Kurt Russell doesn't say much in this film but was paid an absolute packet for running around a lot and climbing chains. Directed by Paul Anderson (Event Horizon), this is a beautifully photographed hybrid of Mad Max, Blade Runner, Aliens, Terminator and even Universal Soldier.

Russell is Todd, a warrior trained from birth to kill people without remorse, even if that means shooting innocent bystanders in the process.

When younger, fitter soldier Jason Scott Lee arrives on the scene, Todd finds himself consigned to the scrapheap - literally.

Abandonded on a garbage planet, he is taken in by a family of crashed survivors. Sean Pertwee is the head of the family and when Todd doesn't quite fit into their society, the resourceful survivors send him into the wilderness.

Pertwee realises he and his friends have made a mistake and goes off to find the weeping troop.

Then all hell breaks loose when Todd's old military officers arrive to blow everyone away. With Gary Busey and Jason Isaacs (Armageddon) going through the motions as cartoon villains, you don't need to be a genius to realise they will get their come uppance.

Soldier is a formulaic film which benefits from some good production design, okay effects and that glorious photography by Phantom Menace veteran David Tattersall.

There's some fair action scenes and a few nice touches such as the merge between a golden lit tunnel to the arc of the garbage planet.

The fact that this is written by Blade Runner's David Webb Peoples means we get the odd reference to the legendary Tannhauser Gate (as mentioned by Rutger Hauer's character at the end of BR) but there's none of the style he brought to both that film and 12 Monkeys.

Soldier is effectively a cross between Shane and Seven Samurai but although it's competent enough in the look, the script could have done with a lot more work.