Wrote this review of Universal Soldier: Regeneration a few years ago for another site. Thought I'd repost as the fourth film Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (Hyams) is released on Monday and there have been some very positive reviews Stateside.
Universal Soldier appeared in 1992 and brought together two of the most popular action heroes of the time, Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. Both men were trying to establish themselves as Hollywood A-Listers so this was an important film for them.
The man who benefited most from Universal Soldier was working behind the camera though. Director Roland Emmerich went on to direct increasingly large and stupid blockbusters like Independence Day (1995) and 2012 (2009) while Van Damme and Lundgren ended up as straight-to-DVD mainstays.
This time around we are in B-movie territory. The budget is minimal, with shooting taking place in and around a single location. Van Damme and Lundgren have far less screen time than you would expect. Most of the early action features former Ultimate Fighting Champion Andrei ‘The Pit Bull’ Arlovski as a new tougher breed of Unisol called NGU.
Universal Soldier: Regeneration is directed by John Hyams. Directing Van Damme movies must run in the family; Hyam’s father Peter helmed Sudden Death back in 1995. Hyams Senior is also involved in Universal Soldier: Regeneration acting as Director of Photography. You could call this nepotism, but if your son was going to Chernobyl to make a film with a guy called Andrei the Pitbull you would probably want to keep an eye on him.
Terrorists abduct the President’s children and hold them hostage at Chernobyl. Presumably filming took place in a less radioactive location. The reactor is rigged with explosives and the Russians are given 72 hours to give in to the terrorists demands.
Jean Claude Van Damme appears only briefly in the first hour. Luc Deveraux (Van Damme) is now a burnt out basket case with no recollection of his past. Van Damme looks burnt out too, as if he had just wandered onto the set after delivering his monologue at the finale of his acclaimed movie JCVD (Mabrouk El Mechri 2008).
Rehab is not going well for Luc. An outing to a local bar with his shrink ends with him repeatedly punching one of the patrons. When NGU takes out an entire team of American Unisol’s Deveraux is abducted and returned to duty.
Unfortunately the bad guys have another Unisol in reserve. Andrew Scott (Lundgren) is reawakened though if the doctor responsible had seen the first film he would probably have avoided this. Scott is crazy and quickly turns on anybody who gets on his way. Scott was last seen being torn to shreds by farm machinery so it must taken considerable skill to put his body back together. No wonder Scott never appeared in Universal Soldier: The Return (Mic Rodgers 1999), the scientists were probably still trying to work out which bit went where.
The confrontation between Van Damme and Lundgren is almost rendered meaningless by both characters being unable to remember each other. In the original the finale involved plenty of Van Damme’s trademark high-kicking. Modern action films tend to rely on more realistic moves rather than fancy footwork and so it proves here with a brutal confrontation more akin to a streetfight than the balletic mayhem of Van Damme’s early films.
Despite the lack of recognition between Deveraux and Scott the battle becomes oddly moving as one of them becomes aware of whom he is fighting against at the very last moment. Lundgren, always the most amusing of the 80’s action heroes gives it his all despite his brief screen time. Van Damme looks like he would rather be elsewhere. No wonder after delivering the performance of his life in JCVD and then finding himself making a sequel nobody needed or wanted.
The aim of Universal Soldier: Regeneration seems to have been to launch Andre ‘The Pitbull’ Arlovski as an action hero. Casting him as a killer cyborg with his personality removed may not have been the best way to introduce him to audiences, but he certainly looks the part. Van Damme and Lundgren should have given this a miss though, they deserve much better than what amounts to glorified cameos in somebody else’s movie.
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