Universal Soldier: Regeneration - Thoughts

Some franchises don’t ever go away, and Universal Soldier is perhaps one of them. The very first and original Universal Soldier was released in 1992, followed by 2 direct to video movies. Universal Soldier – The Return released in 1999 saw the return of Jean-Claude Van Damme, and started where the original left off. 10 years later we have Universal Soldier: Regeneration; and just so you know, late in 2012 Universal Soldier - Day of Reckoning was released. In Regeneration, terrorists in Russia reacquire the Chernobyl nuclear plant and threaten to detonate charges causing nuclear disaster. Decommissioned Universal Soldier Luc Deveraux is brought in as a last resort, and will have to take on a next gen Unisol to resolve the conflict.

 

Though the franchise has been around forever, most of the Universal Soldier movies have been pretty good, if you’re into the core logic and enjoy the action. That said, I did go into Regeneration with modest expectations. My thought being, it would make for entertaining action, but that’s probably it; similar to The Return. Surprisingly, Regeneration had an unexpected layer of desolation and fear, which tied in wonderfully to the Russian Chernobyl setting of the movie. With that came an eerie chill that fit the plot very well. Luc Deveraux’s character development was interesting, and tied into the long ongoing story well. The new next gen Unisol (NGU) was intense, and set the stage for a significant and new threat. There were a few scenes that seemed questionable, like the lone American soldiers successful intrusion into the enemy camp; that aside though, the narrative process was decent. The overall slow pace, tied well into the theme of this installment of the movie. The low budget and seemingly dated setting working well too. If you like action and the Universal Soldier theme, you will probably quite enjoy Universal Soldier: Regeneration.

It would be hard to imagine the Universal Soldier franchise without Jean-Claude Van Damme, as Luc Deveraux. And interestingly, his performance has transitioned gracefully with the character development and ageing of Luc Deveraux. In Regeneration he is older, more human, and as real as his character requires him to be. The NGU is played by Andrei 'The Pitbull' Arlovski, of UFC and MMA fame. His role doesn’t involve much dialog, but he makes up for it in stone-faced intense action. He is very convincing, and it would be hard not to be intimidated by him. Most other performances were average to acceptable.

The DVD being sampled was a Region 1 US release. Video had an interesting dated dull look, something expected of VHS movies from the early 80’s. There were no vibrant colors, and primary colors were either not used much, or subdued. The soundtrack was a Dolby Digital 5.1, 6 channel surround soundtrack. Positional sound was noticeable, but sound effects as of such were nothing special. Technically both the video and sound added to the dated feel of the movie.

My Recommendation: Watch It (Unisol action in the cold of Russia)