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.

I saw it when it first came out, and I think I was a sophomore in high school. Carter and his "maliase" (pardon the spelling) were out, Reagan and his pro-America anti-evil empire were in. The Soviets were considered a real threat. Perhaps like today's Bin Laden with a few thousand nukes pointed at us.Yes, the acting tended to be stiff, and there were some things that happened in the movie that didn't make too much sense. You know what? It was not a documentary. Tangerine Dream did an excellent job with the score, the opening scene was great, good action sequences that were of course pro-American, and it had a patriotic ending. It was a good movie for it's time. Back in 1982, it was considered very cool to be very patriotic, and this movie fit the time.

I saw this movie late one night on HBO about 20 years ago. At that time, I found it riveting, because that was when the Cold War was still going on, and the premise seemed reasonable enough.Nowadays, it comes off as a really silly piece of right-wing propaganda, along the lines of "Rambo" and "Red Dawn." Oh well, it was a reflection of the times, i.e. Reagan's defense build-up, "Evil Empire" speech, etc.However, I still have fond memories of this movie, because it's still highly enjoyable, in its own silly way. That ski chase scene was way cool, especially when the Soldier spun around in mid air and sprayed the bad guys. Even James Bond never pulled that one off.