Between the originalBlade Runnerand its belated sequel2049, there cameSoldier, a 1998 spinoff starring Kurt Russell.While he’s had a varied career, hopping between everything from romantic comedies to heavy drama,Kurt Russell’s action movieslikeEscape from New YorkorBackdraftare among his most popular.
Soldierfollows in the tradition of films likeLoganorPale Riderby quietly remaking Western classicShane. Russell’s sci-fi actioner finds his “obsolete” soldier Todd left for dead on a distant planet, and he finds his latent humanity through a surrogate family. When his old unit returns to wipe out the planet, Todd goes back to his killing ways.
Soldierwas a total bomb upon release, earning less than $15 million on a $60 million budget (viaBox Office Mojo). The movie also marked the end of Russell leading big budget action movies, with the actor suffering various injuries during the production.
Kurt Russell’s Soldier Is Secretly Set Within The Blade Runner Universe
Soldier’s Director Labeled His Action Movie A “Sidequel”
Soldierwas written by David Webb Peoples, the scribe behind Clint Eastwood’sUnforgivenandBlade Runner. Peoples pennedSoldierin 1984, and while admitting in the making of bookSoldier: From Script to Screenthat he hadn’t planned it as aBlade Runneroffshoot, that’s exactly what happened when director Paul W.S. Anderson came aboard.
During an interview withCinescapepromoting the movie, Anderson labeledSoldieras aBlade Runner"sidequel.“To that end, the movie is loaded with nods to the Ridley Scott original, including a junked Spinner and references to the battle of Tannhäuser Gate mentioned in Roy Batty’s (Rutger Hauer) “tear in rain” speech. It should be added that while the two sci-fi films share DNA, they don’t feature any crossover characters or plotlines.
That said,they’re both about what it means to be human, with Batty and his replicants yearning to be like their creators and Todd discovering his repressed inner humanity. Considering there have been efforts to link theAlienandBlade Runnermovies, it could be argued thatSoldieris part ofbothsagas. Of course,Soldier’splace within theBlade Runnerseries is tricky. There aren’t any boxsets containing bothBlade Runnermovies andSoldier, even if it’s widely acknowledged as part of the property.
How Kurt Russell’s Blade Runner Movie Changes The Franchise
Soldier Opens Up The World Of Blade Runner Even More
Blade Runnerlacks the classiness of the Ridley Scott and Denis Villeneuve films andSoldieris, by design, a B-movie blockbuster. Despite its mediocre reviews, it’s also a very entertaining one with an affecting turn by Russell as the near-mute Todd. As aBlade Runnersidequel,it opens up the franchise in intriguing waystoo.
Kurt Russell’s Todd only speaks 104 words throughout the entirety ofSoldier.
It takes a look at mankind’s brutal efforts to colonize other planets, and how its soldiers had to effectively be stripped of their humanity for this mission. For this reason,the majority of the film takes place off Earth and reveals that colonists on other planets have it just as tough.
$60 million
$14 million
58%
IMDB Score
6.1
It would be nice ifSoldierfeatured moreBlade Runnerelements like replicants to strengthen the ties between them, but that’s what makes it such an interesting spinoff. It explores a completely different facet of the series, and once again uses the sci-fi framework to pose some eternal questions about human nature.
Soldier
Cast
Soldier is a 1998 science fiction action film directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. It stars Kurt Russell as Todd 3465, a genetically-engineered soldier trained from birth. After being defeated by a new breed of warriors, Todd finds himself discarded on a distant planet where he must confront his past and protect a new community from existential threats. The film explores themes of obsolescence, resilience, and redemption.
Blade Runner
TheBlade Runnerfranchise is a cyberpunk science fiction series originating from the 1968 novelDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?by Philip K. Dick. The franchise began with the 1982 filmBlade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott, which, although initially underappreciated, has since become a seminal work in science fiction cinema. The franchise explores complex themes of humanity, identity, and artificial intelligence, set in a dystopian future where bioengineered beings known as replicants are hunted by special agents called Blade Runners. The franchise has expanded to include a sequel film, several short films, an anime series, upcoming TV series, video games, and comics, all of which continue to explore the rich and complex world ofBlade Runner.
The original Blade Runner is a sci-fi neo-noir film set in 2019 in a dystopian cyber-punk society. Harrison Ford stars as Rick Deckard as a Blade Runner for the LAPD, tasked with hunting rogue replicants, genetically engineered humans designed to tackle tasks that human beings cannot. When four replicants go rogue and begin killing humans, Deckard is forced out of retirement to hunt them down and stop them - but the truth isn’t as simple as it seems. Deckard will have to reckon with the philosophical dilemma of what makes someone human.
Blade Runner 2049
Set thirty years after the original film, Blade Runner 2049 is a sci-fi neo-noir film by the director of Dune, Denis Villeneuve. The film follows LAPD replicant officer K, who discovers a devastating secret that could throw society into total chaos. To stop a potential war between replicants and humans, he’ll need to locate missing former blade runner Rick Deckard and uncover the truth.
