Cast: Kurt Russell, Jason Scott Lee, Connie Nielsen,
Michael Chiklis, Jason Isaacs
Directed by Paul Anderson
In the near
future, the government has begun cultivating males from birth for one
sole purpose: to be the best soldiers on Earth. The first group of
soldiers served faithfully and executed their missions with
impeccable skill for over 30 years, but now they are deemed obsolete
when a new breed of soldiers that have been genetically engineered to
be faster, stronger, and more accurate take their place as the elite
supersoldiers. Thought dead, one of the former soldiers named Todd
gets deserted on a planet used for dumping wastes, and encounters a
village of people who have crash landed there years before. This
group takes the soldier in, but his training doesn't allow for any
other feelings but fear and discipline, and the village fears for
their lives. Things take a turn for the worse when the crew of
supersoldiers arrive to train, and view the peaceful village as
hostile enemies.
Written by
the terrific David Webb Peoples (BLADE RUNNER, UNFORGIVEN), the
script is at heart derivative, but developed with such skill that
even the horrible virtuoso director, Paul Anderson (EVENT HORIZON,
MORTAL KOMBAT) can't ruin it totally. Kurt Russell does a fine job as
the soldier-hero, with a lackluster but game supporting cast doing
what they can with what few lines there are. It's pretty easy to
figure out where the film is going early on, so there's little in the
way of surprises, but as an action vehicle, it delivers the goods
with competence. The film recycles bits and pieces from much better
films such as THE TERMINATOR, DIRTY HARRY, RAMBO, THE POSTMAN, MAD
MAX, and countless others. The film is neither fun nor funny, just
icy cold action, but for a brainless action pic, it's better than
most.
Back to
Qwipster's Movie Reviews
<