Meanwhile, Colonel Mekum has decided to give Caine 607 and his compatriots a workout and schedules a security sweep of Arcadia. The colony falls under fire. Todd realizes he's the pioneers' only hope. But like the settlers' habitat, Soldier is actually a recycled pastiche of cast-offs from various Western, war and SF movies. Soldier 's clearest antecedents, however, are 1981's The Road Warrior and its inspiration, 1953's Shane , with Todd as the disgraced gunslinger who chooses to defend a town of farmers from ruthless outlaws.
Scene follows perfunctory scene to the film's foregone conclusion.
There's little wit and less suspense. The film is also ambivalent about its central themes. It starts as a critique of the military mindset, but ends up making the case that such people are needed. And there's precious little context to the schematic script. Canny production design by David L. Snyder, the art director for Blade Runner , attempts to duplicate the multi-layered richness of his earlier film.