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Dom Robinson reviews
Optimum Home EntertainmentBlu-ray:
DVD:
- Cert:
- Running time: 97 minutes
- Year: 2009
- Cat no: OPTBD1712R0
- Released: April 2010
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 12 plus extras
- Picture: 1080p High Definition
- Sound: DTS 5.1 HD Master Audio
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: None
- Widescreen: 2.35:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: BD50
- Price: £19.99 (Blu-ray); £15.99 (DVD)
- Extras: Making of Universal Soldier: Behind the Lines, Audio Commentary, Trailer
- Vote and comment on this film:View Comments
Director:
- John Hyams
(Rank, The Razzle Dazzle, Universal Soldier: Regeneration, TV: NYPD Blue)
Producers:
- Craig Baumgarten, Moshe Diamant and Peter Hyams
Screenplay:
- Victor Ostrovsky
Music:
- Kris Hill and Michael Krassner
Cast :
- Luc Deveraux: Jean-Claude Van Damme
Andrew Scott: Dolph Lundgren
NGU: Andrei ‘The Pit Bull’ Arlovski
Captain Kevin Burke: Mike Pyle
Col. John Coby: Corey Johnson
Dr. Porter: Garry Cooper
Dr. Sandra Flemming: Emily Joyce
Dr. Colin: Kerry Shale
Okay,the first moviewas a fantastic, excellent piece of knockabout entertainment. The sequel,stunk to high heaven, so what is the hope for Universal Soldier: Regeneration? Three words: Dolph is back!.
In this movie, Russian terrorists are threatening the world by setting up base at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (isthat really wise??) and its surrounding area. They want their government to release all 227 political prisoners heldcaptive and the full independence of the fictional Pasalan. If they don’t comply within 72 hours then bombs rigged togo off will blow up Chernobyl* and cause a radiation problems 100 times bigger than Hiroshima. Oh, and they’ve alsokidnapped the Russian President’s son and daughter so they’ll go up in the mushroom cloud as well. (*Well, it’s Sofia,Bulgaria standing in for Chernobyl).
The only answer is to bring back these bad boys who can kick arse when it’s required in a way that no human can. Assuch, it pits Luc Deveraux (Jean Claude Van Damme, right with Dolph) up against a new UniSol baddie, NGU or ‘Next-Generation UniSol'(Andrei ‘The Pit Bull’ Arlovski, bottom-right)- who’s on the side of the Russians, and there’s a return for his old nemesis,Sgt. Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundrgen), now in a souped-up form.
It’s almost as if the sequel didn’t exist (if only!) because Luc is brought back into action, when in the sequel he wasup and about anyway and was working with the US Military as their technical expert when it came to the Universal Soldierprogram.
Aside from the main trio, there’s Emily Joyce as Dr Sandra Flemming, who’s been helping Luc get back to fullstrength after his original adventure; Mike Pyle as Cpt Kevin Burke, sent in for recon and to assess the situationwith the Russians; plus UniSol boffins Dr. Porter (Garry Cooper) and Dr. Colin (Kerry Shale), who workedtogether many years ago but now are on opposite sides of the law.
Interestingly, the film was directed by John Hyams, son of Peter Hyams, who directed Van Damme inSudden Deathand Timecop. However, it doesn’t involve any surprises – not least the fact that it completely bypassed the cinema -but does have a nice visual look to it, and it’s that which just about saves thismovie from being a two-star stinker. Since, as well as the fact that both JCVD and Dolph are looking far too old forthis, the worst thing is that it takes nearly an hour before Dolph turns up and another few minutes before either he orVan Damme actually see any action and a total of 20 before they actually meet! And even then it wasn’t really worthwaiting for. What a missed opportunity!
Presented in the original 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio, the picture is nicely detailed where it counts, but thebackdrop is mostly grey, depressing Russia, so it doesn’t get a chance to shine too often.For the record, I’m watching on a Panasonic 37″ Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
As for the sound, this is in DTS 5.1 HD Master Audio, or DTS 5.1 for those, like me, without the full technicaldohickey. Like the picture, this does the job when required whether it’s gunfire, explosions or lots of fighting.
As for the extras, well, there’s just a Making of Universal Soldier: Behind the Lines (18:44), which showsthe background behind some scenes and the supposed plot, a trailer (1:19), in anamorphic 2.35:1, plusaudio commentary featuring Dolph Lundgren and director John Hyams.
The menu mixes hazy clips from the film with a deliberately occasionally hazy-looking menu, and a short pieceof the incidental music. And before it appears there’s 3 trailers – which I won’t name here because we are nolonger in the age of rental video and these belong in the ‘extras’ menu, Optimum!There are NO subtitles, which is completely ridiculous and the Chaptering is, again for Optimum, a typical embarrassmentwith just 12 over the 97-minute running time. How can the same company keep making the same mistakes over and over?Do the bigwigs actually read the reviews?
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.