Small Soldiers

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Small Soldiers

Promotional poster for US release of Small Soldiers
Directed by Joe Dante
Produced by Michael Finnell
Colin Wilson
Written by Gavin Scott
Adam Rifkin
Starring Gregory Smith
Kirsten Dunst
Jay Mohr
Phil Hartman
Kevin Dunn
David Cross
Ann Magnuson
Dick Miller
Wendy Schaal
Robert Picardo
Jacob Smith
Denis Leary
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Distributed by - USA -
DreamWorks
- non-USA -
Universal Studios
Release date(s) July 10, 1998 (USA & Canada)
Running time 110 min
Country USA
Language English
Budget $40,000,000
Gross revenue $71,743,823
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Small Soldiers is a 1998 action/science fiction film featuring Gregory Smith and Kirsten Dunst with the voice talents of Tommy Lee Jones and Frank Langella. The film was directed by Joe Dante.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

The film's setting is Cleveland, Ohio. The movie is about action figures that begin a real war against each other, as a result of being inadvertently equipped with intelligent military computer chips.

Tagline: The few, the proud, and the small.

[edit] Plot summary

 The plot summary in this article or section is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the article.
Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot.

Toymaker Heartland Playsystems is acquired by the multinational conglomerate GloboTech Industries, which is expanding from manufacturing high-quality military hardware, into the more profitable consumer markets. Everyone on Heartland's Board of Directors is fired. We meet two employees: a slick executive named Larry Benson (Jay Mohr) and the not so charismatic scientist Irwin Wayfair (David Cross), the two men responsible for developing the most popular toy in Heartland's history (the toy was mostly Irwin's idea). GloboTech CEO Gil Mars (Denis Leary), pays a visit to Heartland to meet with Larry and Irwin concerning their newest projects.

Irwin offers up the Gorgonites, peaceful monsters who come from the land of Gorgon, whose mission is to gather information about Earth, prompting children to learn with them. Larry presents the Commando Elite, a special task force of action figures. Mars is impressed by the presentation and announces that he wants the toys to be exactly as was presented to him: smart toys that can interact with the child and "play back." Despite Irwin's objections, Mars chooses the ugly-looking Gorgonites as their enemies and imposes a deadline of three months to develop the toys. Omitting product testing to save time, the action figures were fitted with surplus X-1000 "intelligence" chips designed for use by the military.

Three months later, 15-year-old Alan Abernathy, hoping for a fresh start after he was expelled from two schools for playing pranks, and his family has moved to Cleveland. Stuart, his father, owns an unpopular traditional toy store that doesn't sell electronic toys or violent action figures. Stuart goes on a business trip, leaving Alan in charge of the store. When a delivery truck arrives, Alan sees the boxes containing the Commando Elite and the Gorgonites bound for another larger toy store, and convinces the truck driver, Joe, to leave him a complete set of each. Alan's plan is to sell them before his father returns; to make the shop some money for a change and prove how successful modern toys can be, that his father may have a little more faith in him. The driver helps Alan open the packages and activate the leaders of each side, and agrees to purge all records tied with the toys.

Alan's neighbor and massive crush, Christy Fimple, drops by the store with her little brother, and when Alan leaves the storage room to talk to her, Major Chip Hazard, the Commando Elite's leader, corners Archer, the Gorgonite leader. Upon Alan's return, they freeze, and when he leaves the store, Archer has stowed away in his backpack, and at home, Alan becomes aware that Archer, and potentially all the toys he got from Joe are self-aware.

During the night, Chip Hazard activates the rest of the Commando Elite: Butch Meathook, Link Static, Brick Bazooka, Nick Nitro, and Kip Killagin. Hazard gives a rousing speech in front of an American flag (reminiscent of the speech in the movie Patton, but using clichés and one-liners from famous speeches and other war movies), and orders all Gorgonites in the store to be eliminated. One of the Gorgonites, Slamfist, activates, and presumably alerts the others.

Alan arrives at the toy store in the morning, to find the store a big mess. He finds the remains of one destroyed Gorgonite, Troglokhan, and no sign of the Commando Elite or the remaining Gorgonites. Alan manages to repair most of the damage done to the store and calls the company to complain about the Commandos' actions, but receives an apathetic response.

Outside, the Commando Elite have been watching the store closely. When Alan rides home on his bicycle, they follow him and find out where he lives, though Brick (fired at the Bicycle to personally assassinate Archer) gets caught in the bike's wheel and temporarily dismembered. During the night, they enter the house, capture Archer, and interrogate him in the kitchen over the garbage disposal. Luckily, Alan awakens and manages to save Archer and drive off the Commando Elite, getting his hand cut in the process by Nick Nitro, to whom he responds by shoving him into the garbage disposal, terminally damaging him. The crude noise from the solid object being demolished wakes Alan's parents, and Alan is forced to confess to illegally loaning the toys from Joe to boost the store's profit.

The parent-to-son discussion became a heated argument when Alan asserted the toys were responsible for his father's crafting tools missing, leading his parents to suspect he might be on drugs and back to his old, mischievous lifestyle. Alan, furious at Archer for not backing him up earlier, demanded why he did not speak up to prove to his parents that the toys are self-aware. If the Gorgonites were destroyed, he would be in big trouble as he would not be able to pay Joe back, or restore his normal relationship with his parents, or Christy. Archer pointed out that the Gorgonites are alive, because the Commandos are still seeking them.

In the meantime, the Commandos regroup in the Fimple's garage next-door and Chip Hazard announced a change of plans. He announces that Alan, for rescuing Archer is now an official Gorgonite ally who must also be eliminated. The Commandos (in the tradition of The A-Team), begin to convert all the sharp tools, electronics and other hardware into makeshift vehicles and miniature weapons of mass destruction to avenge Nick Nitro.

Alan returns to the toy store in the morning and brainstorms where the Gorgonites could be hiding. Eventually he concludes that the most probable place would be the dumpster, which later proves to be correct when he retrieves Slamfist, Ocula, Punch-It, Scratch-It, Insaniac, and Troglokhan (now repaired into a type of "Freakenstein" using the remains of his dad's radio) and secures them in the safety of his home.

That night, the Commando Elite tap the phone lines and discover Alan and Christy's relationship. They incapacitate Christy's family and use the deactivated Nick Nitro's "X-1000" microchip, in conjunction with a wild array of electronic equipment and household appliances, to animate (in a scene reminiscent of the Frankenstein films) Christy's Gwendy Doll collection. When Christy arrives home with her boyfriend, Brad, the Gwendy dolls quickly tie her up, and the Commandos cause Brad to flee from the house.

The Commandos force Christy to make a hostage video that demands that the Gorgonites surrender to them. Alan tricks them by delivering a decoy consisting of a cardboard box labeled 'Gorgonites', which contains a cassette recorder playing a recording of pleading Gorgonite voices accompanied with automatic rattle toys. Alan and Archer sneak into the house to rescue and untie Christy (who has been tied to a chair and gagged with duct tape), and a battle with the Gwendy dolls ensues from which Alan and Christy emerge victorious.

The Commandos pursue Christy, Alan, and Archer (blowing up much of Mr. Fimple's garage in the process), but they make their escape on Christy's motor scooter, with the Commando Elite pursue them on makeshift combat vehicles. The protagonists escape by jumping over a stream while the Commando Elite crash and are destroyed - except for Chip Hazard who's damage has been minimal. He floats downstream and ends up at the local Toy World. There, Hazard finds and commandeers Joe's (the driver who loaned Alan the toys in the beginning) delivery truck full of Commando Elite action figures, which were to be recalled following Alan's phone-call.

As the parents meet and begin arguing about what has happened, Larry and Irwin from the toy company arrive in response to Alan's earlier phone call. They have learned about the dangers of the X-1000 chip from the designer, and are trying to circumvent any lawsuits.

Returning to the Abernathy's, Hazard activates dozens of Commandos and declares all-out war on the Gorgonites and their human allies, starting by cutting off the electricity supply and then shoot nails, flaming tennis balls, and firework rockets at the house. The humans conclude the only effective way to destroy the Commando Elite is by frying their AI chips with an EMP. Alan heads to the top of an electric pole, hoping to short out the transformer and set off a pulse. The Gorgonites then decide to stop cowering and finally enter the battlefield, commandeering the nail-spitting vehicle, taking down many Commandos. Hazard flies after Alan at the top of the pole in a helicopter, but the Gorgonites manage to shoot it down. Before it crashes into the Fimples' new satellite dish, Hazard jumps to the pole, equipped with a knife, trying to knock Alan off. Harassed by Hazard at the top of the pole, Alan is put into dire straits. The situation changes when Archer confronts Hazard atop the pole but he loses the fight and is kicked off. In retaliation, Alan grabs Hazard and jams him between the transformers, and when Irwin and Larry overload the power in Fimple's house, it sets off the EMP and shuts down the Gwendy dolls, the Commando Elite, and (presumably) the Gorgonites. Yet before the transformers overload, Alan falls from the pole but is saved by a bush, and rolls out on the middle of the yard, surrounded by an army of approaching Gwendy Dolls and Commando Elites. Christy appears and purges most of them with a lawnmower and the two get to safety before the EMP goes off, destroying the Commandos, and the humans finally win.

The next morning, Gil Mars arrives in the morning in his trademark black helicopter. He has his assistant pass out huge checks to Joe, the Fimples and the Abernathys to hush things up. Larry is fearful for his job, but Mars proposes that they add a few zeroes to the price of the Commando Elite and sell them to the military. He says that he knows "some rebels in Central America" who will find them "very entertaining". Alan and Christy have developed a visible relationship by now and they kiss passionately.

While cleaning up his back yard alone, after his parents and the Fimples are gone, Alan discovers that the Gorgonites have survived by hiding under the satellite dish, which had been knocked down during the battle and shielded them from the pulse emitted by the transformer. The Gorgonites still want to search for their home, Gorgon, and set out on Stuart's model ship in a river in Yosemite National Park.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Humans

  • Alan Abernathy
    The 15-year-old protagonist of the movie has been expelled from two schools for playing pranks, though the rumors around his new school say ten. His parents moved to Cleveland, Ohio, hoping to start over. He befriended the Gorgonites and becomes their primary protector.
  • Christy Fimple
    A girl whom Alan has a crush on and who happens to be his next-door neighbor. She was captured by the Commando Elite, but after Alan rescues her, she starts a relationship with him.
  • Stuart Abernathy
    Alan's father, a short-tempered, stressed out individual, who owns an unpopular, traditional toy store that sells no electronic toys or violent action figures.
  • Phil Fimple
    Christy's father and the Abernathys' technophile, somewhat obnoxious neighbour.
  • Timmy Fimple
    Christy's younger brother.

[edit] The Commando Elite

Created by Larry Benson, the Commando Elite are the primary villains of the film. This team is the enemy of the Gorgonites and those who ally with them.

  • Major Chip Hazard
    The leader of the Commando Elite and the film's primary antagonist. He is the arch enemy of Archer, the leader of the Gorgonites, who was equipped with a (nonfunctional) pistol and later uses a knife. He meets his demise when Alan jams him between the transformers, completing the circuit which fried him.
  • Butch Meathook
    The Commando Elite sniper, who is also equipped with grenades.
  • Link Static
    The Commando Elite communications expert, capable of tapping phone lines. Puncutates his sentences with static crackling.
  • Brick Bazooka
    The Commando Elite artillerist. He was injured when pursuing Alan's bike, losing his legs and lower torso (though he was patched together by the other Commandos afterwards).
  • Nick Nitro
    The Commando Elite demolitions expert. He carries a lot of (toy) explosives, and can improvise demolition charges from household items such as spray cans. Nitro attacked Alan when he was rescuing Archer, but ended up being thrust into the garbage disposal; losing his legs and becoming damaged beyond repair. He then crawled in the Fimple's garage and "died" in Major Hazards' arms.
  • Kip Killigan
    The Commando Elite's cigar-chomping covert operations specialist. Notable about his gear are the oversized shuriken on his vest.

[edit] The Gorgonites

The Gorgonites are the heroes of the film. This team of mutant aliens are programmed to search for the peaceful land of Gorgon. Led by Archer, the Gorgonites originally have only two options when dealing with the Commando Elite - hide or die - that are hardcoded into their original programming.

  • Archer
    The leader of the Gorgonites. As his name suggests, Archer is armed with a crossbow attached to his left arm. Archer is the bravest of the Gorgonites and convinces the others to fight back.
  • Ocula
    A one-eyed insect-like creature who is very shy. He cannot speak like the others, and does not seem adverse to put his only eye in jeopardy.
  • Punch-It and Scratch-It
    They are constant companions. Punch-It resembles a humanoid brontotherium, while Scratch-It looks like an orange legless monster who resembles a frog and walks on his hands and sits on Punch-It when traveling.
  • Insaniac
    A hyperactive purple monster who is positively insane. He spins about like the Tasmanian Devil from Looney Tunes and speaks very quickly. His weapon is a ball-and-chain mace.
  • Slamfist
    A hunchback, he is Archer's best friend. His left hand is replaced by large boulder-like fist. He is somewhat intellectually slow, but his fist is a powerful and useful weapon.
  • Freakenstein
    Originally known as Troglokhan, Freakenstein is a Frankenstein's monster-like creature. He was disassembled by the Commandos when they wreaked havoc in Alan's toy shop and rebuilt by the Gorgonites with a radio as part of the body.
  • Stench
    This Gorgonite only appears in the game version of Small Soldiers.
  • Nibble
    A flying Gorgonite who is exclusive to the Small Soldiers game.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Voice actors

[edit] Tribute

  • This was Phil Hartman's final film in a live action performance. The film was posthumously released less than two months after his murder.
    • The film included a short single blooper of Phil after the credits, followed by the words "For Phil".
    • Due to the gruesome nature of Hartman's death, several scenes of toys aiming their guns at his character were cut from the release.

[edit] References to Gremlins

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • Look closely in the scene when Ocula's eye is peering out; there is a torn picture of Gizmo the Mogwai.
  • Irwin's password is "Gizmo", the name of the Mogwai from the films.
  • The attack of the Gwendy dolls and the final battle between the Commandos and the Gorgonites are similar to the Gremlin attacks.
  • More indirectly, actor Dick Miller has performed Murray Futterman in both Gremlins movies.
  • Joe Dante, who directed Small Soliders, also directed both Gremlins movies.
  • Irwin Wayfair refers to Larry Benson as Gizmo when they are in the Abernathy household, this however may not be an intentional reference to Gremlins; Larry had used Irwin's password to order the munitions chips that were installed in the Gorgonites and Commandos, which Irwin was less-than-impressed to discover.
  • When Alan digs through the dumpster to look for the Gorgonites, a toy "Gizmo" can be seen in the garbage.

[edit] References to pop culture

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • At one point, Chip Hazard addresses his men and readies them for the battle against the Gorgonites. It is extremely similar to the speech from Patton where General George S Patton gives a speech in front of a huge American flag urging his men to fight the Germans. The music is identical and, like Patton, Hazard speaks in front of a Jigsaw puzzle American flag. Combining the Patton speech with other military/patriotic phrases in such a way as to make no sense and thus further their being militaristic and even jingoistic caricatures of military institutions, he says:
“ Soldiers, no poor sap ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by being all that he can be. Damn the torpedoes, or give me death! [Eternal vigilance is the price] of duty. And, to the victors go the spoils. So remember: you are the best of the best of the few and the proud. So ask not what your country can do for you, only regret that you have but one life to live! The war against the Gorgonites will be won! Commando Elite, let the first shot be fired! Search out the Gorgonites and frag 'em all! ”
  • The voices of the Commando Elite, except for Major Chip Hazard and Link Static, are played by the actors of The Dirty Dozen.
  • The voices of the Gorgonites, except for Archer and Ocula, are played by the actors of This Is Spinal Tap.
  • The scene where Nick Nitro is fatally wounded and says "it's just a flesh wound" is possibly a reference to the black knight scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
  • At the end of the movie, Slamfist says "I hope we don't hit an iceberg," a possible reference to the Titanic.
  • During the battle, when Slamfist is swinging on the bell, he is chanting "Sanctuary! Sanctuary!" as a parody to "The Hunchback of Notre Dame".
  • During the finale, there is a direct reference to Apocalypse Now, with Chip Hazard flying into the house on a toy helicopter, whilst the Ride of the Valkyries plays. Hazard also says "I love the smell of polyurethane in the morning"
  • The film is one of the few films to feature music by Led Zeppelin ("Communication Breakdown"), a band who are known to rarely license their music for use in films. The scene in which the song is used takes place in a bedroom covered with Led Zeppelin posters.
  • When the Commando Elite are charging through the break in the fence. they are chanting "I don't know what I've been told, but Gorgonite blood runs mighty cold". This is a reference to Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick) where the troops are chanting "I don't know what I've been told, but eskimo pussy is mighty cold".
  • A Powerman 5000 poster can be seen above the stair in Alan's bedroom.
  • Just before Chip Hazard gives the order to the other Commandos to destroy the Gorgonites in the store, he says that they are "the best of the best," a reference to a line in Men in Black in which Tommy Lee Jones who voices Chip plays one of the main characters.
  • When Alan is trying to escape in order to blow the transformer, he is shot at with a nailgun by a soldier who then exclaims "What's the matter kid? Don't you like nine inch nails?"
  • The punk band The Gorgonites were based on the name of the heroes of the film.
  • Kip Killigan says "All quiet on the Western Frontyard" which parodies the title of the war movie All Quiet on the Western Front. Ernest Borgnine, who voices Kip, played Sergant Kat in that film.
  • After Larry discovers the site of the X-1000 on the internet, he says "Hello, Mr. Chips," an obvious reference to Goodbye Mr. Chips.
  • When Christie and her boyfriend Brad are being attacked by the Gwendy Dolls, and Brad then destroys some of them, Chip Hazard appears and says "An officer and a gentleman does not strike a lady!", which is a reference to the movie An Officer and a Gentleman.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Films directed by Joe Dante