Kurt Russell’s cult favorite Soldier was a bomb back in 1998, and also acted as a remake of a beloved Western. There aren’t that many Kurt Russell Westerns, but it’s a real case of quality over quanтιтy. Tombstone has become a beloved classic, while Russell’s Bone Tomahawk and The Hateful Eight are two of the best Westerns of the 2010s.

When Russell fronted Soldier, he was winding down as an action star, having previously appeared in films such as Stargate and Escape from L.A. This Paul W.S. Anderson directed sci-fi adventure cast Russell as a futuristic soldier left for ᴅᴇᴀᴅ on a distant planet, and learning how to live among regular people for the first time.

Despite the futuristic weaponry and spaceships on display, the old-fashioned themes and dusty desert setting make it clear Soldier is a Western at its core. Much was made of the fact that Russell was paid $15 million, despite having only about 100 words of dialogue, but he certainly put in the work in terms of the action sequences.

Sadly, the movie was a total bomb and has been largely forgotten. Soldier has found a cult following in the years since, however, especially for those who’ve seen the parallels between it and 1953’s Shane.

Soldier Is A Stealth Remake Of Classic Western Shane

Soldier has a happier ending though

It’s not uncommon for filmmakers to essentially remake their favorite Westerns by dressing them up in another genre. John Wayne’s The Searchers has been remade countless times, from Star Wars to Bone Tomahawk. Soldier used Shane as its framework, which both involve mysterious men of violence being forced to pick up their guns again.

Both Shane and Soldier see their leads settling down with a surrogate family, with a young boy who looks up to them. The movies also climax with the protagonists forced to do what they do best, though Soldier has a significantly bigger body count in this area.

Shane famously ends on a sad note where the wounded gunslinger (played by Alan Ladd) rides off while young Joey (Brandon deWilde) cries for him to “Come back!” Soldier has the more upbeat finale of the two, where the settlers leave the planet right before the military nukes it, while Russell’s Todd leaves with his new clan.

Needless to say, Shane is the better movie, but Soldier is still much better than it’s given credit. Russell’s near-mute performance is very effective, the production design is great and Todd’s story is oddly affecting. Anderson also knows how to handle a punchy setpiece too.

Soldier Was Such A Flop, Kurt Russell Offered To Give His Salary Back

Warner Bros refused Russell’s offer

Speaking with Empire in 2003 while promoting his cop movie Dark Blue, Russell reflected on Soldier’s failure. The movie grossed only $14.5 million on an estimated budget of $60 million (via Box Office Mojo). The sci-fi actioner did so poorly that it even bypᴀssed cinemas and went straight to video in the UK.

Being the leading man, Russell was prepared to take a certain amount of responsibility for Soldier’s financial performance and offered to return his salary to Warner Bros. The studio pᴀssed on Russell’s offer and went on to work with the actor again on 3000 Miles to Graceland and Poseidon.

It’s practically unheard of for a movie star to offer to give back their paydays when a film fails, with this gesture being a sign of how seriously Russell takes the work. On the commentary for Big Trouble in Little China, Russell also reflected to John Carpenter that Soldier was tough to make and he broke his ankle filming it.

When Carpenter asked how he got through the pain of making it, Russell quipped, “Well I wasn’t gonna lose that paycheck, so I just kept going!” Despite the movie’s underperformance, Russell still professed to liking Soldier in later interviews.

Many Other Movies Have Reworked Shane’s Story

From Pale Rider to Logan

Soldier definitely isn’t the only movie to dust off Shane’s structure and rework it. Probably the most famous Shane remake is Pale Rider, a Clint Eastwood Western from 1985. This sees his mysterious (and possibly supernatural) Preacher helping a family fight off a vicious businessman.

From the basic concept to an ending where a young girl is shouting after the departing Preacher to “Come back!,” Pale Rider makes no secret of its Shane homages. Thankfully, the Western itself is a gem, and is notable for being Eastwood’s only Western of the 1980s.

X-Men sequel spinoff Logan not only borrows plot beats from Shane, the movie itself is namedropped multiple times throughout. It happens to be Professor X’s (Patrick Stewart) favorite film, while Dafne Keen’s Laura quotes “There are no more guns in the valley” from it after burying Logan (Hugh Jackman).

Even the likes of Patrick Swayze’s post-apocalyptic adventure Steel Dawn, Ryan Gosling’s Drive or Rambo: Last Blood nod to the classic Western. Of course, the movie’s simple setup allows other filmmakers to bring their own take to it, and there will no doubt be other riffs on Shane in the future.

Soldier Is Also A Blade Runner Spinoff

Don’t bother looking for a Harrison Ford cameo

In a 1998 edition of Cinescape, Anderson described Soldier as a “sidequel” to Blade Runner, and that he considers the two to exist in the same universe. It should be pointed out that while they don’t share any characters or plotlines, there is a decent amount of Blade Runner DNA contained in Soldier.

Todd’s combat record refer to the Tannhäuser Gate and Shoulders of Orion battles, which were mentioned in Batty’s (Rutger Hauer) iconic “tear in rain” monologue. A Spinner from Blade Runner can be seen amongst the wreckage on the planet Todd is stranded on.

The two movies also concern themselves with what it means to be human. Blade Runner’s replicants feel like the most alive characters in the movie’s bleak vision of the future, while Todd has to process being treated like a person and not a mindless killing machine for the first time.

Soldier could have made its Blade Runner ties more obvious, like making Jason Scott Lee’s genetically engineered villain an actual replicant. It should be noted (via Danny Stewart’s Soldier: From Script to Screen) that screenwriter David Peoples didn’t originally conceive of Soldier as a Blade Runner spinoff and this was a call Anderson made.

Regardless, its ties to Ridley Scott’s sci-fi masterpiece have seen it become accepted as a Blade Runner offshoot. Needless to say, Soldier didn’t get a shoutout in Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049.

Source: Box Office Mojo, Empire, Big Trouble in Little China DVD audio commentary, Cinescape, Soldier: From Script to Screen