MovieChat Forums > The Soldier (1982) Discussion > insanely awesome directing from glickenh...

insanely awesome directing from glickenhaus

posted 16 years ago by bad_habitt
5 replies | jump to latest

this is a rare example of a film where the 2nd act is it's strongest. the second act in this film has some of the very best action directing i have ever seen. 2/3 into the movie i thought that this was glickhaus' masterpiece, however once the third act was over, i was slightly let down, and still consider 'the exterminator' as his tour de force.

the second act has the perfect combination of action, music, cinematography, editing and top notch choreography & co-ordination. i especially loved it when steve james appeared on screen without a moustache, however i feel that because the 2nd act was so good, the third act had a lot to deliver, i mean it essentially had to be better than the 2nd act, and unfortunatly it wasn't.

i'd love to hear a commentary from glickenhaus if this ever gets proper dvd treatment and his personal thoughts on how he felt the film turned out. i have a slight suspicion that things didn't go according to his vision towards the end of the project, however it was still a film well worth seeing.

[–] jeffscsr 15 years ago

yeah the man knows how to do action and suspense...he would have done a great bond film i think
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[–] Studman_Productions 15 years ago

good to know! i will check it out

[–] asgard-5 15 years ago

Absolutely loved it when I was 8. And never seen it since.

[–] Aylmer 15 years ago

this film is testament to the old saying "plays all its cards too soon". It starts awesomely with the woman getting hit by the limousine and goes good for a while. The attack on the nuclear convoy, the chase down the ski slopes, and the scene where the CIA director gets immolated are awesome.

Unfortunately the film sort of loses its way and flounders after that point. Ken Wahl goes rogue and spends the rest of the film in minor situations like a friendly knife-fight with Steve James and hobnobbing around with the Mossad agent. The whole last act gets bogged down with the extended capture of the missile silo (with no killing besides the helicopter they shoot down) and ends quite ridiculously with the bad guy just "making a phone call" and stopping WW3 just because Ken Wahl bluffed him confidently. BOOO.

The way the film was building up, all would have been forgiven if Wahl had jumped over the Berlin Wall, exited his car, and literally murdered all the East German police and the KGB agents right there (without taking a scratch of course since it's an 80's action movie) and then letting the nuke go off anyway so the movie could end with a big explosion. Meanwhile he makes out with Alberta Watson.

[–] 15 years ago

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