Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009)

Lets not kid ourselves, Universal Soldier is a mindless action franchise that started poor and has gotten gradually worse. Whether we're talking the television universe movies or the Van Damme universe ones they are dumb action flicks with a mediocre concept which they don't even manage to capitalize on.Here we have Van Damme returning again as Luc who is being forced to return to the field for one last mission and yadadadadada.Cue generic fight scenes, gunfire, explosions and a plot so thin a fart would tear it.One for fans of the franchise and those who enjoy take your brain out paint by numbers action tosh.The Good:Emily JoyceThe Bad:Lungrens presence felt a bit pointlessIt's all so very genericThings I Learnt From This Movie:Lungren must have had more lawyer fees to pay

OK so I gave it 10 out of 10.. Why well because this really was as good, if not better than the first movie, in fact this should have been the second film, in the series, as that was pretty terrible.That of course did leave quite a few holes, my advice would be this. If your going to watch Universal Soldier, make sure you leave the second one out, then this will make total sense. Apart from the little mistake, its really very good, a lot of work went into this film and it does show.I loved seeing Dolph Lundgren back in the action, it is good to see him back in more films now, it was pretty spot on, not many words and a great fight scene between the two of them...However I would say this, I do think this is better than the first film, which is a hard act to follow, yeah I know its not the best in the world and I gave it a full score, however I do think its better then the 5 most of the other people on here have given it...My advice is rent it or buy it, keep it because you will want to watch it again, some pretty impressive stunts and fights are on the menu, if you like action, this film is for you.

The "Universal Soldier" franchise seems to be having its batteries constantly recharged, as another sequel is in the works with Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. However the pair would team up again, not since the original out for this filth instalment. Yep number five, and there's a sixth on its way. Hell I didn't know there were two entries that didn't star Van Damme!? I don't know how these ones figure in the time-line or even relate to each other (even though the central UniSol cyborg character remains the same). Anyhow "Regeneration" is a rampaging, take no prisoners sequel (or even re-boot) which likes to pay a little homage to the original. This being Van Damme and Lundgren's deja vu confrontation. Its well worth it, but some fans might be a disappointment as Van Damme is kept on the back-burner for most part (spending more time moping about and getting back in training) and Lundgren feels quite secondary to everything going on (even he questions the complexities of life), where he doesn't appear until the hour mark. Sometimes both would go missing in action… especially Lundgren. But wait around for its violently aggressive climatic showdowns --- Van Damme wiping out an army before encountering his fellow peers. Cool to see the pair go at it again, although would have like to see more than what we got. Even the opening (which Van Damme doesn't appear) sets up the cracking pace and ballistic onslaught to follow. It's Andrei "The Pit Bull" Arlovski who gets to have a good time as the unstoppable next-generation unit that likes to make mince meat of his victims and Kerry Shale as his slimy creator Dr. Colin. The drab plot is quite simple --- stop terrorists as a nuclear threat is evident, but it's not easy as they have a stolen next-generation Universal Soldier and the only one capable of matching it is the decommissioned unit Luc Deveraux. But another surprise awaits Luc. The setting for this raw action to take place, keeps its taut like a siege standoff in an abandoned compound. It's barren, bleak and isolated. Director John Hyms throws you straight in with brutal sensationalism and frenetic movements as the camera jumps around like a first person shooter game. "Universal Soldier: Regeneration" is a fair, grimy low-budget sequel."How do you feel?"

"Universal Soldier" is a rip off of the Terminator movies. The difference is in the semantics. The Terminators here are called universal soldiers: efficient killing machines who feel no pain or remorse and are capable of wiping out entire platoons. Some of the killing machines are working for the U.S. Army (which raises the question why normal soldiers are needed in the first place) and others are working for this terrorist group that is fighting for the independence of Parsalan (a fake name for Chechnya, since the producers obviously did not want to offend movie viewers from the Republic of Chechnya) and the liberation of 230 of their fellow terrorists. The two sides fight it out in the time honoured tradition of the video games, featuring endless gun battles, big explosions and some martial arts fighting. Then finally the U.S. Army wins thanks to "universal soldier" Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme).This movie is so bad that I felt, while writing this review, that even my outline of the Universal Soldier's recycled plot is misleading. This movie, aside from having the bare bones of an already worn out formula, has no plot. It only has macho men punching and shooting each other and blowing things up in order to prove their manhood. There are not even any good martial arts sequences, which is the sort of thing one would expect from a film with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lungren in it. Needless to say, the Universal Soldiers are better at wiping out whole platoons, beating up people, and blowing things up than the ordinary American soldiers are. As a result, the Americans soldiers feel that their own manhood is being threatened. After all, if you can't kill or maim anybody, then what can you do? And in case anyone accuses me of sexism, I should add that I have not seen a single female soldier in "Universal Soldier." So all charges of sexism should be forwarded to director John Hyams and producers Moshe Diamand, Mark Damon, and Craig Baumgarten.But the other reason why "Universal Soldier" is so boring is that the characters are for the most part monotone macho men. The only character who is interesting at all in this picture is scientist Dr. Sandra Fleming, who is played by Emily Joyce. Dolph Lungren's Universal soldier, Andrew Scott, is obviously meant to be based on Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator. But unlike the Arnold, Lungren takes his macho personality far too seriously and, as a result, he comes across as monotone, robotic and dull. The same problem is applicable to Van Damme's Luc Devereau. In fact, Van Damme is far more interesting in real life than he is in this film. A student of ballet between the ages of 16 to 20 who went on to become a martial arts fighter and a movie star. He overcame struggles with drug addiction and bipolar disorder and, after becoming clean, remarried his second wife and has stayed with her ever since. But here he is reduced to a dull, monotone robot. Sad really...2/10