A Soldier's Revenge Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

A Soldier's Revenge Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 1, 2020

A Soldier's Revenge's writer and director Michael Feifer has a rather long and varied credits page on the IMDb, with over one hundred credits as producer, over fifty credits as director, and close to forty credits as a writer, and yet my hunch even many diehard film fans who parse the credits roll scrupulously would be hard pressed to come up with another film he’s had a hand in making. In that regard, it’s kind of funny to look over Feifer’s accomplishments, because they tend to ping pong back and forth between what might be called “Hallmark” outings like The Dog Who Saved Christmas and decidedly more serious and disturbing fare like Bundy: An American Icon. In that regard, A Soldier Revenge might not all that cheekily be described as offering a little from each of those categories, with some heartwarming “family friendly” aspects competing with more violent exchanges that often end with bodies littering the dusty plains. A lot of Feifer’s work seems to have been for television, and there’s definitely a “made for TV” ambience about A Soldier’s Revenge, though a TV outing probably could have aided in what is one of this film’s less successful elements: its running time, which closes in on two and a half hours. Even those without a degree from the Syd Field school of screenwriting will probably notice more than a bit of padding that accompanies this enterprise, and there are certain scenes that could have either been edited pretty judiciously, or in fact omitted altogether, without affecting the ultimate storyline one whit.

Frank Connor (Neal Bledsoe) is a Civil War veteran who is haunted by what had yet to be defined as post traumatic stress disorder. He’s subject to recurring nightmares involving a siege that are doled out slowly (very slowly) over the course of the film, a conceit that finally gives some context to one major relationship in the film. A Soldier’s Revenge relies on an ungainly amount of “coincidences”, including but not necessarily limited to this particular relationship, as the film seems to suggest that, despite a setting that emphasizes huge open vistas with only one solitary cabin in sight (if even that much), the Wild West was a place where, to quote a certain more modern day watering hole, “everybody knows your name” (or at least your alias).

The first part of the film deals with Frank as a bounty hunter, as he shows up late one night at some kind of smuggling operation and delivers a little “frontier justice” to the bad guys (even though it’s never made clear for whom Frank might be working, or how he found out about this particular scheme). While he continues to suffer from his memories of the Civil War, Frank at least is offered a bit of a distraction when two frightened kids named Grace (Savannah Judy) and Ethan (Luke Judy) show up at his cabin door begging for help. Their mother Heather (AnnaLynne McCord) is missing and their stepfather, Travis Biggs (Rob Mayes), is suspected (by the kids) of being involved. The film has already taken one detour (in a pronounced change of perspective) to the Briggs house, detailing Travis discovering the fact that his stepkids have opened up his safe and gotten access to some kind of documents that name Frank, thereby completely giving away what is probably the none too surprising in any event revelation that Frank and Biggs have a “history”, as they say.

The kind of schizophrenic alternating perspectives continue unabated through the long second act, where it’s again slowly revealed that Briggs works for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but has been secretly selling firearms to the Native Americans, something that brings him to the attention of an Army captain named McCallister (a surprisingly restrained Jake Busey). In the meantime (there’s a lot of “meantime” in this story), it’s also revealed that Briggs has sequestered Heather in a shack being guarded by his goons as some sort of “ransom”, though that scheme is left woefully underdeveloped.

Suffice it to say that in the "heartwarming family fare" side of things, A Soldier's Revenge documents Frank's shepherding of the children in an attempt to find their mother, something that of course predictably bonds the trio after some initial skirmishes. That plays out against the kind of random violence that erupts, as two other guys (presumably part of Briggs' posse, though even that is never detailed very well) are on the hunt for Frank and the kids, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. The film arguably has a few too many rehashes of conflicts, with Frank ultimately meeting and catpuring Briggs, only to have the tables turned almost instantly. Probably needless to say, Frank escapes and finally tracks down Heather, but even that leads to another showdown with Briggs. There are any number of other detours, including scenes with Heather and an assortment of women on a stagecoach when she makes a break for freedom, and in what is arguably this film's little piece of stunt casting, scenes between Frank and his father (Val Kilmer, doing a weird accent that sounds like Gabby Hayes meets Walter Brennan).

The film's most preposterous conceit revolves around Frank and Heather and the children. That conceit won't be spoiled here, other than to say things end on a heartwarming family fare note that may at least partially overcome what will be pretty severe eye rolling on the part of more jaded viewers. A Soldier's Revenge does have a pretty pronounced misogynistic streak running through it, with a couple of female characters seemingly there only to get smacked, something that may be designed to show how insensitive those durn blasted cowboy types could be, but which just comes off as churlish after a while.

A Soldier's Revenge Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A Soldier's Revenge is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. The IMDb has no technical information, and as of the writing of this review, it appears that this is going to be a straight to video and/or demand release. Several datapoints I discovered in doing online searching list the film's title as A Soldier's Heart. Director of Photography Jordi Ruiz Masó's own site in fact lists the film under that title, but it at least discloses a Sony F5 was utilized, though it's not clarified what resolution the digital intermediate might have been. One way or the other, this is an often beautifully sharp and well detailed looking presentation, one that exhibits nice levels of fine detail in the many close-ups, this despite some often pretty aggressive grading choices (often toward yellows or blues). The outdoor photography is often gorgeous, with excellent depth of field and surprising amounts of general detail despite the width of some of the framings. The flashbacks to the Civil War skirmish have been tweaked to an almost sepia tone at times, with pushed contrast that can make whites bloom slightly.

A Soldier's Revenge Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

A Soldier's Revenge features a boisterous DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. There's near constant surround activity here, though some of that is due to what I personally felt was an overly ubiquitous score by Brandon Jarrett. Ambient environmental effects regularly dot the surround channels, and things like galloping horse hooves can pan believably. LFE gets occasional moments, including with some expected bursts of gunfire. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout the presentation.

A Soldier's Revenge Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (1080p; 1:24)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, this disc has been authored to move on automatically to trailers for other Well Go USA Blu-ray releases after the trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA Blu-ray releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

A Soldier's Revenge Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A Soldier's Revenge probably relies on a bit too many convenient coincidences to really ever come off as believable. The film in a way reminded me True Grit, with a crusty elder charged with mentoring a kid (or in this case, children). That said, A Soldier's Revenge has little of True Grit's swagger, with characters coming off as downright cartoonish at times. The film looks great, though, and those who like long shots of a supposed long ago American west may find this an appealing enough offering. Technical merits are solid for those considering a purchase.