Soldier (1998) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_325" align="alignright" width="263"] Official Score = 3 Devils[/caption]

If you are a fan of movies or the theater, and you grew up loving one or the other, then there was at least one actor or actress… or even group of actors or actresses that you would grow up watching either on TV, on the big screen or on the stage… For me, one of those actors that I grew up watching is Kurt Russell (The Thing)!

Now Kurt Russell is one of my favorite actors, and the reason being is that no matter what form of leading role he played, rather it was playing Snake Plissken in such Sci-Fi/Action movies as the, ‘Escape’ movie series, or as R.J. MacReady in, The Thing (1982), or even in the comedy, Overboard (1987)… This guy brings a certain set of sarcastic humor, that will almost have you rooting for him even if he is a bad guy!

And you know what? A great example of this is, Soldier (1998), and that is really saying something… What I mean by that is that this movie which was written by: David Webb Peoples (Twelve Monkeys), and Directed by: Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil), and which also starred, Jason Scott Lee (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story), Jason Isaacs (Event Horizon), Connie Nielsen (The Devil’s Advocate), Sean Pertwee (Equilibrium), Michael Chiklis (Fantastic Four), and Gary Busey (Predator 2), told an interesting tale of how, ‘if it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it’ and how, ‘arrogance destroys all…’

What do I mean by this? Well simply put, in the future the American Government creates a band of super soldiers that are able to pretty much easily and exclusively win every war that they fight in…

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] The super soldier program[/caption]

Now with the success of these Soldiers, the government goes ahead builds the next generation of super soldier and arrogantly believes that these soldiers are above and beyond better than their predecessors! So much so that Colonel Mekum (Isaacs) brings his new soldiers over to the barracks that houses the old soldiers…

After they arrive, the Colonel pits one of his soldiers against 3 of his predecessors, and it looks like he may have killed all 3 of them… Or so he thinks…

You see it turns out that Todd 3465 (Russell) was still alive and gets dropped on to a dumpster planet along with some waste refuse… While there he comes across a group of people that had crash landed on the planet and made it their home.

During his time recuperating with the villagers, this super soldier finds more than he ever expected when he discovers his emotions, and that for the first time in his entire life that he actually cares about these people!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="699"] This old Super Soldier finds friendship when he is dumped on a Garbage planet![/caption]

With that in mind though, his old crew comes to the planet for an annual security sweep and to eradicate those that remain on the planet… And it will be up to this antiquated super soldier to go up against the next generation of his brethren, before they destroy the village that he has grown to love!

Another thing that I found that I really like about this movie is that it does show the horrors of war, but besides that, it also shows the power of the human spirit, and that despite the horrors that some people can do to other people, that it only takes the acceptance and love of the right person or people to destroy all of that evil programming!

In the end though, this is an action packed, special effects extravaganza that was definitely worth the experience!

http://youtu.be/AGuwzYN4qAc

Event Horizon (1997) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_330" align="alignright" width="220"] Official Score = 2 1/2 Devils[/caption]

I was a teenager and was just getting in to horror and Science Fiction movies and TV series one of my favorite TV series that I really enjoyed was the TV series, Space Above And Beyond (A TV show that I am pretty certain was at least partly the inspiration for, Starship Troopers (1997))!

One of the reasons that I really liked this series is that this series takes place roughly about 100 years in the future, when the United States and other countries have finally made it in outer space and have begun to colonize the rest of the universe!

The reason that I mention this is that there is another movie that although it takes place in outer space and humanity is beginning to colonize outer space, it is still close enough to the present to give at least one interpretation of what it would be like when mankind starts making its first serious inroads in to outer space would be like! That movie of course being, Event Horizon (1997)!

Written by: Philip Eisner (Firestarter 2: Rekindled) & Directed By: Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil: Retribution). Starring: Sam Neill (Omen 3: Final Conflict), Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix), Kathleen Quinlan (The Hills Have Eyes), Joely Richardson (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), Richard T. Jones (Phone Booth), Jack Noseworthy (Surrogates), Jason Isaacs (Dawn), and Shawn Pertwee (Soldier).

This movie tells the story of the, ‘Event Horizon’, an experimental spaceship that is meant to test the bounds of human exploration with an experimental engine that would allow for mankind to seriously begin to explore outer space! The problem though is that after engaging the new drive, the Event Horizon ends up disappearing without a trace!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The Event Horizon before she becomes, 'The Ship Of The Damned'![/caption]

That is until years later when the Event Horizon pops back up on Earth’s radar, and they decide to send a rescue craft to rescue anyone who may still be alive on the ship, and also to investigate what happened to the ship itself!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="522"] The crew of the rescue ship as they begin to piece together what happened to the, 'Event Horizon'![/caption]

The only problem though is that when the crew arrive along with a specialist who helped design the ship by the name of Doctor William Weir (Neill), weird things begin to happen, including seeing horrific images of loved ones, or past mistakes, etc…

Now with this hellish ship playing tricks on the crew, and slowly driving the already slightly unbalanced Dr. Weir insane, it will be up to Captain Miller (Fishburne) and the rest of his crew to work to get off the ship before the ship along with the help of good ole Doctor Weir end up destroying the ship and crew that had been sent out to rescue them!

Now on the plus side:

1. This movie has literally something for the fans of both Science Fiction and Horror Movies!

2. Event Horizon also has a great cast to it, that would go on to do to do other great Science Fiction and or Horror movies!

3. The next thing that I thought that I would mention is that the special effects were so well done, that there is a point on the ship where between the experimental drive and the rest of the ship that, looks like a grinder of sorts and was so well made that the first time I saw this scene I got a little dizzy!

4. I also wanted to say that I do believe that this movie is I believe an homage to the classic Science Fiction movies of the 50s, 60s and 70s that had to do with people heading out in to space to rescue other crews or to find out something that went wrong!

The only problem that I had with the movie is that, even though the concepts that hell is essentially another dimension, is an interesting

, is an interesting take on that old concept, the scenes having to do with people being tortured can be a little hard on the eyes, what I mean this is that they can hurt the eyes.

All in all it is a fun one, and it is definitely worth the time and trouble of watching it, and if you are like me, it will definitely become a treasured classic!

http://youtu.be/OVlnER8SxfQ