Genres

Visitors Review

lost-in-limbo 2012-05-24 13:19:30

"Are there more like you back in America?"

This little b-grade straight-to-video action joint won't win any awardsfor it has been done to death, but for what it is… it made for apassable outing despite the predictable formulaic nature of the story,silly occurrences and mechanical action set-pieces. "Solo" actually hadI thinking of Paul W. S. Anderson's big budgeted "Soldier" that cameout two years later. The two surprisingly had some similarities justthat "Solo" were set in modern times and in the humid jungle terrain,compared to the futuristic backdrop for "Soldier" which was much moreexpansive across the board. The basic plot is almost identical. Even asequence involving a poisonous snake. While the screenplay for "Solo",is actually adapted off Robert Mason's novel "Weapon" and has shades of"Universal Soldier". Solo is cyborg that was created to be the perfectkilling machine, but it disobeys an order when it meant killinginnocent civilians. The army isn't particularly happy with it, so itplans to re-create it. But before doing that Solo escapes in to theSouth American jungle. There he helps out a small, poor village thatare terrorised by rebel soldiers by providing them fighting spirit. Butto top that off the Americans want their creation back, so a smallelite group is sent in to get him back. Director Norberto Barba'shandling for most part is rushed and lacklustre, where by hiding itwith jaded editing and its techno special effects. Still it has somegusto in its climatic exchanges, especially in the one that comes fromnowhere that sees two androids colliding. Don't try to compute thescript either, sometimes sappy in its emotional details but never doesit go beyond its comic-book approach. Mario Van Pebbles is surprisinglyconvincing, embodying that steely approach but also showing cracks ofhumane qualities (trying to understand the meaning of a bluff/joke andfreaking you out with his cackling). Quite old-hat in the characterportrayal, but well done. Having fun William Sadler provides thepsychotic edge, as an army Colonel who disapproves of the Solo creationand would do anything to see it fail. "First rule of dealing with thedevil. Don't". Going gawky is Adrien Brody as Solo's creator and BarryCorbin is the General in charge of the project. Soulless, but reliableentertainment."When you hunt a fox, bring your own dogs".

Dmitri-3 2012-05-23 23:50:02

Great special effects and cool action!

Solo is strong, stronger than any human. He's synthetically made to fightspecial operations in Latin America. He's created to kill innocentinhabitants, but when this unstoppable juggernaut sees the evils of hiscreators, Solo resents his manufacturers' orders and abides by the codes ofMorality. Now he wages a war against his own makers. A great story aboutone man's (cyborg's) struggle to benefit all that are oppressed. Mario vanPeebles turns in a knockout performance as Solo!

Cross18 2012-05-18 02:43:32

not too shabby

Solo is a pretty good movie. Mario Van Peeble is good as Solo, the andriodsoldier that learns to think for himself. When he escapes from hissuperiors and takes refuge in a small mexican village, he agrees to help thevillagers defend themselves against a rebel and his army. The action scenesare good, and the fight at the end between Solo and the bad android isawesome.

Jim Olos 2012-05-17 17:17:36

If you haven't seen it yet, watch it NOW!

Solo is action packed and creates a riveting cinematic atmosphere. MarioVan Peebles delivers one of the finest performances I've ever seen. MarioVan Peebles stars as Solo, a robot made without a heart, but still retains aconscience. The bad guys got what they were getting when it came time topunishthem. Solo is the strongest bionic person alive, ten times stronger than anyman. He can even lift a 1000 year old tree trunk on his head. Solo isdefinitely worth spending money on to rent or buy.

xredgarnetx 2012-05-14 02:54:13

Holy Moley!

When you see Barry Corbin in the cast of a movie, you can never be sureif it will be a classic or trash. Guess which category SOLO falls into.Apparently derived from a popular sci-fi novel, WEAPON, SOLO starsMario Van Peebles as a human-looking robot who decides to think forhimself and is thus targeted for elimination. He hides out in a Mexicanvillage, obviously to save money on locations and extras. Paying inpesos is cheaper than paying in dollars, I suspect. William Sadler isalong for the ride, as one of the robots and soldiers sent to destroyVan Peebles. Van Peebles manages to beat them all with ease, of course,while Corbin watches all this with bemusement from afar. The movie is ahorrible ripoff of the THE TERMINATOR and CYBORG series, and apparentlyhas little to do with its source material. It is horribly written andacted, and the big fight at the end if downright comical. Van Peebles,a decent actor elsewhere, is a scream as he pretends to be a robotcovered in synthetic flesh. He looks like he is doing the Robot Dancemost of the time.

duskshade 2012-05-13 17:21:49

not too bad, a fun good time

Solo is meant for fun. A war machine that doesn't want to fight. Iloved the idea of a military AI deciding that life is precious, andthere are things worth defending. Many other movies deal with AIrunning amok and killing, like Terminator and other sci-fi movies.If the concept of a autonomous android AI developing human-likeconsciousness doesn't bother you because of the 'reality,' then neitherwill the blatant boo-boos in this flick. There are some point worthconsidering, just to see them.. The final fight in the templeillustrates just how damaging war is - priceless history lost due to astruggle that won't amount to much in history. If you want a funshoot-em-up with some comedy mixed in, this is for you. Watch for thescene with the naked-lady playing cards.

Raegan Butcher 2012-05-12 13:46:24

a crushing disappointment

The novel WEAPON which serves as the basis for this atrocious piece ofgarbage is one of the best techno-thrillers to come down the pike in along time.The character of SOLO, who is NOT supposed to look like ahuman, is a wonderful creation and it was simply awful to see himreduced to just another Terminator-clone with Mario Van Peebleshorrendously trying to "act" like a robot. There is NOTHING worthwhileabout this film.Why does Hollywood insist on snapping up the rights to excellent novelsand then butchering them? There are so many things wrong with SOLO thatlisting them seems as unfair as inviting a man with no legs to a briskgame of Hopscotch. Avoid this awful film and seek out the 2 novels byROBERT MASON that feature the awesome character of SOLO. The books areWEAPON and an excellent sequel SOLO.But don't pay any attention to thisawful dreck of a film.

Dorian Tenore-Bartilucci 2012-05-12 02:06:55

Frankly, I Tuned In To See Adrien Brody!

When I stumbled on SOLO on cable TV and realized Adrien Brody, one of myfavorite actors, was third-billed in this Mario Van Peebles action flick, Idecided to record it and check it out later for the heck of it. Turns outthat was a good idea, since I got the most enjoyment out of this derivativeSF/action/adventure when I simply gave up and fast-forwarded to Brody'sscenes as Solo's endearingly scruffy creator Dr. Bill Stewart (sounds likethe kind of bland name they'd give the hero in a 1950s creature feature --told you SOLO was derivative! :-). Brody's one of the few performers in thefilm who actually says his lines with heart and conviction. When he wasemoting opposite Van Peebles & Co., I wonder if Brody ever thought one dayhe'd be winning an Oscar for his starring turn in a Roman Polanski drama?:-) Adrien Brody fans, get the VCR ready; genre fans, try renting THEMAGNIFICENT SEVEN, FRANKENSTEIN, THE TERMINATOR, or any of the other moviesthat SOLO rips off! :-)

sapienza 2012-05-10 07:44:53

It was not a pleasant experience to see this movie.

I didn't expect much from a movie with Mario VanPeebles, but this was worsethan even I could imagine. I went to Solo expecting a brainless actionflick -- I was just hoping to have a night of mindless entertainment. Icouldn't imagine that it was going to be quite so bad, though. The story(about a cyborg who learns compassion, friendship, blah blah blah) washorrible, and, as another reviewer said, cliched to the max. Characterdevelopment was non-existent and we didn't have any vested interest in them.I was hoping the kid who helps Solo discover his humanity would getwhacked, so I wouldn't have to deal with his annoyingness any longer. Maybeif they had done this movie tongue-in-cheek it would have worked better; itcertainly couldn't have been worse. As it was, the only thing I took awayfrom Solo was a new disrespect for Mario Van Peebles and a sore butt. Don'ttry to endure this movie, and if you have to see it, don't go solo; bring afriend and crack jokes at it for an hour and a half.

stamper 2012-05-09 12:41:18

GREAT FILM

You know I only watched 15 minutes of this film, so I can't really describehow great it is. I mean the concept alone is so original and intriguing itjust did not let me go. Then there is the mass of academy award winningpeople involved here plus the academy award nominated director. YOU JUSTCAN'T miss. I mean imagine it is the middle of the night and you're notsleepy yet. This film comes on. You watch it and are shocked. It is sobrilliant, so original it is so GREAT. It will feel to you that half an hourlater you've turned off the screen, but as you go to your bed you see it'sonly 15 minutes after midnight. ENJOY!!!3 out of 10

2012-05-04 19:20:22

Solo

Solo is the perfect soldier. He is a master of combat in all its forms. He has no family. No friends. No birth certificate. No Social Security number. No medical benefits. If he is severly wounded, he will be abandoned by his commanders. No one will cry if Solo is gone. Who, after all, would shed a tear for a killing machine? Which is exactly what Solo is, the very best money can buy. Everything from the action to the acting makes this movie well worth it. Humor plays a huge role in this movie also.

isecore-2 2012-05-04 02:51:54

it stinks

I didn't have much high hopes for this one. Before seeing it, the storyyelled "stereotype" at me.I mean... come on! It's so stupid the plot line about the innocent androidthat realizes that the people who created him are immoral, then decides tochange everything.I had to see it three times. The first two times I fell asleep because I wasso incredibly bored by it. It's very rare that movies bore me so much I fallasleep during them. The third time I forced myself to watch it, simply to beable to warn people about it.I got the distinct impression that the people responsible for this mess hadtried to take all the cool/neat things from other scifi/action movies, andput them together to make a kick-ass movie! They took the android/robot,lots of action, thin story, stereotype characters, and a big fight in theend and threw it together. Unfortunately, the movie sucks. The acting is sowooden you could build a house out of it, the storyline/plot is absolutelylaughable, the camerawork and editing is horrid, the direction isnon-existent, and to top it all off, everything is so cliche and ridiculousthat it just annoys the hell out of you.I was left with the feeling that I could've spent the time watching this onedoing something much more creative, like trimming my fingernails, orwatching the grass grow.

anonymous 2012-04-29 08:42:01

One of the worst films of the year.

Cliched story of poor Latin American villagers saved by cyborg with a heart.Pathetic.

vovazhd 2012-04-28 22:18:19

Decent action flick; little more

Solo is an action movie about a Terminator-like android that isconstructed and trained for the military. When a flaw is discovered, heis issued to be deprogrammed. Rather than face death, he chooses toflee into the jungles of Central America, where he takes refuge in avillage. The military chases him into there, leading into a big actionfeast.Mario Van Peebles does a decent performance the android. His movementsand gestures look mechanical enough to get the job done. Actualscientific realism is abandoned in order to make a good action hero.And it works out; the action scenes aren't that spectacular, but theyaren't all too bad either. The acting from the other characters ispretty bad, but I was not expecting anything too good. The specialeffects were decent as well.Solo is decent as an action flick, but very forgettable. It lacks thesubstance that most movies possess. But if you just want to pass acouple hours without much thinking, this will get the job done.

Terence Allen 2012-04-26 23:42:17

One of The Worst Movie Ever

Even the fact that I saw this movie at a free sneak review doesn't makeup for the hour plus that I lost watching this horrible dreck of amovie. Mario van Peebles had a movie to remember in New Jack city, andhe has a movie to forget in Solo. Where do I start? The plot ishorrendous, the action is silly, the acting is campy, and the wholemovie adds up to such a bad experience that it isn't even worthrenting, much less buying or watching it on cable. Any cable stationthat shows this movie ought to give the viewers discounts on theircable bill. Definitely a contender for worst movie ever made.Definitely the worst movie of anyone who acted, wrote, produced,directed, or did FX for it.

Frank Markland 2012-04-26 03:03:27

R.O.T.O.R on a B.level budget.

Mario Van Peebles tries to go the Jean-Claude Van Damme route and playa renegade robotic soldier who goes AWOL to preserve himself, howeverthe government isn't going to take this lying down, so among thesimplistic plot Van Peebles protects villagers from the rebel forcesand defeats a improved version of himself in this disappointing film.This blatant rip off of Universal Soldier (Which is far more fun thenthis) simply goes nowhere. The main problem is that the movie is sounbelievably inert. Van Peebles just waits around and there just isn'tenough ass-kicking to justify a viewing. On the other hand the moviedoes sort of resemble a competent version of R.O.T.O.R although whereas that abysmal bad movie was hilarious, this one only yieldsoccasional laughter in its laughably unconvincing action sequences.Also like R.O.T.O.R it makes no sense in its narrative and basicallythe movie is awesomely boring. Plus the villains are disappointinglyweak and basically the movie needs an actual action scenario to work,because the material is too dull. In all regards Solo is a very weakfilm.*1/2 out of 4-(Poor)

2012-04-25 00:51:54

"Solo"... the ultimate one-man army!

Here's a movie that knows its place and doesn't kid itself in trying tothink it's anything intelligent or well-written. "Solo" simply wants tobe a fun action movie, and it succeeds. Looking a lot like 2005's"Stealth," only with lesser special effects, "Solo" (made almost adecade before "Stealth") is a one-man army movie to the extreme. Itstars Mario Van Peebles (remember him?) as Solo, an android built bythe army that goes renegade and helps a group of farmers save theirvillage. But the army wants their billion dollar project back, and willstop at nothing to get it! I enjoyed "Solo" on the grounds that youdon't have to think very hard, and yet it still entertains. Mario VanPeebles does a fine job as the android, and I also noticed Adrien Brodyas his programmer. "Solo" was bashed mainly because it was years behindits time. Had it been released the same year as "Rambo," it may havefound a wider audience. But if you like action and don't want thingslike plot or character development to get in the way, see "Solo." It'sa good action movie, and a fun 90 minutes.

OzzyCash 2012-04-24 12:37:59

pretty good

This movie wasn't hyped at all so you couldn't expect too much but I waspleased with the movie. It had pretty good action scenes and a decentstoryline. I thought Mario did a pretty good job in the movie and overall itwasjust enjoyable, not the greatest action movie but not the worst by anymeans, if you just enjoy simple action and explosions check this out. 7outof 10

OJT 2012-04-19 15:15:21

Comical action!

This film is a load of crap. It's quite disturbing to see that anyone isable to say that this is one of the best films of the year.What can I say? Bad acting, bad action scenes which becomes really comicalin the end.Pardon me if this was a comedy, then I didn't understandit.If it was I regret laughing of the tent scenes!Do yourself a favor - go to bed instead of watching this!Good night!

2012-04-18 22:59:55

a cool dvd

well i got the dvd and it was all scratched up and not so goodso i played it and it turned out to be okyou can really see the marks and not happy about it, other than that good movie