Ghost Soldier Review: A Super Soldier Short on Super Moments

Jim Caviezel (Passion Of The Christ), plays Fitz, a former special ops man living quietly off the grid until a greedy corporation comes for his town’s farmland. For a film about a trained killer, it spends a baffling amount of time on land disputes. The water and tech scheme behind the conflict barely holds together, and it feels like a courtroom drama sneaking into a shoot-’em-up.

The promising idea is foreign mercenaries versus an American patriot soldier. It fizzles right after the villain kills Fitz’s friend, the arms dealer in the town of Valentine. That should be the spark. Instead, the film settles into familiar rhythms. Shea Whigham, as Fitz’s DARPA friend and mentor Scott Peary, spends his screen time hyping up the hero’s super-soldier abilities, which is lazy writing. We are told he is a legend instead of being shown one. You know an action film is losing steam when there’s more exposition than actual on-screen action.

The UA-16+ rating might be the culprit here. A weapons designer who builds lethal toys for himself is practically begging for an A-rated action romp, and that restraint against berserk action dulls the trigger-happy payoff the premise promises. The gunfights are too few but they’re most definitely inventive and engaging. If only, there was more of that. What works in this film is the hardware. Fitz’s wild weapon designs and tech-laced bullets have a real Call of Duty and Counter-Strike energy, and the film is at its most fun when he is loading up.

Caviezel looks the part and gives it everything. But the character is neither as legendary as Wick nor as full of pathos as Rambo, so the effort goes nowhere. Olivia Thirlby brings welcome presence as Sheriff Heidi, but the script gives her very little to do.

Garret Dillahunt as Graves and Beau Knapp as the mercenary leader Mirko are capable actors, but the script gives them menace without personality. Knapp comes closest to making an impression, yet nobody emerges as the nemesis a Tom Clancy-style super soldier needs.

At 90 minutes, the film feels rushed in the wrong places. Another 30 minutes, spent on proper action set pieces and sharper world and character building, could have turned this into the romp it wants to be. This film has the big ideas and the cutting edge VFX and slick choreography. But all the frills fade when the film doesn’t ignite its own premise. Ghost Soldier should have been an absolute blast on the big screen, instead it becomes a tedious haunt.