Part man. Part machine. Total weapon. Prepare to go Solo!
Solo is a 1996 American science fiction action film starring Mario Van Peebles and directed by Norberto Barba. The film was loosely based on the 1989 novel Weapon by Robert Mason (who also wrote a sequel novel called Solo which is not related to this movie).
Solo is a robotic soldier made by the US military. After being deployed into a Latin American civil war, he gains sentience and starts to sympathize with the native civilians. Joining them, Solo assists in fighting off the American intervention, to his creators' frustration. Soon, they create an upgraded soldier, and Solo must battle him to maintain his humanity and protect his friends.
Not to be confused with the 2018 Star Wars movie.
This film contains examples of:
- Armies Are Evil: The US Army personnel in the film, aside from Solo, are all ruthless men unhappy that he aborts their mission to spare civilian villagers, creating a more ruthless robot soldier to replace him that lacks his programming which prevents this.
- Attack Its Weak Point: During his initial escape Solo sustains an injury on his side. Madden orders his men to aim for said injury.
- Big Bad: General Clyde Haynes, the military official who ordered Solo created and now wants him destroyed.
- Big Bad Wannabe: The rebels Solo's initially sent to dispatch are also shown to be bad guys, but the US military is depicted as a much greater threat from the beginning and eventually become subservient to them. Their commander doesn't even get a name.
- Booby Trap: Due to lacking access to traditional weapons, Solo has the villagers set up booby traps to fight off the rebels.
- Celebrity Resemblance: Solo was allowed to pick what his external shell would look like, and chose Michael Jordan.
- Death of Personality: Solo goes rogue because General Haynes orders his memory wiped, compliance with which he views as violating his primary directive of self-preservation.
- Deceptively Human Robots: Solo in the novel was humanoid only so it could operate military equipment efficiently, but was otherwise clearly an android. Here Solo is a bald Mario Van Peebles who's human in appearance (once he's given a face) but otherwise is the stoic Terminator type with jerky movements.
- Faking the Dead: Solo fakes his own destruction to get the military off his trail.
- Frame-Up: Madden convinces Haynes to authorize him to destroy Solo by burning some guy's house down and claiming Solo did it as part of a rampage.
- Grew Beyond Their Programming: The entire plot happens because Solo develops a conscience.
- The Heavy: While General Haynes is the one giving the orders, Col. Frank Madden is the one who executes them and the one Solo MKII is based on.
- I Have Your Wife: Madden convinces Solo to confront him by threatening to kill one villager every hour until he shows up.
- Protagonist Title
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: The rebels are a brutal, nasty bunch who pressed many civilians into service as forced laborers building their runway. After they're driven out by Solo, their forces return and try to slaughter the villagers, who beat them with his help.
- Robot Soldier: Solo is one who's identical outwardly to a human, but far stronger and more durable. When his programming causes him to develop a conscience and abort a mission that would kill civilians, the US Army, which made him, orders his termination. The successor robot utterly lacks Solo's scruples.
- Shout-Out:
- The village is shown watching The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) on their TV.
- Madden nicknames Solo Pinocchio as a way to mock his growing humanity.
- Training the Peaceful Villagers: In exchange for electricity to charge himself, Solo trains the villagers so they can fight off the rebels that are persecuting them.
- Upgrade vs. Prototype Fight: The climactic battle is between Solo and his more advanced replacement, who has been sent to destroy him. The upgrade is even named Solo MKII.
- Villain Team-Up: Madden convinces the rebel forces to team up with him because they both hate Solo. However, he ends up gunning down their leader the second things go south.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Solo was literally designed to be used as cannon fodder without burdening anybody's conscience.
- Would Not Shoot a Civilian: Solo stops the mission which he was sent on after he's realized this would kill many civilians in the area. It causes the US Army to order him destroyed, and commission a new robot soldier that lacks his inhibition.
