, known as Year Zero, designates the start of a new military program, for which newborns are hand-selected for grooming in the special “Adam Project.” It’s a ruthless military training exercise, wherein candidates are forced to become highly combat proficient – at the cost of emotional familiarity and loving relationships (while the weaker children are summarily executed). The result is legions of impassive soldiers, superior to ordinary men and capable of extraordinary physical feats and impossibly skillful armed-warfare capabilities. But human life is cheap. By the year 2036, after the War of the Six Cities, the Moscow Incident, the Saudi Campaign, and the Battle of the Argentine Moons, the Adam Project squadron is essentially obsolete – thanks to manufactured and manipulated DNA that allows for even greater supersoldiers.

After failing a test of his usefulness, top trooper Todd 3465 (Kurt Russell) is thrown onto a P376 ship and dumped on the Waste Disposal Planet of Arcadia 234. He’s recovered by the local inhabitants – a colony of refugees having fled from Earth – and nursed back to health by Sandra (Connie Nielsen) and her husband Mace (Sean Pertwee). Although the survivors distrust Sergeant Todd and his stark lack of social aptitude (he was, after all, never trained to deal with civilians), they soon learn of his value when he’s able to save careless individuals from situations that would have normally spelled certain doom.

“Soldier” amusingly offers up a satire of extreme militarism and its sacrifice of individuality and humanity for uncompromising discipline. What are the mental and emotional costs when people are transformed into mindless tools? And can those tools ever be utilized outside of their singular purpose? Themes of survival-of-the-fittest and old-versus-new are pushed to the forefront, especially when the reintegration process proves that Todd cannot function in a society of ordinary families. The real treat is to witness his potential for adapting and turning the tables on the enemies (American Forces Captain Church, played by Gary Busey, and Jason Isaacs as his overconfident superior, Colonel Mekum, clashing egos as if they’re playing chess with human pawns), who are certain that they’re up against a significant military presence.

Russell is, not surprisingly, quite suitable for a Terminator-like role, where dialogue is at an absolute minimum, physical intimidation is relevant, chilling stares are inevitable, and action sequences are numerous. When Todd’s replacements, led by the particularly icy Caine 607 (Jason Scott Lee), coincidentally conduct a security sweep and training exercise on Arcadia, the stage is set for a climactic test of true combat readiness. With decent visuals (including slightly overused slow-motion), grand steampunk sets, and appropriately menacing vehicles and armory, the 17-against-1 scenario offers agreeably larger-than-life heroism (as if Todd is all of the titular characters from “The Magnificent Seven” rolled into one). Electrifying moments of bombastic action and explosive bravado give this sometimes brutal, occasionally silly, but always diverting science-fiction revenge thriller substantial entertainment value. A good portion of this is likely attributable to the script by David Webb Peoples, who also wrote “Blade Runner,” “Leviathan,” and “Twelve Monkeys” (and not director Paul W.S. Anderson, the man behind “Mortal Kombat”).

– Mike Massie