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Simply A Masterpiece

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

I was in high school when I saw this movie. Along with Red Dawn etc. we were all paranoid about the soviets pulling a fast one. I thought the Tangerine Dream music was AWESOME! The acting wasn't super, and the plot was OK, but the underlying story was great. Especially considering the last gasps of the cold war. Some of the effects were hokey but not really any worse than the James Bond movies or similar of the same era. It was all real stunts and so on, no CGI back then. Ken Wahl and his partners did a great job with what they had. This movie is VERY hard to find on DVD or online etc. Although somewhat early in his career, it showed that Ken Wahl could carry a movie on his own and that he had a good future in acting, TV and movies.

I seriously have to stop making up my own story lines before seeing the actual movies! Too often it happens that see an enticing poster/cover image and title and then subsequently begin to draw my own story concept. Like in the case of "(Code Name: )The Soldier"… With a title like that, and the dark silhouette of a man with a massive gun on the VHS cover, I quickly became convinced that this film was about a secretly developed military weapon – presumably an indestructible cyborg of some sort – that would singlehandedly exterminate an entire army of bad guys. Disappointment all around when it turns out the soldier is, in fact, just an ordinary human being without any special powers or superhuman strengths. He's simply a CIA-agent who gets appointed the toughest and riskiest jobs. Other than that, "The Soldier" pretty much lives up to all expectations and contemporary 80's clichés. This is a typical US movie released during the peak of the Cold War era, so basically it means that evil and stereotypically hideous Russian bastards are developing fiendish plans to undermine the prosperity of the poor and peaceful American citizens. Russian terrorists with bazookas manage to steal a significant amount of plutonium and threaten to destroy 50% of the world's oil supply, unless the Israelis retire from the West Bank. Yes that does sound like a lot of political gibberish, but don't let this scare you off! In between all the politic nonsense and anti-communistic propaganda, there are plentiful of wild explosions, violent gunfights, close range executions and cheesy dialogs. Whilst allegedly negotiating with the Israelis, the American President assigns the head of the CIA to do whatever possible to prevent the loss of oil. "The Soldier" stands for half-decent and brainless entertainment, even though James Glickenhaus' screenplay sometimes tries to be a little bit too ambitious and intelligent. The film is actually very incoherent and too often jumps from scene to scene without making sense. Glickenhaus puts a lot of effort in the action sequences (like the skiing chase) and detailed accuracy in some cool gimmick sequences (like the construction of a light bulb bomb), but the overall storyline is pretty dumb. Glickenhaus' previous film "The Exterminator", about an embittered Vietnam veteran going on a vigilante rampage is much more shocking and socially confronting. Oh, and Klaus Kinski's role is frustratingly petite! It's hardly even a cameo.

The people who have been trashing this film are missing the point. Of course the film's premise is implausible, many of the scenes are improbable to the point of being ridiculous, and some of James Glickenhuas' political views may be offensive to some, but as far as I'm concerned, The Soldier is more entertaining than all the 007 movies combined. This is a very offbeat, unusual film that requires a complete suspension of disbelief in order to watch from start to finish, but it's definitely worth watching.Ken Wahl was an interesting choice for The Soldier. I'm surprised that Robert Ginty wasn't offered the role considering that Glickenhaus and Ginty enjoyed great success with The Exterminator less than two years prior. Still, Wahl turns in a good job, although the brief appearance of Klaus Kinski as Dracha is one of the highlights of the film.James Glickenhaus had a good run in the 1980s (The Exterminator, The Soldier, The Protector, Shakedown) and offered an interesting alternative to all the lousy mainstream movies of that decade. This is one cynical, jaded New Yorker who wishes Glickenhaus would return to film-making and give us another interesting film like The Soldier.

The Soldier is absolutely one of this worst movies I have ever seen in my life. Just name an aspect of a movie; acting, writing, directing and it is bad. Probably the worst parts are the action; a man is hit in the chest with a half-dozen bullets from a machine gun by the hero (who is flying through the air on skis at the time, don't ask) and croaks out the complete plans of the bad guys to the hero for no particular reason. And that is not the dumbest scene by far. Only rent this if you want to laugh at a movie.