The Big Picture

• Blade Runner influenced Soldier's storyline and setting, evident in subtle references like the Spinner wreckage.
• Soldier explores themes of identity similar to Blade Runner, as the protagonist defends the colony.
• Despite the connections, screenwriter David Peeples claims Soldier was inspired by The Terminator and Western films.

Good films entertain, but great films inspire. In the case of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, the cyberpunk crime thriller would grow from a cult classic to a cornerstone of science fiction, with its take on AI inspiring films like Ex Machina and The Creator. Harrison Ford added another iconic role to the roster with his portrayal of the titular "blade runner" Rick Deckard. Blade Runner also kickstarted a wave of films based on the work of Philip K. Dick, effectively reinforcing Dick's reputation as one of the more iconic science fiction writers who ever lived.

While it took decades for a Blade Runner film to make it to the silver screen, its influence would end up gracing many films. The biggest example is perhaps Soldier, a 1998 film starring Kurt Russell. Blade Runner screenwriter David Peeples concocted a story that had more than a few ties to the first Blade Runner film despite the two being completely separate projects.

What Is Kurt Russell's 'Soldier' About?

The plot of Soldier takes a science fiction approach to the "nature versus nurture" question by asking: "What happens when you raise children to follow strict military discipline?" In the case of Todd 3645 (Russell), war is all he knows. He was trained from birth to be a fighting machine but is discarded and replaced by a genetically engineered class of superhuman soldiers. Todd is abandoned on the planet Arcadia 234, where he slowly starts to grow closer to the inhabitants. Two things complicate his new life: unlike him, the colonists are pacifists. His former CO, Colonel Mekum (Jason Issacs) decides to use Arcadia 234 as a training ground for the new supersoldiers, putting Todd's new friends at risk and forcing him to use his skills to defend his home.

'Soldier's Scenery Contains Subtle References to 'Blade Runner'

The connections between Blade Runner and Soldier would only be visible to the most eagle-eyed viewers, but they're fairly surprising. When he's dropped off at Arcadia 234, Todd passes the wreckage of a Spinner. The Spinner was the flying vehicle that Deckard used to transport himself through the towering skyscrapers of Los Angeles in 2019 and its presence in Soldier hints that this film may be set in the same world as Blade Runner. Another sequence lists Todd's military records, which notes that he participated in battles at the Tannenhauser Gate and the Shoulder of Orion. Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) referenced both of those battles during his iconic monologue at the end of Blade Runner. Fans of Russell's films should also keep an eye out for Todd's other awards, which pay homage to his previous roles in The Thing, Escape From New York, and Stargate.

Another element that connects Blade Runner and Soldier is the theme of identity. Blade Runner has Deckard re-thinking his stance on replicants after he falls in love with Rachel (Sean Young), and Batty and his fellow replicants are also trying to survive in a world that sees them as little more than expendable. Todd also goes through an identity crisis in Soldier, which leads him to form a connection with a family of colonists: Mace (Sean Pertwee), Sandra (Connie Nielsen), and their son Nathan (Jared & Taylor Thorne). This connection leads him to defend Arcadia from the incoming super soldiers.

'Soldier’s Biggest Draw Is Kurt Russell’s Performance

Soldier has a few elements that make it worth a watch. Chief among them is Kurt Russell's performance as Todd, and how he evolves throughout the film. Todd starts off as a stoic warrior, who doesn't have much to say — in fact, Russell only speaks 104 words throughout the film. This changes when he's dumped off at Arcadia; Todd slowly opens up to the colonists, and takes a shine to Nathan, even saving the boy from a poisonous snake. Russell lets his facial expressions do most of the work, slowly moving from icy stoicism to warm acceptance.

This is just another example of how Russell continued to break out of boxes throughout his career. Before Soldier, he was known for playing cynical, wise-cracking tough guys. Prior to that, he had a solid run as a child actor, particularly in Disney films. Playing a near-emotionless supersoldier looked like it would be outside Russell's wheelhouse, but he rose to the challenge. His performance also helps Soldier stand out from the glut of hyperviolent action films that peppered the '80s, as it added a layer of unexpected depth to the story.

‘Soldier’s Screenwriter Insists the ‘Blade Runner’ Connection Was a Coincidence

Though Soldier features a few connections to Blade Runner, Peeples insisted those connections were purely coincidental. In fact, he claims that another sci-fi film was a far bigger influence on him: The Terminator. Peeples elaborated on his inspirations in the book Soldier: From Script To Screen:

"No, I never had any thoughts about that... I wrote Soldier in 1984. Very quickly on my own. I wrote it because I saw the first Terminator in the theater, stunned. And it was such a wonderful movie. I’d always wanted to write a movie in which there was a tough guy who would be seemingly unsympathetic in the lead, and I felt that The Terminator was almost there. Later in the sequel, it was determined he was the hero, but at the time, he was sort of a villain. But the fact is, he was so great. I went off, and I decided to write about this soldier."

Soldier shares far more similarities with a pair of Western films: Shane and Pale Rider. Both films deal with a mysterious stranger that rides into a small town with a checkered past, and what happens when that past comes back to haunt them. Todd shares quite a bit in common with Shane's titular gunfighter (Alan Ladd) and Pale Rider's Preacher (Clint Eastwood); all three men are attempting to outrun the shadow of violence that haunts them, but in the end they use violence to defend the people they've grown close to. Russell's performance is also a 180 from his previous roles; in contrast to the more cynical, pragmatic Snake Plissken or the wisecracking Jack Burton from Big Trouble in Little China Todd's more stoic, rarely speaking. It means that Russell had to convey a wide array of emotions with his body presence, especially his thousand-yard stare. Over time, actual emotions, including relief, flood his face, hinting at Todd regaining some semblance of humanity.

In fact, director Paul W.S. Anderson intended for Soldier to be a Western, citing Shane as a specific reference. But the storm known as El Niño, along with Russell's desire to bulk up, led to the project beng pushed back and severely underperforming at the box office. When reflecting on Soldier, Anderson said he wishes the final product would have kept more of its Western nature. “I think when Kurt first lands on the planet … he goes through the bones of an old abandoned spaceship, and it looks like the ribs, the carcass of a whale, and it has all these grave markers there. That to me was the kind of imagery I wanted to put onscreen and get more of. Even if its connections to Blade Runner are fairly faint, Soldier is still worth a watch for its themes of "nature vs nurture" and how they blend perfectly well with the sci-fi setting.

Soldier is available to rent from Prime Video in the U.S.

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