Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

elshikh4 An independent action sci-fi (The danger alert !) + Mario Van Peebles (Not my star or even close !) + A story about human android (Terminator-Peter Weller-I'll Be Back kind of crap.. NAAAY !) = The early healthy sleep is surely much better ! Though as funny as it may seem (for me mainly) I liked it very much as dexterous action movie or as good story with a lot of important potentials.(Solo) is the electronic super soldier who got human and became more sensitive than all the senseless war machines around him whom ironically are the original humans! It's Frankenstein again but in Schwarzenegger's kind of shape with the conflict of the little village and its protector "one" samurai against his crazy makers ! I just want to assure how catchy the elements of the story were, which made me confused about how the big Hollywood majors missed that one ?! I couldn't believe the presence of so many good things since my experience with familiar low budget flicks was horrible. For instance : The script. Actually they could have recreated Frankenstein who takes revenge cruelly on its makers, but on the contrary we've watched the (human/beast) conflict and how (Solo) personifies – by his muddle newborn humanity – the noble martyr of this inferno or that greedy degenerate human world. Also how it was wonderful to begin hotly enough with the point of attack when (Solo) the robot uses his own merciful tactic, then we watch his past briefly and smartly after. Moreover the nice touches to affirm his importunate desire to be human (the childish wicked tricks, the joy of the smile, the meaning of sacrifice.. etc), and the idea of another electronic more lethal soldier at the end was unpredictable along with expressing as we watch the ultimate confrontation where the heartless American military commander turned perfectly into that mighty monstrosity against the android where the android looked more high and powerful because of what he already learned from the pure human souls. And although the android triumphed eventually, but the sole (solo) must die at the end as the only one there who is deadly and "kind" in the same time, so he couldn't live by the deranged logic of this world, yet his death informed about how the human could win the beast humanly ! That final truthful laugh was such a marvelous end which summarized the main victory of (Solo) and the basic tragic sense of the whole thing (maybe that's what Hollywood hated in this story).The direction wasn't that vapid or that Kubrick either. It made fair action despite the non-zillion budget. Then we come to the matter of (Mario Van Peebles); regardless of the ordinary charisma and the quiet career which both didn't serve him much; this actor confirms here how talented he is. His performance grasped the subtle features of Solo's personality even if it seemed so easy to act. This man, as a true actor, gave a lucid effort to show us (Solo), not as another metallic character done by metallic star; he put some simple human sense in the mix to watch carefully how (Solo) the machine feels the pain of not feeling, to experience the confusion of the human games, and to taste his unfortunate mineral laughter (That was his best scene). (Peebles) succeeded in playing (Solo) clemently; by putting slight doleful compassion with strong pride right in his eyes, voice and moves.Maybe I didn't like that stereotyped forever-evil guy; not because its bad conscience, but for its bad construction, where he was so devilish with no convincing reason or whatsoever ! But anyway, (Solo) is solid piece of work that made such a new Frankenstein, mixed it cleverly with the one-man-army action hero, and while presenting the story of the monster; didn't turn into one itself !

Paul Andrews Solo starts as a team of US soldiers go into Soth America to blow up a rebel airstrip, joining them is a robot named Solo (Mario Van Peebles) who can use any weapon ever made, is fifteen times stronger & ten times faster than any human being. Something goes wrong though & Solo refuses to kill innocent civilians which Colonel Frank Madden (William Sadler) isn't happy about, back at base & General Haynes (Barry Corbin) orders Solo to be shut down & reprogrammed. One of Solo's main directives is self preservation so decides to escape back into the South American jungles where Colonel Madden & his men are sent in to recapture it...This Mexican American co-production was directed by Norberto Barba & one has to say Solo is awful. The script by David Corley was based on the novel 'Weapon' by Robert Mason & is one cliché after another, robots were popular at the time Solo was made in Hollywood & at the box-office so Solo rip-offs the likes of Robocop (1987), Universal Soldier (1992) & the two Terminator flicks as well as having the same setting & basic story as Predator (1987). This is the usual rubbish about an emotionless robot who grows a sense of humanity while being around people, at first he doesn't know what a joke is or why one person would care for another but by the end he develops emotions & starts to befriend people, sounds like Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) to me. The character's are poor & Colonel Madden in particular is given absolutely no motivation for hating Solo at all & why he would kill other US soldiers & disobey orders to destroy it. You know I saw this on cable telly last night for free (thank god I didn't spend any money on it) & I looked it up in the TV guide & do you know what it said? My TV guide described Solo as a 'dire sci-fi action starring Mario Van Peebels' which when I think about it is a perfect description of Solo. In less than ten words my TV guide has hit the nail on the head, I mean it's a sci-fi action film, it certainly stars Mario Van Peebles & it's definitely dire. Enough said really.Director Barba doesn't do anything particularly special here & the action scenes lack any real excitement & the sci-fi elements are virtually none existent apart from the fact Solo is a robot. So the military lose Solo & Colonel Madden is sent in to recapture it right? I'm not being funny but wouldn't the military have put a 'self destruct' mechanism inside Solo in case something like that happened? Surely at the very least Solo would have had a tracking device inside it so the military would at least know where it was at any given time? I'm not being funny but these people can come up with a walking talking robotic soldier but they are not clever enough to realise that a tracking or self destruct device might be useful if anything went wrong? The violence is mild, there are a few OK fight scenes but this is pretty weak stuff really.Technically the film looks alright & is competently made, it was actually shot in Mexico. The makers of the Dolph Lundgren action flick Agent Red (2000) edited footage from Solo into that film. The acting is poor, Van Peebles was the perfect choice to play an emotionless robot... William Sadler deserves better than this, it was only a few years prior he was staring in the fantastic Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990).Solo is a really bad sci-fi action flick which is basically a huge rip-off of big budget Hollywood sci-fi action films like Robocop, Universal Soldier & the Terminator films. Not recommend & I'm going to start & pay more attention to my TV guide when it comes to choosing films to watch...

alanjones792 Solo is a poor film - that cannot be ignored. The acting for the most part is very wooden (the only exception is Adrien Brody's performance as Solo's creator Bill) and the story is slight enough that you would probably forget it WHILST you where watching the film. That said, such films are more about the action than the plot/acting and, as such, live or die by the action set pieces - that after all is the point of such films - to give 14 year-olds something to smile at whilst the adults watch films of actual substance. And even on this Solo fails to deliver - what little action there is is poorly done, dull and uninspired. After seeing the trailer for this on television I was hoping for something along the lines of Predator with a robot replacing the Predaot. Instead I got a fairly lifeless action film with a poorly constructed attempt at depth by taking on message that robots can feel too. Watch Terminator II or Predator instead.. both classics that this film desperately wants to be except it lacks the inspiration or, to be fair, the budget.

phmurphy i was forced to watch this garbage. I had control of the remote, yet my friends would bitch and moan if i changed this movie which makes Gigli look good. this is so bad and mario van peebles continues his marginal talent on and on.....So in closing, never see this movie...0/10