Soldier - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Soldier



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
I’m going to kill them all Sir.

Whenever I make a review by one of my three Anderson favorites, I always like to bring up the fact that it’s directed by one of the trio, but one will ALWAYS stand out a little more than others. Not because he’s that good, eccentric, that niche. It’s that Paul W.S. Anderson is 100% relegated to the “oh yeah, this is a cheesy as all get out, but I still want to grab some popcorn and Dr. Pepper (the only real soda) and watch this with a greasy smile on my face”. And hey, why not have it be around genetic super soldiers, a start studded late 90s cast, and Jason Isaacs chewing the scenery even more aggressively than Gary Busey?

Soldier is one of those guilty pleasure movies of the late 90s that really isn’t guilty at all. In fact, I’m an unabashed fan of the dystopian sci-fi actioneer to the point where I’ve had friends pat me on the head and say “OK Mike, settle down”. I don’t know why, but it fits right into the same niche as the first 3 Resident Evil films, where they’re undeniably some of the cheesiest and schlockiest things ever, but you still love them to death. Plus, Kurt Russell is absolutely jacked in this film, to the point where just looking at him makes me wanna go to the gym out of guilt.

Straight forward and to the point, Anderson’s film throws us straight into the dystopian world that is the focal point of the movie. Mankind has moved past just creating the best fighting force they can with our sons, but has moved onto genetic breeding to only accept the best and the brightest. These children are taken at birth to be trained as soldiers from the moment they can comprehend their surroundings. Deconditioning them to feel no empathy, ignore pain, and push themselves to their absolute limits. And for years that has served the United States well. Todd 3465 (Kurt Russell) is the peak of that program, and has led more than a few campaigns over his time in the service. But as is the case with anything, something better comes along. In this case it’s Colonel Mekum (Jason Isaacs, chewing the scenery like it’s a sprig of mint) and his 2nd generation super soldiers. Instead of just being picked at birth as one of the best and brightest the world has to offer, these soldiers are selectively bred and had their genes spliced to weed out even the small flaws that were present in Todd’s generation of soldiers.

Tossed aside like trash after being made an example of in Colonel Mekum’s “demonstration”, Todd 3465 is literally dumped on a trash planet, assumed dead after his interaction with Mekum’s prize 2nd gen soldier, Cane 607 (Jason Scott Lee). And despite having barely survived the ordeal, Todd manages to pull himself from the (quite literal) trash and finds his way to a tiny colony in this hellhole of a planet. There he is found and nursed back to health by Sandra (Connie Nielsen) and her husband Mace (Sean Pertwee). But as Todd begins to gain strength, his more sociopathic and dangerous qualities come out. Traits that served him well in combat, but make the equivalent of a 120 lb dog trying to fit in with a litter of kittens. Even though he may be well meaning, sooner or later the dog is going to step on a kitten. But just as he’s thrown out into the cold once more, those very same traits that the settlers were scared of would become their greatest boon, as Colonel Mekum and his crew drop onto the planet for a routine mission and decide to turn the settlers into Swiss cheese. Now Todd has one more mission, this time of his own choosing. Kill every last one of Mekum’s men to make sure that his new family are protected.

Soldier reminds me of a slightly more serious version of Starship Troopers, just with super soldiers instead. In fact, you could have fooled me that this wasn’t a Paul Verhoven book as the source inspiration for the script. But according to all my research over the years this was a totally home grown script by David Peoples. But who cares, all I know is that this is a one of the last gasps of the 90s, holding on to that star power and action that the 80s and 90s made famous. Kurt Russell does amazingly as the strong silent type that is Todd 3465, and Jason Isaacs is a gloriously fun heel. For some reason the man has an innate gift at playing characters you love to hate, and its no different here. You’re just waiting for the moment where Todd comes back and shoves him out an airlock with palpable glee, and you don’t feel a hint of remorse for that. And strangely enough, Gary Busey is not the craziest man in the room. Usually he’s chewing scenery like he’s a starving man, but he’s much more restrained and dialed in this go around. Jason Scott Lee compliments Isaacs insanity with a flip side of the same coin. Instead of being wild and over the top, he’s just straight up a cold blooded animal. Simple, primal, and brutal. He stands out as the a much more fine tuned Todd 3465, which makes their final confrontation so impactful.




Rating:

Rated R for strong violence and brief language




4K Video: Video:

The old 2011 Warner Bro’s disc looked good, but was never that “GREAT” if you know what I mean. It was clean, mostly clear without major flaws, but suffered from some minor digital artifacting and some DNR going on. This new 4K remaster by Arrow looks quite fantastic, without those flaws that I found in the 15 year old Blu-ray. Fine details are generally great, with only high CGI scenes distracting from the natural facial tones, or detail level on set pieces. The vast majority of the film was utilizing physical set pieces, but the ship descending on the planet and a few others tend to stand out as being obvious CGI enhancement. Black levels are deep and inky, and outside of a couple of night time shots looking weirdly TOO black, they’re near immaculate. The Dolby Vision adds some depth to those bright oranges that dot the alien landscape, and even add some pop to the gray uniforms of Mekam’s dull Nazi looking uniforms. Maybe not PERFECT, but stinking close.









Audio:

I’m not sure if it’s the EXACT same mix as the Warner Brothers disc, but if it isn’t, it certainly sounds eerily familiar. The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is bold, brash, aggressively hot with the subwoofer channel, and doesn’t hold back at all. Which is both the film’s biggest boon, and a moderate detractor. The benefits is that this caters towards the hot and heavy action mixing of the 90s, with lots of punch, plenty of low end, and an aggressive sound that home theater enthusiasts love. The only downside is that it’s cooked a bit hotter than natural levels, which can lead to dialog sometimes getting overwhelmed, and bass booming a little from minor baked in clipping. But still, this is an aggressive 90s action track, and it hits just about all of the right notes more than it fails.












Extras:

• Archival audio commentary by director Paul W.S. Anderson, co-producer Jeremy Bolt and actor Jason Isaacs
• Reporting for Duty, a brand new interview with actor James Black
• Fire in the Hole!, a brand new interview with assistant director Dennis Maguire
• On the Front Lines, a brand new interview with associate producer Fred Fontana
• Designing for the Future, a brand new interview with production designer David L. Snyder
• VFX Before and After, a brand new behind-the-scenes look at how the film's special effects were created with visual effects supervisor Craig Barron
• Weapons of Mass Creation, interviews with visual effects supervisors Craig Barron and Van Ling and miniature supervisor Michael Joyce
• A Soldier's Journey, a brand new interview with Danny Stewart, author of Soldier: From Script to Screen
• We Don't Need Another Hero, a brand new retrospective on the film with film historian Heath Holland
• Archival electronic press kit
• On-set interviews with cast and crew
• Trailers
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Orlando Arocena
• Collectors' booklet featuring new writing on the film by film critic Priscilla Page

Final Score: ​

Silly, goofy, full of a GREAT cast of supporting actors, Soldier sadly didn’t light up the box offices back in 98. Don’t get me wrong, it got a certain modicum of success, but these types of action movies were starting to fade in Hollywood right around this time, and Soldier caught in the crosshairs. Kind of like Firehouse and Warrant who got caught flat footed when grunge swept the music scene, Soldier was just a little too late to the party just as the dance numbers were changing. That being said, it is still one of those movies that puts a smile on my face no matter how many times I see it. Kurt Russell and Jason Scott Lee are hulked up monsters blowing and beating everything up, Gary Busey and Jason Isaacs are having a ball as the hated military commanders in charge of Todd’s “death”, and Connie Nielsen doing way better at her role than she should have been considering the script. This is an atomic blast of pure late 90s machismo, and Arrow’s 4K UHD disc is a stunner. Good audio, great video, and a healthy array of extras make this a definite grab for fans of the film.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Kurt Russell, Jason Scott Lee, Jason Isaacs, Connie Nielsen, Sean Pertwee, Gary Busey, Michael Chiklis
Directed by: Paul W.S. Anderson
Written by: David Webb Peoples
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English LPCM 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Arrow
Rated: R
Runtime: 99 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: April 28th, 2026

Recommendation: Awesome Cheese