Bullet Points: Solo (1996)
Arnold Schwarzenegger was The Terminator. Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren were Universal Soldiers. And in 1996, Mario Van Peebles was Solo…
- General Information: The movie begins with General Clyde Haynes (Barry Corbin, Short Time) briefing some of his fellow military brass on Solo, a top secret billion dollar project designed to create the perfect soldier. Solo has no friends, no family he doesn’t even have a Social Security Number (SSN for those in the know). If he is damaged there are no medical benefits to deal with… Solo can be repaired and if he can’t be repaired, they can build a new one.
- Let Me Be Frank: Actions always speak louder than words and Solo is sent out to the field along with a team led by Col. Frank Madden (William Sadler, Die Hard 2). Their objective is to take out an airstrip being used by some hostile rebel forces somewhere in Latin America. Solo is tasked with planting the charges… but when he gets closer to the airstrip he sees that the rebels have innocent women and children working for them, so he not only stops planting charges, he starts removing some of the charges he already planted. Col. Madden believes Solo has malfunctioned and he detonates what charges were left… because apparently he really wanted to blow some shit up that day. Madden attempts to leave Solo behind for his failure, but a worse for wear Solo manages to hitch a ride on the helicopter back to the base.
- Flying Solo: The technical wizard that created Solo, Dr. Bill Stewart (Adrien Brody, Predators) is called on the carpet by General Haynes for this glitch in Solo’s programming that caused him to fell for the civilians that stood in the way of Solo’s objective. Haynes is pissed and is going to have Solo deactivated and sent back to the States where Stewart can reprogram him… but Solo intercepts the outgoing message concerning his deactivation and one of his primary directives kicks in… PRESERVE SELF. So Solo commandeers a helicopter and gets the hell out of Dodge before he is deactivated. Col. Madden is all too happy to pursue the renegade Solo and we get some helicopter chase action… but before Madden can shoot Solo out of the sky, Solo takes matters into his own hands and flies directly into the side of a mountain!
- Pick Up the Pieces: Madden and his team are now tasked with picking up the pieces of Solo and bringing them back to the base… but when they get to the wreckage site there is no Solo. Solo managed to find a temple where he hoped to recover from the damage he received by going into recharge mode. A young boy named Miguel from the nearby farming village was out and about exploring the old temple when he made the shocking discovery of an injured Solo… fortunately for him Solo wasn’t too injured to prevent a snake from biting young Miguel… Miguel runs off to get his father and some of the other farmers to share his amazing discovery and when they arrive they assume that Solo is dead. Miguel feeling he owes Solo, pleads with his father and the others to give Solo a proper burial.
- He’s Back, Baby: The funeral for Solo is interrupted by those no good rebels and the rebel leader decides he is going to make sure the American soldier is deader than dead… but Solo isn’t dead much to the shock of everyone as he rises from the alter he was laid out on and starts kicking ass! A deal is quickly made… the villagers will provide Solo with electricity so he can recharge and Solo will in turn teach them how to defend themselves.
- The All Madden Team: If it wasn’t clear earlier that Col. Madden had it in for Solo, it becomes crystal clear when he stages a scene and reports back to General Haynes via video transmission that Solo has gone completely mad and is lighting fires and killing innocents. Haynes now gives Madden the authority to bring in Solo by any means necessary. Dr. Bill speaks up and says that what Madden is saying is impossible and he wants to go in himself and try to retrieve Solo… Madden welcomes the idea but that’s because he plans on using Bill as bait to lure Solo out of hiding and it almost works… Bill ends up dead, but not before he slips Solo a new power management chip bringing Solo back to full power… and he is going to need it because now Madden has joined forces with the Rebels!
- More Like Col. Mulligan: When Madden and Solo square off, it’s really no contest… Madden is a mere mortal while Solo is a super soldier. Solo ends up nearly killing Madden during their fight and when that is all said and done that’s about the time General Haynes has sent in Solo 2.0… who conveniently was modeled after Col Madden.. so it is almost like Madden got an automatic rematch but this time the odds are in favor of the even more advanced 2.0 model. What better way to end the movie than with super soldier vs. super soldier?
It had been years since I watched Solo and there wasn’t a ton that I remembered about the movie and that probably says a lot about Solo. Don’t get me wrong the movie is entertaining, but at the same time there’s nothing that really stands out. Playing an android is something that actors with less experience and talent than Mario Van Peebles have been able to pull off over the years, so it is no surprise that MVP made for a believable android super soldier… William Sadler as the bad guy had been done before and Sadler did his usual great job in Solo, but Solo is not going to be the first, second or even third movie I think of when I think of Sadler’s villainous work… I have zero complaints about any of the supporting players, but if I can use Adrien Brody as an example… I had zero recall that Brody was even in the movie despite the fact that he did a good job in his role, but obviously did not leave a lasting impression on me.
Perhaps these Bonus Bullet Points will leave a lasting impression on you…
- Stolen Quote: When a flamethrower wielding Col. Madden asks Solo how he likes his ribs, I couldn’t help but think back to a similar line in Action Jackson.
- Bulletproof Book Club: Solo is actually based on the novel Weapon by Robert Mason. Weapon was first published on March 22, 1989.
- Directed By: Norberto Barba was the director of Solo, one of the two feature films he has directed thus far (the other being 1994’s Blue Tiger). The bulk of Barba’s directorial credits are in television and some of his action highlights include the short lived Vanishing Son series, S.W.A.T. and Reacher.
- Favorite Quote: “Welcome to the jungle.” – Col. Madden to Dr. Stewart
