History YMMV / Soldier

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: While they are undeniably complicit in various war crimes, it's possible to view Lieutenants Sloan and Rubrick as either cold-hearted CoDragons or {{Punch Clock Villain}}s who feel trapped serving Meekum. They seem to be disturbed (or at least startled) by some of Meekum's orders and decisions. They also get along well with Captain Church, who is a fairly sympathetic character (albeit also complicit in some of Meekum's crimes).
* CompleteMonster: [[TheNeidermeyer Colonel Meekum]] commands the project to replace the older generation of indoctrinated SuperSoldiers, [[TykeBomb raised from birth]], with more obedient, genetically modified ones. Ordering his finest soldier, Caine 607, to kill several of these veterans as a demonstration, Sergeant Todd instead fights Caine to a draw. Furious that Caine has lost an eye because it reduces his effectiveness on the battlefield, Meekum orders Todd to be left for dead on a [[LandfillBeyondTheStars waste disposal planet]]. Meekum later arrives on the planet with his soldiers on a field exercise, using the shallow excuse that the planet is listed as "uninhabited" to order a massacre of the planet's hundreds of peaceful settlers, men, women, and children alike. Todd uses his skills to fight back and systematically disposes of Meekum's soldiers, which panics Meekum enough to [[NukeEm arm a nuclear bomb to wipe out everyone on the surface]]. Meekum's willingness to sacrifice the lives of his men so disgusts Captain Church that he tries to put a stop to it, only to be executed by Meekum on the spot.

* CompleteMonster: [[TheNeidermeyer Colonel Mekum]] commands the project to replace the older generation of indoctrinated SuperSoldiers, [[TykeBomb raised from birth]], with more obedient, genetically modified ones. Ordering his finest soldier, Caine 607, to kill several of these veterans as a demonstration, Sergeant Todd instead fights Caine to a draw. Furious that Caine has lost an eye because it reduces his effectiveness on the battlefield, Mekum orders Todd to be left for dead on a [[LandfillBeyondTheStars waste disposal planet]]. Mekum later arrives on the planet with his soldiers on a field exercise, using the shallow excuse that the planet is listed as "uninhabited" to order a massacre of the planet's hundreds of peaceful settlers, men, women, and children alike. Todd uses his skills to fight back and systematically disposes of Mekum's soldiers, which panics Mekum enough to [[NukeEm arm a nuclear bomb to wipe out everyone on the surface]]. Mekum's willingness to sacrifice the lives of his men so disgusts Captain Church that he tries to put a stop to it, only to be executed by Mekum on the spot.

* CriticalBacklash: Some people who didn't like the film still think its action scenes are pretty decent.

* CompleteMonster: [[TheNeidermeyer Colonel Mekum]] commands the project to replace the older generation of indoctrinated SuperSoldiers with more obedient, genetically modified ones. Ordering his finest soldier, [[TheDragon Caine 607]], to kill several of these veterans as a demonstration, Sergeant Todd instead fights Caine to a draw. Furious that Caine has lost an eye because it reduces his effectiveness on the battlefield, Mekum orders Todd to be left for dead on a [[LandfillBeyondTheStars waste disposal planet]]. Mekum later arrives on the planet with his soldiers on a field exercise, using the shallow excuse that the planet is listed as "uninhabited" to order a massacre of the planet's hundreds of peaceful settlers, men, women, and children alike. Todd uses his skills to fight back and systematically disposes of Mekum's soldiers, which panics Mekum enough to [[NukeEm arm a nuclear bomb to wipe out everyone on the surface]]. Mekum's willingness to sacrifice the lives of his men so disgusts Captain Church that he tries to put a stop to it, only to be executed by Mekum on the spot.

* CompleteMonster: [[TheNeidermeyer Colonel Mekum]] makes up for his [[DirtyCoward cowardice]] and [[NonActionBigBad lack of combat skills]] with the scope of his crimes. He's first introduced as the leader of a group of genetically modified super soldiers who are set to replace the older generation of [[{{Tykebomb}} raised-from-birth soldiers]] commanded by Captain Church. His best soldier, [[TheDragon Caine 607]], is pitted against three older soldiers, two of whom Caine kills in short order but the last of whom, Sergeant Todd, manages to [[EyeScream gouge out one of Caine's eyes]] before his own defeat. Mekum is merely angry that his own man Caine now lacks depth perception (or just that his pet project failed to perform flawlessly first time out of the gate), and ensures that Todd is left for dead on a [[LandfillBeyondTheStars waste disposal planet]]. When he and his soldiers later arrive on the same planet for field exercises, Mekum uses the shallow excuse that the planet is listed as uninhabited to order his soldiers to wipe out the peaceful community of settler families on the planet so he can test his troops' combat effectiveness. Todd uses his experience and guerilla tactics to protect the colonists, which panics Mekum enough that he orders Todd's old squad to [[NukeEm arm a nuclear bomb]] on the planet that will annihilate everyone on the surface. He orders the old soldiers to be left behind so he can save his own hide, [[EveryoneHasStandards which so disgusts Captain Church]] that Mekum shoots him after Church attempts to stop him.

* SupiciouslySimilarSong: Joel[=McNeely=]'s score shows that the temp track made heavy use of Music/JerryGoldsmith's ''Film/USMarshals'' and Music/JamesHorner's ''Film/{{Aliens}}''.

* TearJerker: InUniverse. When one of Todd's old squadmates is told by an officer that he's no longer a soldier and "You don't even have to salute anymore," the big guy looks like she just took away his teddy bear.

* HilariousInHindsight: This would not be the [[Film/Overlord2018 only]] [[Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier time]] Creator/WyattRussell plays an American SuperSoldier after playing a ChildSoldier kind here.

* HilariousInHindsight: This would not be the [[Film/Overlord2018 only]] [[Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier time]] Creator/WyattRussell plays an American SuperSoldier.