Retro Review: Soldier (1998)

Soldier
1998
Cast: Kurt Russell, Jason Scott Lee, Connie Nielsen, Michael Chiklis, Gary Busey
Genre: Science Fiction Action 
U.S Box Office Gross: over $14 million 

Plot: A soldier is dumped on a waste disposal planet & lives among a community of crash survivors on the planet and takes it upon himself to defend his new home when genetically engineered soldiers are ordered to eliminate the crash survivors 

 

'Attention!'

So I once saw Soldier on TV a long time ago on ITV4 or somewhere where they would air obscure or action B-movies late on Saturday night. I was unimpressed at the time, so viewing it today has things changed since then? 

Actually, I found it to be a tad enjoyable- though if not as entertaining as I thought it would be and I did like it, second time around. I know that Soldier is widely derided and dismissed by a lot of people, and whilst it is not horrible, and it's not perfect, it turned out to be quite a surprise; I found Soldier to be not as bad as its notoriety and negative reputation suggests it is. Paul W.S. Anderson's follow-up and oft-forgotten sci-fi based actioner to space-horror, Event Horizon and 1995's video game movie, Mortal Kombat, as well as penned by the writer of 12 Monkeys starring Bruce Willis, the 80s' classic, Blade Runner and Leviathan, which is one of my cult favourites, the film had a budget of $60 million but it did poorly at the box office in the U.S and clawing back only $14 million. 

Billed as a potential sequel to Blade Runner, Soldier originally had Slyvester Stallone attached to the project until Kurt Russell secured the main role. Bred from birth and after 40 years of service, Sergeant Todd 3465 is replaced by a younger, newer, stronger and faster model Caine 607. Todd is bereft of emotion and feeling -and is programmed to kill. Assumed dead after being dumped and abandoned on another planet, Todd survives and is rescued by a community of refugees, Mace and his wife, Sandra, who have been hiding in the trash heaps for years. 

 

Even with him only uttering like 3 lines of dialogue (104 words), and whilst I missed his trademark wit and onscreen charm that is replaced with emotionless stoicism, and spending the 98-99% of the film with a blank facial expression, Kurt Russell makes up with this by having this muscular frame and alas he is in great physical shape (he worked out 3-4 hours a day for a year in preparation for the role). As Snake Plissken, Jack Burton, Gabe Cash, Kurt oozed charisma, amusement and a wittiness as those characters; alas, to see him take on this cyborg character bereft of those qualities that made those characters memorable to audiences and fans, was not only surprising but perhaps also through his career choices, he has shown he has a knack of being versatile and his career isn't built on playing the same type of role over and over, and in films that weren't all box office hits. Would his performance benefit from his character being better developed with more dialogue and an enriched characterisation? Absolutely. Physically, he was still in his 40s at the time as Todd, and during some good action sequences, Kurt still had what it takes on the action movie front. The remaining cast was okay, but the performances overall weren't that special. 

Soldier is pretty much Universal Soldier version 2.0, with both Kurt and Jason Scott Lee (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, who is also beefed up here) scrapping it out in place of Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. Their characters, Todd and Caine 607 are trained to kill without hesitation and question. Oddly also, with the scenes with the young boy and Todd, it reminded me of Robocop 3 in terms of the child befriending a cyborg/robot thing.

The film doesn't rummage through the details in character development, nor explore the story with any depth (Todd is a cold-blooded killer, but this arc is never explicitly addressed). It's all about action and getting from A to B in under 1hr and 30 mins, which it did and it wasn't bad, the pacing was all right. The action itself is generic and atypical one that can be seen in other Sci-fi action movies, particularly those of the 1990s; nothing groundbreaking or spectacular. Soldier just about survives on the back of Kurt Russell - irrespective that his talents and charisma has been acutely reduced in a one-note turn as a cyborg; without Russell, Soldier would be unadorned. 

 

 

 

Final Verdict:

And so, it's not bad-bad; and whilst it is an ambitious-yet flawed attempt by Paul W.S Anderson, given the potential of the premise and plot, Soldier really ought to have been shrewd, as well as more adventurous and entertaining.

Overall:

Mini Retro Review: Captain Ron (1992) #badmovies

Captain Ron
1992
Comedy

 

First time I've been disappointed in a Kurt Russell film, Captain Ron; a so-called comedy and his follow-up release to the impressive Unlawful Entry, this was a career misstep. Released in September 1992, four months after Unlawful Entry, take the backdrop of Overboard: the Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell rom-com, throw in a Snake Plissken and make him look like a pirate. His character did not work, but that is due to the poor material that he was given. The biggest error this film makes is making Martin Short the straight man and Kurt Russell as the wacky wise guy in a comedy, when it ought to be the other way around. The boy here reminds me of the character, Gus from the animated TV series, Recess. For a film made in 1991 and released in 1992, curiously, it mentions the Pirates of the Caribbean and Disney - a precursor to the early 2000s when the Franchise came out on the big screen. Like many actors, he has made his fair share of mistakes, and yet also those mistakes are few and far between, given Kurt Russell's experience, wherein he has carved up some notable cult hits and fan favourites. The humour aspect is not that well done. Despite Kurt Russell's efforts and even though he tried, this is still one of his worst films. 

Captain Ron is a wrong un.

Is It Worth Watching?

Not really unfortunately

Overall:

Retro Review: Unlawful Entry (1992)

Unlawful Entry
1992
Cast: Kurt Russell, Ray Liotta, Madeleine Stowe, Roger E. Mosley
Genre: Psychological Thriller

Worldwide Box Office Gross: over $57 million 

Plot: Finding their house has been burgled, a couple call for a policeman. But when the cop develops a crazed obsession towards the woman, it is up to the husband and wife to fight for their lives 

'He's A Maniac!, Maniac.... Cop'

A paint- by- numbers thriller is elevated and redeemed by stylish and impressive direction and an over-the-top performance by Ray Liotta as a psycho cop. Pete Davis is an L.A. police officer, who answers a call from a yuppie couple, happily- married suburbanites, Michael and Karen Carr after a knife-wielding intruder breaks into their home and threatens to kill the wife. Considerate and sympathetic at first, Pete charms his way and befriends the two by installing a home security device and even letting Michael ride in his police car on a patrol. Michael accepts and goes along with this until Pete's infatuation towards him, and more so his missus turns sinister and nasty that it isn't long until they find their lives are endangered and with a psychologically unhinged stalker cop on their trail. Thus, it turns out that Pete is a cop from hell, not heaven as he seeks to not only terrorise them but to ultimately destroy Pete and claim Karen as his own. 

Unlawful Entry was released in U.S theaters during the summer of 1992, debuting at #2, only to be pipped to the post by Tim Burton's Batman Returns, which topped the U.S box office chart. The former eventually grossed over $57 million, domestically. 

Jonathan Kaplan (The Accused) does a terrific job of building up tension from start to finish, providing some genuinely hair-raising and nail-biting moments, with several diversions thrown in, to keep the suspense flowing, and making the most of the relations between Pete and Karen, as well as exchanges of Pete and Michael. Even though it has been done before, and after Unlawful Entry came out. 

The acting, as a whole, is consistently on par with Liotta going full steam ahead in fruitcake mode as the cop; he plays the part realistically, whilst a bespeckled Kurt Russell is an effective presence as the husband & Madaline Stowe was okay in the unlucky victim as Karen; just that the nature of the script and the way her role was written never really gave her much to do with it. Russell, much like in 1997's Breakdown, plays a somewhat regular joe, well not exactly regular as Michael is an interior designer & husband, whose other half is in danger from a maniac: a role that required Russell to act dramatically and his so-called action movie hero antics, as well as status that he has solidified through the likes of The Thing, Escape From New York and Big Trouble in Little China of the 1980s, being put on the backburner. I sort of liked that Michael wasn't written as and portrayed as a wuss, yet besides that, the characterisations were a little underwhelming. Word is Kurt Russell beat out Mel Gibson, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Costner for the part, with Ray Liotta who bagged the bad guy role over John Travolta, Mel Gibson, Tom Berenger and Charlie Sheen. 

With a fairly standard plot, Unlawful Entry doubles up effectively as a victimisation thriller in the same vein as Fatal Attraction and Single White Female; the latter of which was also released in 1992, aspects of this film also mirror The Hand That Rocks The Cradle. One area the film needed to touch upon a bit more, but of which was never fully delved into is that whilst it is apparent to see Pete's affections towards Karen develop into something that bordered on obsession, the sexual tension between the two through Ray Liotta and Madaline Stowe is absent whenever they shared a scene with each other; there was little to practically nothing in the way of onscreen chemistry with Liotta & Stowe. Nada. Whereas on screen, for some reason, Kurt Russell and Madeline Stowe together seem mismatched; separately and individually, their performances are fine, but I couldn't help but feel something was off, just by seeing them as a pairing. 

Furthermore, the tale of Unlawful Entry is a cautionary one that symbolises how people in positions of power feel they are entitled to abuse that power, and that their actions and decisions, together with their mental instability give them the free reign to do whatever, to whomever, irrespective of the consequences, and the people they hurt. How someone else's kindness can be easily exploited, and the psychological effects and well-being of a person, who doesn't take no for an answer & finds it difficult to do so.   

The finale descends into a 25- min crescendo of entertaining anarchy and intensity -, but the way it ended, given its strong build-up, was tame. Besides that, there is a hint of film noir, it is all well-directed, well crafted, the story improves, the acting is impressive. Some may say that under Jonathan Kaplan, it is shamefully unsubtle and exploitative; and yet the point the film was trying to make was how there are good cops and bad cops, that nothing is clear cut and Black and White. 

Final Verdict:

Taking all this into account, Unlawful Entry remains a gripping-yet overlooked '90s contemporary crime thriller that, decades on, still hasn't lost its competitive edge, & is grittier & better paced than Breakdown. 

Overall:

Retro Review: Tequilla Sunrise (1988)

Tequila Sunrise

1988

Cast: Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kurt Russell, Raul Julia, J.T. Walsh 

Genre: Romantic Crime Thriller

Worldwide Box Office Gross: over $41 million

Plot: A former L.A. drug dealer tries to go straight but his past and his underworld connections bring him into the focus of the DEA, the Mexican Feds and Mexican drug cartels 

'Tequila Sunrise's Flacid Approach Wastes Main 3's Talent'

When I was younger, I saw the poster for Tequilla Sunrise, read the plot and thought to myself: 'this sounds 'meh'. Seeing this in full for the first time as a 40-year-old today, thoughts, as I sat through it, were 'meh' and dreary. I'm not going to great detail into what it is, as the film bored the hell out of me, but to cut a long story short, it is basically a love triangle tale involving a drug dealer, his former childhood friend who is now a cop, and a waitress of whom the cop and drug dealer both fall for. 

Interesting that one of the TV ads features a young Matt Le Blanc who played Joey in the sitcom, Friends and has the young actor, Gabriel Damon played a bespeckled kid; Gabriel later appeared in Robocop 2, 2 years after the release of this film. 

At almost 2 hrs long this seems excessive and the story drags; to have three established & acting pedigree of stars (and then hottest A-listers) of the 1980s and 1990s cinema wallowing in what is a heavily dialogue-driven film, isn't a problem; the problem being that besides the romantic aspect, Tequilla Sunrise lacks the depth to muster up engagement from the audience. Underneath all that sleek and glamour, unbelievably the rest of the film is shockingly bland with its humdrum & flaccid approach, throwing in a bunch of characters in a film that could be mistaken as an action thriller and still managing to do nowt with it. I was so bored I had to fast forward some of the dull parts. It's as if they took an action film, stripped away all the action and replaced it with well, nothingness. Gibson plays a drug dealer, Russell plays a cop with slicked-back hair - yet the film grants them no opportunities to display more than 10 mins worth of action, of which it was totally lacklustre. Well, thank goodness for Kurt Russell's follow-up to Tequilla Sunrise, Tango & Cash, whereby through his team up with muscleman Slyvester Stallone, a year after Tequilla Sunrise's release, that movie was a far better display of his acting prowess, not to mention charm from an action crime movie, more so than this so-called attempt of a crime thriller. 

The love arc is handled in a clunky and dreary fashion and the love scene involving Gibson and Pfieffer included two body doubles. Mel Gibson just came off the back of the Mad Max movies and the first Lethal Weapon outing, Kurt Russell was making a name for himself in the '80s with Escape to New York, Big Trouble in Little China and Michelle Pfieffer after her breakthrough with The Witches of Eastwick alongside Cher, Jack Nicholson and Susan Sarandon. All three in Gibson, Pfieffer and Russell have fared better elsewhere with much better material and scripts at their disposal: their characters are so poorly written they just don't generate enough actual emotion or tension for us as the audience to care about them and who they are. 

Final Verdict:

Unfortunately, despite the premise, I just wasn't sold on it and it feels like Tequilla Sunrise existed just to plug their names, and nothing more. 

This could have been so much more to be considered as a hidden gem, but it just never did enough. A dud on the resumes of Gibson, Pfieffer and Russell (and to most, a justifiable one to boot). It's a grave disappointment. 

Overall: 

Retro Review: Breakdown (1997)

Breakdown

1997

Cast: Kurt Russell, J.T Walsh, Kathleen Quinlan, M.C Gainley, Jack Noseworthy, Rex Lynn

Genre: Thriller

Worldwide Box Office Gross: over $50 million

Plot: A man searches for his missing wife after his car breaks down in the middle of a desert 

'Suspenseful Cat-&-Mouse B-Movie-Style Thriller'

A man, Jeff drives across the southwest with his wife, Amy alongside him for company; as their SUV breaks down in the middle of the road, or be it nowhere they are stranded, it isn't long until she accepts a lift from a mysterious trucker in Warren Barr. When she doesn't return, the hubby realises she has vanished, and he must find a way to get her back. The bad guys think he is rich and devise a plan to get Jeff to enter a bank and withdraw all of his money from his account. Director Mostow keeps the suspense and momentum believable, with Kurt Russell in the Everyman role: a contrast to his turns as the butch and bravado-esque, Snake Plisken in the Escape From movies, Big Trouble In Little China and Tango and Cash. Far from it, Jeff Taylor is portrayed as an ordinary guy, who simply is at his wits end figuring out what to do; thus displaying powerlessness & vulnerability but also brevity that lurks within him. Russell is fine here, but in typical Kurt fashion, I still prefer him as Snake, Jack Burton, Gabe Cash: characters that fans are synonymous with Kurt Russell himself. 

Breakdown starts off in a slow-burner way until events unravel within the movie, all in the short space of under 93 mins and the pacing is efficient. The late JT Walsh gives one of his darkest, or be it arguably, his darkest turn as the villain in any movie he has appeared in as a sleazy, up- to- no- good truck driver, as is the guy from 1993's Sly Stallone action thriller, Cliffhanger. Speaking of Walsh and Russell, this was the fourth movie they have appeared in together, following on from Tequilla Sunrise (1988), Backdraft (1991) and Executive Decision (1996)  The weak link, if there ever was one, was Kathleen Quinlan as the wife. Overall, the acting, based on the script is, for the most part, solid and the cast does a steady job. 

A B-movie through its feel and structure, but also one of those thrillers from the 1990s that remains a gem and overlooked that whilst it isn't a blockbuster, it is still an enjoyable romp that has a really good story that gets better as the film continues. I think the reason why Breakdown works so well, and still hasn't aged that much over 20 years on, is the formula that is part-mystery, part-thriller but not treating the audience like we are idiots and in being smart in its approach; by upping the tension several times, it doesn't feel as if the story loses steam the longer it goes on. 

Where it could have gone one step further, is whilst it has some really good moments, it could have had a nastier streak going for it by being much darker, grittier, menacing and sickening. Breakdown could have used the Paul Verhoeven or Quentin Tarrantino treatment to extract the sheer nastiness out of the premise. Alas, from that aspect, it tends to go down the safe route and be a tad predictable. 

Final Verdict: 

Regardless, it doesn't become too big for its boots and settles in being straightforward without being pretentious and over-bloated that it outstays its welcome. Perhaps not one of the most quintessential movies of Kurt Russell's illustrious 6- decade career; however, it is effective and the taut plot is easy to follow and understand; with that, Breakdown deserves far more credit today than it got on its original release. 

 

Overall: