Solo

Starring: Mario Van Peebles, Barry Corbin, William Sadler, Adrien Brody
Directed by: Norberto Barba
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Science Fiction
1996

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: A government created super soldier, Solo (Mario Van Peebles) is the ultimate killing machine. However, when he is sent into a Central American jungle to kill guerillas, he decides to abort the mission to save the lives of the innocent captives. This does not go over well with his superiors, and when he is ordered to be shut down, he escapes into the jungle. Soon, government soldiers descend upon the jungle to track him down and destroy him.

Review:

Tim: Solo is a weak, stupid, completely forgettable action movie that blatantly rips off a dozen others, but doesn't do anything nearly as well. There are a few good action sequences, but this is one of those movies that probably shouldn't have been made. It offers nothing new, nothing particularly exciting, and plays out exactly like we would expect. This movie is a massive failure, not even hitting its already basement-low expectations.

Everything about this movie just screams cheapness and silliness. Mario Van Peebles does not make a particularly good action hero. In a genre where bad performances are often the norm, Peebles stands out for his awful acting. Even as a robot, I never bought his performance. He was very bad, and has some cringe-worthy moments. The scene of him trying to laugh might have been the low point for me (but it is hard to tell, because there were so many low points).

The supporting cast is fine, but not great by any means. William Sadler was probably a good choice as the antagonist, but his one-dimensional character didn't help the film much at all. I did like seeing Adrien Brody as Solo's designer, but his impact on the film was minimal. None of the supporting members really broke out, so the movie depended solely on Peebles, which didn't help matters.

Everything about this movie is utterly forgettable. The movie plays out like a giant cliche in and of itself. There was no imagination, no real energy involved in this film at all. It felt like no one particularly cared how this movie turned out (probably because they knew it was going to be a failure). The 90's were responsible for some of the greatest action movies of all time- but Solo is not even remotely close to being one of them.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 3



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Predator, The Terminator