

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"Have you never wondered what it would be like to walk between the ticks and tocks of Time?"

[Krel]

My two favorite scenes are when Russel is kicked out of the colony, and he's sitting there crying. He wipes his eyes and looks at his hand surprised and confused.

The second scene is where Jason Scott Lee drugs up to fight Russel, and just stares in incomprehension that no matter what he does, he can't kill Russel.

Oh, a third scene is the look of surprise on the other soldier's faces when Todd picks up the kid.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

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I'd forgotten about the scene with the tears. That movie is packed with powerful moments. Kirk should have gotten an Oscar nomination.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has a surprising trivia item in the Escape from New York section.
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~ Kurt Russell has stated that this is the favorite of all his films, and Snake Plissken is the favorite of his characters.

Note from me: Well, after all these years, I finally watched Escape from New York tonight on TCM . . . and I'll be damned if it isn't just as dull and dimwitted as I thought would be.

The story is witless, the cheap electronic music is typical "Eighties Cheesy Keyboard" crap, and Snake Pliskin could have been played by any burly Hollywood wannabe who got off a bus in Los Angles and auditioned for the role.

This movie is like warm beer compared to chilled champagne if you've seen Soldier and know a good movie from a looser.

But hey . . . that's just my opinion.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)