Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

When the first Universal Soldier (1992) film came out, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren were very much in their prime of popularity. Both had been in their fair share of widely known movies and were often included into the same category as Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. It was also the movie that had one of the earliest collaborations between the big name action stars aside from Rocky IV (1985). Later on the series went underground to TV sequels but did not fair well financially due to the lack of star power. A few years later, Van Damme came back to the series in Universal Soldier: The Return (1999) but it too failed horribly. The poor writing in general and silly nature of the end product felt nothing like the first movie. With that it was no shock that the franchise remained dead a good decade before producers thought maybe another film could be made. When they did, it was met with open arms but also rolling eyes. It was passable at best but not good.Instead of being a third story time line to the original, one could consider this the first real sequel to Universal Soldier (1992). The reason behind this being that it completely ignores the events of Universal Soldier: The Return (1999) and has a more serious tone. The Ukranian Prime Minister's children have been captured by terrorist leader Topov (Zachary Baharov) and held in Chernobyl as ransom. Special forces are developing a plan to get them out but are stuck because Topov has teamed up with scientist Dr. Colin (Kerry Shale) from the UniSol project now known as Black Tower. On their side they have the next generation UniSol or NGU (Andrei Arlovski), an emotionless killing machine. After a few attempts it is decided by Dr. Porter (Gary Cooper), another scientist from the Black Tower project, to bring back Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme). However Colins has a backup and that's having Andrew Scott's body (Dolph Lundgren) on standby if a problem arises.For a continuation of the original story, the writing is average at its greatest. Yet there are still a lot of unanswered questions. So what did become of Veronica Roberts (Ally Walker)? How is Andrew Scott's body intact after the finale of Universal Soldier (1992)? Again, the UniSol project was only known by a select group of scientists so where was Dr. Colins and Dr. Porter? These questions just begin to add up over time. Written by Victor Ostrovsky (in his only credit ever), the only thing in the script that is relatively untainted is the fact that Deveraux has been in rehabilitation since the end of Universal Soldier (1992). But as for development very little of what Deveraux feels is explained and his reconvening with Scott only triggers old memories. Nothing is explained as to how both of them feel. It even seemed at one point that Scott was thinking about something but he ends up getting cut short. Why throw in something that might work only to completely negate it?There's also appearances from others like Corey Johnson, Mike Pyle, Emily Joyce and even son of the star himself, Kris Van Damme. Directing this feature is John Hyams, the son of director Peter Hyams. Hyams Sr. was the man behind 2010 (1984) and would later direct End of Days (1999). The direction here by John Hyams isn't that impressive. It's very linear in story structure. However when it comes action, the stunts and sequences are well staged. Much of the action that occurs throughout the running time are energetic by default and are very lively. The types of violence ranges from hand-to-hand combat, shootouts to improvised weapons. Also the interactions between Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme are noteworthy to view. Since these two characters share a history together that boils both their blood, it's interesting to have the two meet in a situation that is very familiar to them. Andrei Arlovski as NGU is a competent fighter too but since his character has very few words, not much can be said.Camera-work was managed by Peter Hyams, which was unfortunately disappointing. Seeing that Hyams Sr. has had previous experience in doing cinematography, it's surprising that here the look to this picture is so unappealing. With credits to movies like 2010 (1984), Running Scared (1986), Narrow Margin (1990) and Timecop (1994), the visuals to this film should've look at least okay. Instead many scenes have dull colors and the backgrounds look to much like everything else surrounding it. Music was another problem when viewing this sequel. Composed by Kris Hill and Michael Krassner, the music is just as forgettable. Featuring only a few different cues, much of the sounds are just electronic clicks and warps. There's really no main theme and the cues for various sequences are about as anonymous as they get. As far as it's known, not even an official release of the music has been announced. So it's even harder for a fan of the music to really enjoy it. Although it would be hard to say whether it's worth it or not.Stepping up from the previous sequel, the script attempts to connect to the first film. Yet only a couple places does it actually work. Camera-work and music aren't that good but Dolph Lundgren and Jean- Claude Van Damme are fun watch on screen again and the action is good too.

-Plot : With stolen top-secret technology, terrorists have created a next-generation Universal Soldier - an elite fighter genetically altered into a programmable killing machine . With this "UniSol" (Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei "The Pit Bull" Arlovski) leading the way, they seize the crippled Chernobyl nuclear reactor, threatening to unleash a lethal radioactive cloud . The only one who can stop them is Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme), a UniSol who's been decommissioned for years . Luc is nowadays protected by Dr. Sandra Flemming (Emily Joyce) . Reactivated and retrained, Deveraux must make a full-out assault on the heavily armed fortress. Luc Deveraux's codename in the UNISOL program is GR44 and is assigned a dangerous mission by the military staff (Corey Johnson as Col. John Coby and Mike Pyle as Captain Kevin Burke). But inside, he'll discover not one but two of these virtually indestructible warriors . Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren), Deveraux's vicious UniSol enemy from the original Universal Soldier, has been secretly reanimated and upgraded. Now, these elite fighters are locked, loaded and programmed to kill; and the fate of millions hinges on this high-action showdown .-Comment : This moving picture contains noisy action , thrills , shootouts and fierce combats . From start to finish the action is unstoppable and frenetic . Thrilling screenplay dispenses absurd excitement as well as violence and lots of fights . Acceptable action movie full of struggles , crossfire and tension , this is a fast-paced, stylized action-suspense film . Screenwriter John Fasano and his son John Cody Fasano designed the special military costumes worn by the old and new model Unisols in US : TNG . The tension of this picture keeps snowballing as the clock ticks ever close for a groundbreaking as well as spectacular final . Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren have some scenes together at an impressive fighting . Dolph Lundgren filmed his parts for the movie in just 5 days, whilst Jean-Claude Van Damme filmed for 20 days. This film marks the first time Peter Hyams has acted as cinematographer without also directing . The director, John Hyams, is his son . However , P.J. Pesce was considered to direct the movie and Simon Fellows was originally signed to direct but he was replaced during pre-production . Released theatrically in a few countries and Direct-To-Video (DVD & Blu-ray) in the rest of the world . Filmmaker John Hyams quickly understood the freedom and malleability that direct to video presents and has gone about creating some incredibly interesting genre fare. Hyams made his feature length film in 1997 when wrote, directed, and produced the critically acclaimed "One Dog Day," , he subsequently filmed this ¨Universal Soldier: Regeneration¨ and ¨Dragon Eyes¨ , in which displayed an acute understanding of the action genre .-Series : The best film of the series was the original ¨Universal soldier¨ by Roland Emmerich with Jean-Claude Van Damme , Dolph Lundgren , Ally Walker , Ed O'Ross ; it was followed by ¨Universal soldier : the return¨ with Jean-Claude Van Damme , Michael Jai White , Heidi Schanz , Xander Berkeley and Justin Lazard as subsequent Universal Soldier films ignore the events of The Return and outright contradict it in a number of ways ; while still an official entry, it is no longer considered part of the series canon . ¨Universal soldier : day of reckoning¨(2012) by John Hyams with Scott Adkins , Andrei 'The Pit Bull' Arlovski , Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme , but here they have not scenes together . And two TV films : ¨Universal soldier : Brothers in arms¨ (1998) by Jeff Woolnough with Matt Battaglia , Gary Busey , Burt Reynolds , Richard McMillan and Chandra West and ¨Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business¨ (1999) by Jeff Woolnough with Burt Reynolds Juan Chioran , Claudette Roche and Matt Battaglia .

A group of Pasalan rebels occupy the abandoned Chernobyl, rigging the nuclear reactor within the city with explosives, in turn threatening to send off a radioactive cloud that would be far worse than the A-bomb in Japan. Pasalan Commander Topov, the son of a general killed in battle for the liberation of his country, demands the release of political prisoners or else they will set off the bombs and kill Prime Minister Musayev's son and daughter in the process. Topov hires a scientist, Dr. Colin, a genius in cloning and once part of the Universal supersoldier program known as White Tower (an extension of the first program known as Black Tower), with ulterior motives—in particular, the desire to create an army of "NGU" Universal Soldiers—who has designs on advancing beyond supporting a small, insignificant militant terrorist group taking two children of a country's leader hostage as a rallying cry against their people's imprisonment. The NGU is superior to the original Unisols because of a new gene therapy Colin discovered during his cloning research through DNA "shots" creating a soldier better in "every physical capacity". All of this ultimately matters little because the film's bread and butter is seeing two (or three, as the movie has Jean Claude Van Damme engaged in combat with two Universal soldiers at the end) Universal soldiers going at it within the ruins of a decaying city where a community once lived, skeletal buildings and homes, especially the warehouses which surround the nuclear facility containing the reactor 3 which has the bomb attached to it, furnishing a plethora of walls and windows, among other objects, for powerful, practically indestructible human killing machines to explode through.This movie really rockets right out of the gate with a thrilling chase scene, mostly shot within the vehicle that transports the hostages of Musayev's children while the police attempt to stop Andrei Arlovski (whose name in the movie is simply NGU) who is equipped with the capabilities to withstand multiple bullet wounds, even a protruding bone from his elbow, wiping out a number of them because they are helpless to stop him. That sets the stage for another exciting gunfight as American soldiers try to go into Chernobyl to rescue the hostages with help of resurrected Unisols but Arlovski's NGU pretty much dispatches the whole lot of them. This is when, out of desperation, Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is selected as a last resort, a last ditch effort to infiltrate Chernobyl, engage the enemy, and get the son and daughter out of harm's way. I damn near had an orgasm when cinematographer Peter Hyams (allowing his son to direct the movie) shoots a lengthy sequence where Van Damme, after being "juiced" by injections which allow him to forward ahead against not only Arlovski and Dolph Lundgren( more on him later), but also Topov's (Zahary Baharov) limitless supply of human targets to obliterate, goes into Chernobyl, guns blazing, bodies ripped asunder, machine-gun mayhem at its finest. Oh, and it doesn't stop when Van Damme loses his guns, out comes the killing knife and boy howdy does it spill and spray some blood! Arlovski sure gets showcased in a fashion straight out of the 80s—he is the unstoppable force of nature that Van Damme has been known to battle in tons of action films from the past. As for Dolph Lundgren, I'm awestruck that a scientist like Colin (Kerry Shale), who understands the malfunction of his Andres Scott from the past, would even dare attempt to resurrect him. Colin is genuinely surprised that Scott doesn't adhere to his commands, and his being victimized because of an ill-advised decision to return Andres from the dead should have been expected by someone supposedly brilliant. Anyway, it allows Dolph and Van Damme one last chance to rip into each other, and they give us (or, at least their stunt doubles) quite a slobberknocker. The result of their fight puts the icing on the cake.Bulgaria and other Eastern European hotspots have become a mecca for low budget action featuring heroes from the 80s, and UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION takes advantage of the areas where a director, stunt coordinators, and action choreographers can be turned loose to run rampant, with lots of buildings to blow up and extras to take bumps. I'm honest: I like to see debris, shattered glass and wood, scores of baddies falling from high positions or being taken apart by seemingly unkillable heroes, rounds and rounds of ammunition just annihilating everything in sight, not to mention, gladiators demolishing each other, their feats of strength and the blows they withstand preposterous. This movie follows those lines and after it was over I was happy. It isn't about performances or a strong storyline, it's about flesh and blood.With a nice part for Mike Pyle as Captain Kevin Burke, who goes into enemy lines to bring the hostages out, his bravery no match for Arlovski's superhuman prowess. Corey Johnson is Col. John Coby, leader of the task force behind the rescue of the hostages and preventing radioactive fallout. Garry Cooper is Dr. Porter, the head scientist of the White Tower project, who prepares Luc's body for the abuse it will take once he is sent in to achieve the objective he's programmed to accomplish. Emily Joyce is the only one Luc trusts, a scientist who was futilely trying to rehabilitate him to reintegrate into society.

It's been a while since I've seen a Universal Soldier film, but this film seems to stand apart from all the others as an exceptionally well-crafted entrant to the series. (I've voted 9/10 since I couldn't select 8.5 and I feel the current score is too low.)When you see a JCVD film, you expect to see intense and well-choreographed fight scenes, maybe some gunfights, maybe some explosions, and just generally lots of gratuitous violence without much plot or depth.And considering that JCVD is now going on to 50 years old, I wasn't really expecting a lot from this film. I mean, unless they pulled a Terminator: Salvation and replaced Jean-Claude with a CG actor, I didn't really think the action would be that good (even Arnold's CG fight scenes weren't particularly exciting). And seeing as everything was riding on the action, this had the potential to be a complete dud.However, this film proved me wrong on all counts. By some magic of editing or special effects, we see Jean-Claude as both an aging arthritic veteran as well as a spry killing machine with superhuman reflexes. The stark transformation from one into the other using the UniSol chemical cocktails was astonishing yet believable.Not only that, but the performances given by all the main actors were excellent. From the complex character of the rebel leader (a villainous terrorist but also a fair leader and patriot) to the quirky and megalomaniacal evil scientist to the beautiful and compassionate Dr. Flemming... all were portrayed convincingly and flawlessly. Despite the presence of several familiar Hollywood archetypes, none of the intense performances were overacted or cheesy. But most surprisingly, Jean-Claude and Dolph Lundgren both deliver exceptional performances that take the movie to a whole 'nother level.Lundgren's performance in particular was bone-chilling. In his brief monologue we're given an unnerving glimpse into the twisted psyche of a true psychopath--a scientifically engineered killing machine with no conscience or moral inhibitions. Although his lines are few, they reveal a man facing an existential crisis and gripped by a consuming nihilism, an understandable condition for a soldier robbed of his humanity and now knowing only violence.That's not to say that Universal Soldier: Regeneration is some deep philosophical film. The movie's main focus is still intense action and gratuitous violence. But it's a layered work with nuance and surprisingly well-crafted characters. These small touches give the film subtle flavor and set it apart as an exceptionally thoughtful film for its genre.