The Soldier (1982)

Just a cool movie!

This is not the fastest action movie out there but it is VERY COOL! How many other movies show the guys changing magazines in their submachine guns at the proper time? No shooting the guns all day without reloading! Has a good solid story line, some cool one-liners and a lot of neat stunts. This movie is worth adding to your collection. Now to get it on DVD.
April 1, 2008

Great Action Scenes

This is a great, 1980's cold war action movie, althou very dated, it's still a great, saturday night popcorn film!!!

This movie, is a great cult classic, and deserves a great dvd release!!!! September 12, 2007

An Awful Movie .... that I Still Love to Watch

As others have said about this film, it was great to watch as a kid (I was twelve when it first came out). It fed my uninformed, childish notions of espionage.

Of course, the whole film is ridiculous now, both in terms of its depiction of the CIA & KGB as well as from a filmmaking standpoint. Other reviewers have already pointed out the painfully slow pacing, the ridiculous plotline, the numerous factual errors, the impossible scenarios, and the wooden acting. One fun item not yet mentioned is what appears to be a serious editing error. Prior to showing a meeting between the Israeli Prime Minister and Israeli security officials to discuss the stolen plutonium, there is a piece of stock footage showing what looks like a concrete, military bunker with antennas. The caption on the screen read: "Israeli Prime Minister's Residence." Later, just before showing the interrogation and execution of a terrorist by a female Mossad officer, there is a piece of stock footage showing a quaint, brownstone-style home with a uniformed guard near the front door. The caption read: "Mossad Headquarters." I'm pretty sure they accidentally swapped those two bits of footage around and never realized the mistake. Pretty cool.

All that being said, I have serious nostalgic feelings for this film and I watch it when I'm in the mood for a laugh and for some fond childhood memories. The Tangerine Dream soundtrack is also really great. This is one of those cheap action flicks you just have to love if you don't take it too seriously.

April 8, 2006

Loved it as a kid, don't think much of it now..

I was blown away by the blood drenched action of 'The Soldier' as a goofy 7 year old. This movie, along with 'For Your Eyes Only' were among my top 10 spy movies of 1982. My favorite parts were the ceremonial percussion synthed intro, the baby carriage lady smashing against the windshield of a limo, the sinister background music to the bomb making sequence, the surprise massacre of innocent looking KGB agents in the middle of a Philidelphia street, the stomach explosion from the shotgun hidden in trenchcoat trick, the execution of a neanderthal looking terrorist, an awesome ski chase scene, and a vicious harpsichorded battle between Ken Wahl and a ninja who turned out to be his CIA buddy. I also love the Tangerine Dream soundtrack!

This movie does seem pretty hokey now. Don't get me wrong, I am not very hip to today's CGI drenched hollywood fare, and a lot of vintage action movies still maintain a high spot on my list. However, after viewing 'The Soldier' at the ripe old age of 31, a lot of common 80s movie infractions became evident: (1) there is a lot of of scenes of slow moving filler that just eats up film - I.E. it literally takes 5 minutes for a boat to dock in which KGB agents take another 3 minutes to exit and get on a truck (2) the ridiculous plot scenarios - I.E. there is a blatantly marked drum of plutonium which is being transported on an open highway and escorted by a couple of 70s Plymouth sedans. After the convoy gets the renegade bazooka treatment by the good ol' KGB, the only backup is a rent-a-cop who looks like junior from Smokey and the Bandit. (3) There is a pronounced lack of action towards the end of the movie. You would think that in a good action flick, the climax would build up into an intense grand finale, but not in 'The Soldier'. All we have is a quiet covert infiltration and take-over of a missile silo while Ken Wahl, the action hero, drives around in a Porsche with his girlfriend. Other than him making a macho jump over the Berlin wall with it, this is it. No showdown shootout with the Vladamir KGB guy, no explosions or anything. Ken Wahl could have kicked more terroist arse. It could have been much better.

The ski chase scene does steal the movie though. The music blends well with the intensity of the chase and the ski jumps are well executed; regardless if Ken Wahl had a ski double. The 360 degree machine gun jump in midair was quite clever followed by the KGB guy's plummet into a picnic table. I just wish he wasn't interrogated because he sounded like some over emotional computer nerd, not a bad guy.

All in all, I would recommend this movie to only those who remember it fondly as a kid. I doubt anyone reading this review would purposely seek out this movie if they've never seen it before, unless you are a Ken Wahl fan from the Wise Guy series.
August 24, 2005

YOU CAN'T HELP BUT LIKE THIS FILM...

[w]ith dialogue as: "You have 2 choices, duck or bleed!" This isn't intended to be anything more than time wasting fare, yet there is a time accurate political element to the film proposing that the USSR was threatening to detonate a nuke in the Mid East oil fields in 1982. The film was released right around the time of Al Haig's exile from D.C. so there may have been more truth here than not. That aside, James Glickenhaus was the master of comic book violence in the early 1980's and you can see some of his influence in Quentin's first works. This is a good Saturday afternoon B flick the way the studios used to churn them out. May 28, 2004

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