UNIVERSAL SOLDIER:REGENERATION

[BenRoethig]

Oh, wow... I looked it up on Wikipedia and there are really two distinct (but equally dumb, I guess) sequel continuities for Universal Soldier


Universal Soldier (1992) - Jean-Claude Van Damme as Luc Deveraux

Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms (1998) - Matt Battaglia as Luc Deveraux
Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Busniess (1998) - Matt Battaglia as Luc Deveraux

Universal Soldier: The Return (1999) - Jean-Claude Van Damme as Luc Deveraux, ignores the two previous movies
Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2010) - Jean-Claude Van Damme as Luc Deveraux, sequel to "The Return", also ignores the events of Universal Soldier II & III


Current IMDb ratings
Universal Soldier: 5.5/10
Universal Soldier II: 2.8
Universal Soldier III: 3.1
The Return: 3.3

I think this might be a third branch ignoring the return.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I see Dolph Lundgren is in this one. How did they manage that, given what happened to his character at the end of the first film (fed through a wood chipper, I believe)?

 

[StarshipDefiant]

I see Dolph Lundgren is in this one. How did they manage that, given what happened to his character at the end of the first film (fed through a wood chipper, I believe)?

I've read he was cloned or whatever, supported by the end of the movie... and I to, think it ignored the Return, if it didn't then it's pretty cruddy story telling. This movie was kinda bleh. To me, take out Dolph, Jean rework the terminology slightly and...there's nothing different. Seriously.

 

[nx1701g]

They would have to ignore Return to do this film. In Return Luc was restored to human and no longer a UniSOL.

 

[Kelso]

Wait, is this film good?

On the surface you have your usual DTV qualities: masked gunmen from some vaguely defined radical faction, dreary European locations, car crashes, and no sign of the stars on the cover yet. But the weird thing is this is a *great* action sequence. Cameras attached to the cars, putting you right inside the mayhem, you feel like you're getting knocked around and dragged away but (get this) you can tell exactly what's going on. It's fast, brutal and unfashionably comprehensible. It had my heart beating. You don't expect that in the opening of a DTV action movie or, let's be honest, any modern American action movie.
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The look, feel and whole mentality of this one are completely different from any of the previous five UNIVERSAL SOLDIER pictures. To me it seems more influenced by ALIEN, THE TERMINATOR and CHILDREN OF MEN than its own series. The story is perfectly streamlined, just setting the characters in motion and crashing them into each other, the type of elegant simplicity so many of these convoluted DTVs need as a role model in their lives. The tone is deadly serious, quiet, tense. The score is a nice John Carpenter/Brad Fiedel type keyboard droner. The sound design is really good too, lots of weird buzzes and distorted voices over radios creating atmosphere.

What I'm telling you is that this is a real fucking good movie, made with care and skill. I can't believe how much I liked it. It joins UNDISPUTED II as the rare DTV sequel better than its theatrical originator. It's also probly the first ever part 5 that's better than its part 1. Unless you count porn. This is that you-would-think-mythical-but-it-turns-out-it's-a-real-thing movie I've been naively waiting for all these years watching crappy DTV sequels. Sure, it's unlikely that somebody would pour everything they got into something like a UNIVERSAL SOLDIER sequel. They probably wouldn't do that. But they could. And for once, they did!

SOURCE

I'll have to check it out.

 

[nx1701g]

^ I'm thinking I may pick this up.

 

[Harvey]

Peter Hyams assumed the role of cinematographer for his son, who directed this, so we know it will at least look good. But that didn't stop Peter Hyams' recent Beyond a Reasonable Doubt from being absolute shit. We'll see. I admit, I haven't seen any of the earlier films in the series.

 

[Brikar99]

I have it on my Netflix queue. I'm looking forward to it. It might at least be fun to see Van Damme and Lundgren go at it again.

 

[dragunzng]

I thought this was surprisingly good. The action was handled pretty well, and the end sequence in particular was pretty brutal. There's a Children on Men-ish sequence at the end that I won't spoil, but it's pretty visceral.

If you've ever played Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, some of the sequences that take place in the abandoned city surrounding Chernobyl are very weird to take. It's almost like you've been there.

It's not the greatest movie ever made, but it's a surprisingly good effort, and one that seems to relish its budget constraints and work with them rather than trying to accomplish more than the budget would allow.

Also, Dolph Lundgren is one scary-ass mofo.

I'm surprised this hasn't come out in the states yet, it's been out in the Philippines forever.

 

[Aragorn]

It's available to rent and buy next week.

I haven't watched the whole thing yet, and while it does look and feel like something straight-to-DVD, it's a cut above a lot of straight-to-DVD action flicks that reuse footage from big budget movies. It's like they figured out how to do more than less, rather than settling.

 

[Holdfast]

Wait, is this film good?

What I'm telling you is that this is a real fucking good movie, made with care and skill. I can't believe how much I liked it. It joins UNDISPUTED II as the rare DTV sequel better than its theatrical originator. It's also probly the first ever part 5 that's better than its part 1. Unless you count porn. This is that you-would-think-mythical-but-it-turns-out-it's-a-real-thing movie I've been naively waiting for all these years watching crappy DTV sequels. Sure, it's unlikely that somebody would pour everything they got into something like a UNIVERSAL SOLDIER sequel. They probably wouldn't do that. But they could. And for once, they did!

I'm shocked. I might get round to watching this at some point.

 

[Pingfah]

I have to concur. It is much better than the original movie. It's not going to win any awards, it has a few really dodgy acting moments and a wafer thin plot, but apart from that it is a well made film all round.

The action sequences are very good, in fact i'd go so far as to say that the car chase that opens the movie is one of the most enjoyable I have seen.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

How did Andrei Arlofski do?

 

[Aragorn]

He doesn't do anything other than kick ass. He had about twice as many lines as Darth Maul did. Since his character is supposed to be a blank slate, he wasn't required to act much.

He actually gets top billing too since he's probably in it longer than Van Damme and Lundgren combined.

 

[Pingfah]

Van Damme had a reasonable amount of face time, but Lundgren had about 3 or 4 minutes by my reckoning.

Still, no great loss.

 

[nx1701g]

^ Not really surprising. I read he finished filming his scenes in about 4 days.

 

[Kelso]

I rented it tonight... and I actually agree with the positive review I posted earlier and dragunzng's post. It wasn't a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it was pretty damned enjoyable. Better than a DTV Universal Soldier 5 shoulda been, any way.