Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms (1998)

My goodness, what an appalling movie. When the beginning of the film rips-off the ending of UNIVERSAL SOLDIER by replacing Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren with two minor no-name actors - neither barely resembling their counterparts - then you know the film is in trouble. Not that UNIVERSAL SOLDIER warranted a sequel in the first place. Sure, it was enjoyable dumb entertainment, but no classic. Suddenly towards the end of the '90s, there came two "unofficial" television movie sequels - yes, there's another sequel to this piece of garbage, probably shot back-to-back - and a cinema sequel with Van Damme himself returning to the fold. The three films together probably represent the nadir of all science-fiction/action movies out there.I can't think of one thing to recommend in this film. It looks and feels cheap at all moments; the acting is appalling from an unknown (and forgettable) cast; lead Matt Battaglia plays the same character as Van Damme and does his job so badly that you end up crying out for Van Damme to return to the role (yes, he makes Van Damme look like Laurence Olivier in comparison). The action sequences which everybody came to see are sparse, as if they couldn't afford to stage them, and limited to a few explosions and poorly-executed martial arts moves (the highlight of which comes when one of the bad guy Unisols - only displaying a fraction less emotion than his human counterparts - is pushed into a garbage compactor and crushed). Even if Van Damme can't act, at least he knows his stuff when it comes to the fighting, but this no-name Battaglia hasn't got a clue. Lots of the film takes place in the dark, and the script concentrates on inane dialogue and half-baked ideas left over from the first film, at times directly ripping off scenes in that movie also (the implant removing from the leg scene is replayed almost shot-for-shot).It's really sad to see a portly Gary Busey appearing in this garbage, but here he is, for all to see. Basically he chews the scenery a bit and makes a fool of himself as most has-been stars do when they appear in worthless productions. The only spark of enjoyment this film has to offer is Burt Reynolds in a hilariously bizarre Mr. Mystery-type performance. His identity and face are kept hidden until the very end of the film, where he spins around in his chair to reveal his amusingly smug face. Otherwise, UNIVERSAL SOLDIER II is a definite miss, even as a bad film experience, because there just isn't enough going on to hold your interest.

This movie has everything1 Busey! Battaglia! Reynolds! Now it's safe to say that I'm a pretty big Busey enthusiast, but I also know a great movie when I see one. The martial arts used in this film are extraordinary, even better than the karate used in Ghost Rock, another Busey classic!The choice of Matt Battaglia to play Luc Devereaux is one of the finest acting decisions of all time! He is unbelievable! His performance is up there with the all time greats of Brando as Terry Malloy, Olivier as Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Busey as Chet Stedman. The plot speaks for itself. If Busey, Battaglia, and the great Burt Reynolds agreed to shoot it, then you shouldn't worry about it. Only three words can describe this film...Busetastic! Busetastic! Busetastic!

AGH! I was lucky that I never spent money on hiring this out. I caught this about 1am a few months ago and decided to see it cause I had seen the first film and quite liked it. The only problem was I thought Van Damme was in this flick because I had seen a promo for it somewhere, now I know that there is another sequel (Um, how stupid is that anyway!!) This one was done before the Van Damme sequel so they must have decided they wanted a completely different storyline to end the Universal Soldier saga. Anyway, back to this film. Well, I don't think I can really add much to what the others have said. Everything is just terrible, the acting, man that guy playing Luc is meant to act like he doesn't quite understand somethings, but he comes across as being so incredibly dumb! His fighting was appaling, the dialog was awful.......like I said, everything was shocking. Another thing I found so off-putting was how predictable this movie was. Just by looking at the title you know what its going to be about - and the eventual outcome as well.If the original actors had been in this it would have been better, but it still wouldn't have made up for the terrible script. By all means please avoid this flick........and it's sequel cause that's just as bad!

[Just in case you don't know, this is an 'un-official' sequel to Universal Soldier. The 'proper' sequel is Universal Soldier: The Return.]To make a decent, or semi-decent action film, a budget is somewhat obligatory. With Universal Soldier II, someone clearly forgot this rule or squandered the whole thing on getting Gary Busey, Jeff Wincott and Burt Reynolds to humiliate themselves. (The lack-of-budget theory is backed up by the end credits which say 'sponsored by Canada' or something equally silly.)To be fair on the film, some people do look like they're trying. Matt Battaglia looks desperate to pretend he's acting, and the woman has a good go at delivering her dodgy lines. The director appears to have made the most effort by using numerous camera gimmicks to liven up the non-action. Sadly, these gimmicks are off-putting, look stupid and just highlight the boredom of the boring bits (i.e. 90% of the film).The most enjoyable aspects of the film, were a) Gary Busey (who seems to be developing a very strange vocal problem) acting badly and b) Burt Reynolds (unseen most of the time) putting on the WORST irish accent of all time and also acting very badly.Seen as a double-bill with Universal Soldier III, and with a healthy dose of alcohol, this could be a good evening's entertainment, but only in a so-bad-it's-actually-bad-but-funny way.Perhaps a triple-pack of Universal Soldier II, III and 'The Return' could be marketed as some sort of torture weapon.