Talk:Soldier

Garbage Planet

Anyone notice that so called future societies expend resource to fly out 20th century 'junk' out to a planet as a garbage dump, but they're dumping literally TONS of usable raw materials. One of the iconic shots is a scrapped Aircraft carrier, which would NOT be dumped. The various metals would be reused. There is enough scrap iron to build literally tons of stuff. Where do these guys get the raw materials to build a huge spaceship from if they throw away all their metal ores? I know, I know, it's science fiction, but I can't see such resources as metals becoming so worthless that they would just throw it all away. MoviePropMaster2008 02:04, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

You know when I was watching it again I was thinking the same thing. It's not realistic at all. I was thinking the same thing about the aircraft carrier, I figured in reality they'd either scrap it of sink it. It's just done to make an interesting environment for the movie to take place in, is probably all. Diego Wolfwood

Nevermind the costs of moving a freakin' aircraft carrier off the planet. But it's a moot point, considering the aircraft carrier shown was scrapped in the early eighties. --Funkychinaman 02:05, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

There was many interesting things among the garbage, including Liberty Bell, spinner from Blade Runner (Soldier is actually Blade Runner spin-off - genetically engeneered soldiers are replicants as well), other notable things. Can we put this interesting information in trivia section, like in T2 page, please ? --Kloga 23:35, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Actually the T2 page is ridiculous. There is more trivia than relevant content. So I guess the answer is 'no' MoviePropMaster2008 02:36, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

How is Soldier a Blade Runner spin off? The plots have nothing to do with each other Excalibur01

FYI: Both Soldier and Blade Runner were written by David Webb Peoples, who did sprinkle references to Blade Runner in Soldier. --Ben41 05:20, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

That doesn't go as far as to make it a Blade Runner spin-off, though. Lots of movies have references to other, unrelated movies. It's common for directors, writers, etc. to homage films they liked in their own movies. Spartan198 20:41, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

I think "spin-off is not a good word for it. It's probably safe to say that both movies are set in the same universe much like the recent Marvel movies. The fact that both movies were written by the same screenwriter also is significant. --Ben41 00:53, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Is it really in the same universe, or is it just a wink? The ship from Firefly and the original Enterprise made similar cameos in the Battlestar Galactica miniseries, but no one is suggesting that they're in the same universe. If you look at Todd's service record, there are similar winks to lots of other films. (Mainly Kurt Russell movies.)--Funkychinaman 02:05, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

And did anyone else notice the similarities between these soldiers and the Spartans from Halo? --Funkychinaman 02:05, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

No, i didnt. They wore tactical gear and were human. -Winn

All Spartans are human, albeit genetically and surgically enhanced. I was referring to both groups being taken as children and raised as soldiers and knowing nothing else. --Funkychinaman 19:18, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Actually when I saw the movie again to do the caps, I did notice the parallels to the Spartans from Halo, but I also thought this movie was the typical movie about super soldiers brought up by the government. In Dark Angel, it's the same basic premise, but more on the idea that the super soldiers escaped and on the run. The Hitman games had Agent 47s origin as being a government trained super soldier. So the concept of Super Soldier by the government is more of a cliche archetype, but people of this generation watching Soldier for the first time will right away see Halo Spartans and nothing else. Excalibur01 04:00, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

On the unknown rifle please look at the Browning BLR Rifle at this link http://www.chuckhawks.com/lever_action.htm The rifle looks like the BLR with an UZI magazine put in place of the standard Mag. Thank you.

The "Garbage Planet" bit is actually a major theme from the original book that Blade Runner was based on, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, which is the concept of "Kipple." "Kipple" is "unwanted or useless objects that tend to reproduce itself" and which "drives out nonkipple." Some characters in that novel like to talk about how the Earth isn't going to die from the radioactive fallout from WWIII, but from Kipple. Kipple isn't explicitly shown much in Blade Runner, except for the trash bags that Pris tries to sleep in and the general run-down nature of most everything in the film. It looks like they turned the "Kipple" up to eleven in this film. I suppose the original ideacame from PKD's more drug-addled days when he was too paranoid/intoxicated to clean his residence. --Mazryonh (talk) 16:06, 1 September 2014 (EDT)

first....

is this the first movie to feature an M4 with a RIS handguard?

I think so, though not 100% sure. -MT2008 00:04, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

It's not the KAC RIS used by the US military as noted by the lack of a delta ring between the receiver and handguard, though. This one seems to be some kind of aftermarket rail. Would KAC units have even been commercially available at the time this movie was made? They were relatively new even for the military in 98, IIRC. Spartan198 (talk) 07:06, 20 January 2014 (EST)

It's a first-generation Surefire RIS. And no, I don't think the KAC RIS was commercially available at the time Soldier was filmed. -MT2008 (talk) 11:56, 20 January 2014 (EST)

Cowardly commander

The cruel and cowardly commander of the soldiers, Colonel Mekum (Jason Isaacs) can be seen carrying a nickel-plated Colt Single Action Army with pearl grips as his sidearm, using it to shoot first one of the older soldiers injured in the fight with Caine 607 (Jason Scott Lee), one of the newer soldiers, and then Captain Church (Gary Busey) when he refuses to follow orders.

-When did he shoot one of the newer soldiers, I don't remember that. - Diego Wolfwood

-im dont recall that either. i know he kills the old soldier simmons 8492

Unknown Rifles

From the same scene, I also noticed these two rifles in the foreground. Can they be identified?

The one on the left is an AKM with aftermarket rails on the forends and gas tube. The one on the right just looks like a Colt M4 barrel or a 16" M4 style barrel on an AR15 with tons of 'tacti-cool' crap mounted onto the firearm. Either way, the guns are a customized AK variant and a Customized M16 Variant..... MPM2008

Two unknown rifles

Two unknown rifles

Unknown Rifle

I just watched this movie again today, and noticed that this gun wasn't on the page. It was seen during the town meeting when they discuss exiling Todd.

Looks like a .22 lever action rifle with a 20 round Uzi magazine attached to the front.--ColonelTomb 23:33, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

An unknown rifle

The absence of an under-barrel magazine, as well as a loading port, makes think that this is not-shooting prop. Why was this done? Who knows, apparently it was supposed to depict a weapon assembled from several broken guns and scrap metal. --Slon95 (talk) 17:20, 26 December 2019 (EST)

It could be that this is a reversed shot and we are actually looking at the left side of the gun. The other option could be that the base gun doesn't have a loading port, instead loading through the tube. As for why the tube is missing under the barrel, my guess would be that the entire front handguard and barrel are from a different rifle. These parts look more like they are from a bolt action hunting rifle of some sort, especially the front sight. --commando552 (talk) 06:48, 27 December 2019 (EST)

Please help ID

This looks like a shotgun, but not sure. --Ben41 (talk) 05:09, 22 January 2014 (EST)

Hmm, maybe a Franchi SPAS-15? Orca1 9904 (talk) 01:29, 26 January 2014 (EST)

Looks more like a Valtro PM5 to me. -MT2008 (talk) 16:06, 26 January 2014 (EST)

Might this page qualify for inclusion in the PKD category?

Blade Runner (the most famous of the PKD novel adaptations) itself didn't hew that closely to the original novel, so I'd like to know if this movie could be placed in the PKD category. --Mazryonh (talk) 16:09, 1 September 2014 (EDT)

Inclusion in the category only is applicable when the author receives credit in the film or series. Blade Runner has this, but Soldier does not. --Ben41 (talk) 18:45, 1 September 2014 (EDT)

"First generation" M4s

I don't think it's accurate to call them "first generation." At least in my book, the first generation of M4s would technically be the original batch of Model 777s that had A2 uppers. Spartan198 (talk) 05:14, 16 October 2021 (EDT)