It is a strange thing to watch a movie from 1998 and feel like you are looking at a lost artifact from 1984. Paul W.S. Anderson’s Soldier is a film that arrived at the wrong time, perhaps even on the wrong planet, but it carries the DNA of a very specific, very muscular era of science fiction. It feels like a cousin to the grit of The Terminator or the blue-collar exhaustion of Aliens. It lacks the slick, digital sheen that would soon define the turn of the century, opting instead for massive, practical sets, heavy pyrotechnics, and a lead performance that is almost entirely silent. It is a movie built on the back of Kurt Russell’s squint, and in the late nineties, that wasn’t quite enough for a cynical audience. But looking at it today, it feels like a masterpiece of minimalist storytelling tucked inside a maximalist action shell. The connection to 1984 isn’t just about the vibe; it is literal. David Webb Peoples wrote the screenplay, and he is the same man who co-wrote Blade Runner. ...