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Paul W.S. Anderson's sci-fi potboiler starring Kurt Russell as an obsolescent super soldier named Todd 3465 features a solid high definition audio and video presentation, though its meager special features falls perfectly in line with the film's poor box office performance.
Soldier
Release Date: Available now
Studio: Warner Home Video
Packaging/Materials: Single-disc Blu-ray "ECO-BOX"
Year: 1998
Rating: R
Running Time: 1:38:36
MSRP: $19.99
THE FEATURE
SPECIAL FEATURES
Video
1080p high definition 2.40:1
Standard definition
Audio
DTS-HD Master Audio: English 5.1 / Dolby Digital: Portuguese 2.0
Stereo
Subtitles
English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
None
The Feature: 3.5/5
The military-industrial complex lives strong in the 21st Century, with the most significant weapon in Earth's endless wars being the human super soldier. Selected at birth to be a relentless fighting and killing machine, with his sole commitment being to his military masters, none has performed as well (or lived as long) as Todd 3465 (Kurt Russell). That is until Colonel Mekum (Jason Isaacs) introduces a new breed genetically engineered to be stronger, faster and more aggressive than its predecessors. In a demonstration to test their abilities, Todd and several of his comrades square off against one of Mekum's new models, Caine 607 (Jason Scott Lee), who dispatches them all with relative ease. Though Todd manages to get a good hit in before being summarily beaten, it's not enough to save him from obsolescence, and so he is literally thrown on the trash heap known as the Arcadia 234 Waste Disposal Planet.
But trained for survival and unencumbered by emotions like anger and despair, Todd manages to avoid immediate death, eventually coming across a human settlement, survivors of a space vessel crash who have made the godforsaken planet their home. Finding himself in a legitimate human civilization now, Todd begins to discover long dormant instincts and emotions, but the training and programming that made him what he is makes people uneasy. For settler Mace (Sean Pertwee) and his wife Sandra (Connie Nielsen), it's less so, though eventually Todd's difficulties integrating alienates him from even them. With no place with either the military or Arcadia's ragtag society, Todd's future seems uncertain, but then his former superiors arrive at the planet, looking to use it as a training ground for the new soldiers. The military's "security sweep" threatens the lives of those who took Todd in, giving the soldier a chance to fight once more, but this time for himself and much more significant causes.
If you ever wanted to see Kurt Russell do an impression of a Terminator, look no further than Paul W.S. Anderson's "Soldier." According to Wikipedia, Russell has no fewer than 79 words of dialogue in the entire movie, though thankfully he has the acting chops to pull off his automaton-finds-humanity character arc. The film also seems fully aware of its potboiler pedigree, which goes a long way towards maintaining the film's entertainment factor; however, the embrace of the sci-fi genre is fairly superficial. Indeed "Soldier" is basically a revenge film with dystopian, sci-fi set dressing, though sci-fi nerds will have plenty of fun spotting various references to movies like "Blade Runner," "Aliens" and "Star Trek II." In fact screenwriter David Webb Peoples, who co-wrote "Blade Runner," intended the film to exist within that same universe. However don't expect things to get as deep, especially as the main character's existential crisis gives way to a 30-minute action sequence and a giant ball of fire.
Video Quality: 4/5
The film is correctly framed at 2.40:1 and presented in 1080p with the AVC codec. The transfer features warm, deep color (particularly in the Arcadia settlement), strong and stable blacks, and contrast that exhibits the full range of values with no signs of compression. The image is also free of artifacts from digital sharpening, though it's not always the most crisp or detailed, often looking indistinct and soft in wide shots. Close ups however have a satisfying level of detail, showing nice textures in skin, hair and fabrics.
Audio Quality: 4/5
Dialogue in the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track is crisp, detailed and intelligible, though levels can be a little low in the overall mix. Surround effects ranging from the directional to ambient are balanced and seamless and especially effective during the various windstorm sequences. LFE, in place for things like explosions and space vessel flyovers, is clean, robust and well-integrated into the mix.
Special Features: 2/5
The extras carry over each of the items from the 1999 DVD release and reflect the film's poor box office performance (it recouped only $15 million of its $75 million budget).
Audio Commentary with Director Paul W.S. Anderson, Co-Producer Jeremy Bolt and Jason Isaacs includes mostly technical and logistical information about the production, though the trio throws in some interesting personal anecdotes as well.
Theatrical Trailer (2:02, SD)
Recap
The Feature: 3.5/5
Video Quality: 4/5
Audio Quality: 4/5
Special Features: 2/5
Overall Score (not an average): 3/5
Warner Home Video turns in a fine presentation for an entertaining if superficial sci-fi potboiler. There isn't much to the special features, though that's not entirely surprising given the film's poor box office performance. Still, the commentary provides a decent amount of behind-the-scenes information, and the release overall represents an upgrade from a standard definition release now almost 12 years old.
Soldier
Release Date: Available now
Studio: Warner Home Video
Packaging/Materials: Single-disc Blu-ray "ECO-BOX"
Year: 1998
Rating: R
Running Time: 1:38:36
MSRP: $19.99
THE FEATURE
SPECIAL FEATURES
Video
1080p high definition 2.40:1
Standard definition
Audio
DTS-HD Master Audio: English 5.1 / Dolby Digital: Portuguese 2.0
Stereo
Subtitles
English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
None
The Feature: 3.5/5
The military-industrial complex lives strong in the 21st Century, with the most significant weapon in Earth's endless wars being the human super soldier. Selected at birth to be a relentless fighting and killing machine, with his sole commitment being to his military masters, none has performed as well (or lived as long) as Todd 3465 (Kurt Russell). That is until Colonel Mekum (Jason Isaacs) introduces a new breed genetically engineered to be stronger, faster and more aggressive than its predecessors. In a demonstration to test their abilities, Todd and several of his comrades square off against one of Mekum's new models, Caine 607 (Jason Scott Lee), who dispatches them all with relative ease. Though Todd manages to get a good hit in before being summarily beaten, it's not enough to save him from obsolescence, and so he is literally thrown on the trash heap known as the Arcadia 234 Waste Disposal Planet.
But trained for survival and unencumbered by emotions like anger and despair, Todd manages to avoid immediate death, eventually coming across a human settlement, survivors of a space vessel crash who have made the godforsaken planet their home. Finding himself in a legitimate human civilization now, Todd begins to discover long dormant instincts and emotions, but the training and programming that made him what he is makes people uneasy. For settler Mace (Sean Pertwee) and his wife Sandra (Connie Nielsen), it's less so, though eventually Todd's difficulties integrating alienates him from even them. With no place with either the military or Arcadia's ragtag society, Todd's future seems uncertain, but then his former superiors arrive at the planet, looking to use it as a training ground for the new soldiers. The military's "security sweep" threatens the lives of those who took Todd in, giving the soldier a chance to fight once more, but this time for himself and much more significant causes.
If you ever wanted to see Kurt Russell do an impression of a Terminator, look no further than Paul W.S. Anderson's "Soldier." According to Wikipedia, Russell has no fewer than 79 words of dialogue in the entire movie, though thankfully he has the acting chops to pull off his automaton-finds-humanity character arc. The film also seems fully aware of its potboiler pedigree, which goes a long way towards maintaining the film's entertainment factor; however, the embrace of the sci-fi genre is fairly superficial. Indeed "Soldier" is basically a revenge film with dystopian, sci-fi set dressing, though sci-fi nerds will have plenty of fun spotting various references to movies like "Blade Runner," "Aliens" and "Star Trek II." In fact screenwriter David Webb Peoples, who co-wrote "Blade Runner," intended the film to exist within that same universe. However don't expect things to get as deep, especially as the main character's existential crisis gives way to a 30-minute action sequence and a giant ball of fire.
Video Quality: 4/5
The film is correctly framed at 2.40:1 and presented in 1080p with the AVC codec. The transfer features warm, deep color (particularly in the Arcadia settlement), strong and stable blacks, and contrast that exhibits the full range of values with no signs of compression. The image is also free of artifacts from digital sharpening, though it's not always the most crisp or detailed, often looking indistinct and soft in wide shots. Close ups however have a satisfying level of detail, showing nice textures in skin, hair and fabrics.
Audio Quality: 4/5
Dialogue in the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track is crisp, detailed and intelligible, though levels can be a little low in the overall mix. Surround effects ranging from the directional to ambient are balanced and seamless and especially effective during the various windstorm sequences. LFE, in place for things like explosions and space vessel flyovers, is clean, robust and well-integrated into the mix.
Special Features: 2/5
The extras carry over each of the items from the 1999 DVD release and reflect the film's poor box office performance (it recouped only $15 million of its $75 million budget).
Audio Commentary with Director Paul W.S. Anderson, Co-Producer Jeremy Bolt and Jason Isaacs includes mostly technical and logistical information about the production, though the trio throws in some interesting personal anecdotes as well.
Theatrical Trailer (2:02, SD)
Recap
The Feature: 3.5/5
Video Quality: 4/5
Audio Quality: 4/5
Special Features: 2/5
Overall Score (not an average): 3/5
Warner Home Video turns in a fine presentation for an entertaining if superficial sci-fi potboiler. There isn't much to the special features, though that's not entirely surprising given the film's poor box office performance. Still, the commentary provides a decent amount of behind-the-scenes information, and the release overall represents an upgrade from a standard definition release now almost 12 years old.
