Just another futuristic war movie?
Well.... Instead of just your typically disgruntled, silent soldier, in this movie you know *why*
Todd (Kurt Russell) is disgruntled.... Although you're not very sure if he is disgruntled or the nerves in his face have just
disappeared. Either way.....
Let's go through the standard plots -
No, there was no little family squabble, no lost lover,
no national grievance. No, no, none of that.
Todd is simply part of the Adam Project - a group of (I didn't notice any token girls) boys raised
from birth to be cold, ruthless, heartless little bastards. The movie goes through selected elements of their training...etc
etc. They are graduated when they're 17 and tatooed with their name, blood type, serial number, and rank on the side of their
face. Quite convenient, I think.
Anyhow, 40+ years later, Todd is still going strong, unphased by carnage, death of his Adam Project
bretheren, civilians, emotion, etc. Todd is, indeed, the top of the Adam Project soldiers... until.... (You knew there would
be an until) a bath of in-vitro manufactured soldiers show up. They're the pretty soldiers. They shoot, work-out (ooo la-la),
fight, climb, and have better endurance than Todd and his Adam Project buddies. Todd shows his first and possibly only emtion
when he is beaten by Caine, an engineered, steroid-enhanced, even more brutal soldier. (The emotion is shock.... or perhaps
Todd just has the wind knocked out of him.... I'm hoping for emotion.)
Now the quick synopsis -
Caine kicks Todd's ass, along with 2 of Todd's buddies. They're thrown
out with the trash, as it is assumed that they are dead when they don't get back up. Todd is the only one still living. Anyhow,
on the trash dump-ship, Todd wakes up in time to be thrown out on some barely-habitable planet...which happens to be inhabited
by people no one cares about.
Now, at this point in time, I feel I must say, the sfx for the trash-dumpers and the planet are
absolutely stupendous!!! A rare event in a movie like this, in my opinion. Really, I think they cut out all of Todd's lines
so they'd have the budget to animate those trash dumber things.
So... Todd finds the people no one cares about. They're pretty much terrified of him, as the tattoo
on his face tells them he is a soldier. But, of course, one guy - Mace - says, "Hey, he's not so bad," and takes him into
his home - alongside his wife and little boy, whom Todd is intrigued by. The little boy doesn't speak, so he's a good counterpart
for Todd - who says perhaps 10 words in the entire movie. (And, I'd imagine the wifey would be particularly *intriguing* to
Todd - a big, really-muscley, Kurt Russell looking soldier with no sex? Talk about libido-overload....)
And yadda-yadda-yadda, Todd develops a minor speck of a presence of personality, blah-blah-blah,
head army guys do their bi-annual secutiy sweep, amazingly in the same system as the people no one cares about and their garbage
planet, blee-da-blee-da-blee, Todd kicks all the bio-engineered soldier's ass and re-claims his Adam Project buddies who have
been busted down to privates, etc etc etc, they win.... the people no one cares about (well the kids and Mace's wifey) get
off the planet with Todd and the Adam Project guys and assumedly live happily ever after.
Taa-daaaah
Surprisingly decent movie. I will watch it again.
And in case you don't notice, the music is marvy marvy marvy.
Oh, yes, note the presence of the TV series ER nurses among the people no one cares about. Also,
that the actor who plays Mace has unbelievably seductively pretty eyes.
