Universal Soldier - The Return

Starring:Brent Anderson, Maria Arita, Xander Berkeley, James Black (II), Karis Paige Bryant, Dion Culberson, Pam Dougherty, Heidi Franz, Bill Goldberg, Brent Hinkley, Jacqueline Klein, Justin Lazard, Heidi Schanz, Kiana Tom, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Woody Watson, Michael Jai White, Sam Williamson (II), Daniel von Bargen
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Universal Soldier Luc Deveraux is back. Jean-Claude Van Damme gallantly attempts to resurrect interest in his tepid career with this action-riddled roller-coaster ride. Set in the not-too-distant future, Deveraux has been employed by the government to oversee the new UniSol project. What is UniSol? It's a military plan to turn dead soldiers into invincible fighting machines (see the first Univeral Soldier for more details). It's also the scheme that went horribly wrong when the soldiers turned psycho, killing the scientists who created them. Not deterred by this early setback, the government replicates the project. This time they figure that they can control the soldiers through a supercomputer called SETH (kind of like HAL in 2001, but smarter). But, as we all know, machines frequently break down. Pretty soon the computer comes to the conclusion that it's superior to humans and therefore it must destroy them. Uh oh.

Amazon.com

Universal Soldier Luc Deveraux is back. Jean-Claude Van Damme gallantly attempts to resurrect interest in his tepid career with this action-riddled roller-coaster ride. Set in the not-too-distant future, Deveraux has been employed by the government to oversee the new UniSol project. What is UniSol? It's a military plan to turn dead soldiers into invincible fighting machines (see the first Univeral Soldier for more details). It's also the scheme that went horribly wrong when the soldiers turned psycho, killing the scientists who created them. Not deterred by this early setback, the government replicates the project. This time they figure that they can control the soldiers through a supercomputer called SETH (kind of like HAL in 2001, but smarter). But, as we all know, machines frequently break down. Pretty soon the computer comes to the conclusion that it's superior to humans and therefore it must destroy them. Uh oh.

Van Damme to the rescue. The muscles from Brussels heroically leap into action confronting the dangerous soldiers led by Bill (WCW) Goldberg and Michael Jai White (last seen in Spawn). The action is impressive and the stunts are engrossing. Goldberg is charismatic as the cartoonish villain who sneers and snouts while muttering macho things like, "I'm gonna kill that guy." Van Damme looks more at home in a production that he is not directing, and for once he lets his fists do the talking. Ironically, the movie is missing the gloss and big-budget pathos of its predecessor (created by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich), making the original decidedly better. --Jeremy Storey

Customer Reviews:

Horrible!.......2007-06-02

This movie gives a new definition to the word "BAD." It sucks. The story is stupid and the action is horrendous. Bill Goldberg stinks at acting. His performance is 1% inteligence and 99% braun. He should stay in wrestling. He uses this film to show off his retarded wrestling moves, which by the way suck!! He beats up a male nurse hahaha. I'm surprised he didn't spear some old ladies too. Pathetic. This is one of the worse movies ever made. It makes Flash Gordon and Treasure of the Four Crowns look like Oscar winners hahahaha.

[Two and a half stars out of five] Average from the word go; musclehead Bill Goldberg, the ex-Pro DLm ends his movie career here.......2006-08-01

I know, Goldy got another movie later,
but here we see why he ISN'T THE next
'Rock'. Supoorting cast is pretty bad
and belgian kickboxing Champ Van Dam
just isn't Schwarzenegger (that says
a lot!) and movie night filming doesn't
help! Props and fake US army set up
looks like something out of a Return
of the Living Dead set! Not really any-
thing to right home about unless you're
into Bill Goldberg, "Next stop, intensive
care...", just like Van Dam and B.G.'s
careers after this movie. Can you beleive
Van Dam did (another) sequel?!

Don't waste your precious lifetime on this.......2006-02-02

One of the worst sci-fi movies ever. Pitiful scenario, a shoot'em with no joy stick!

False Advertisement illeagle Business Practices.......2005-07-02

This Dvd Packaging on the back says Side A is a widescreen 1.85.1 aspect ratio and side B is full frame fitted format. But there is no side a or no widescreen the disc is only full frame. And this is not the first time columbia tri star has done this. False Advertisement is illeagle and can lead to lawsuites. Buyers BEWARE

Oh the humanity!.......2005-02-27

There are bad movies, and then there are BAD movies. "Universal Soldier: The Return" is a cosmically bad movie, a movie so poor in every aspect of its execution that one would have to look to "Manos: The Hands of Fate" for comparison. The first "Universal Soldier" film was a moderately entertaining shoot 'em up flick starring action stars Jean-Claude Van Damme and "Rocky" refugee Dolph Lundgren that essentially accomplished what it set out to do: people perished in violent ways, stuff exploded, and Van Damme and Lundgren beat each other into bloody pulps at the end of the film. Even the presence of the charming Ally Walker as Van Damme's female sidekick greatly helped the film. The movie garnered enough attention and fans to merit the release of a special edition DVD some time back. It unfortunately also garnered enough attention and fans to merit this unredeemable piece of trash sequel. The second, and one hopes final, installment in a franchise that should never have become a franchise achieves such heights of utter banality and stupidity that I sat in open-mouthed awe watching it. I think I can safely say I am less of a person for having sat through this atrocity. Expect to spend a few days in a coma after the credits roll.

Van Damme returns as Luc, the reanimated soldier who triumphed over the forces of government sponsored evil in the first film. On this outing he now works for Dr. Dylan Cotner (Xander Berkeley), a scientist who reconstituted the universal soldier program with the help of his supercomputer S.E.T.H. Luc, with his female sidekick Maggie (Kiana Tom), helps design and run training missions for a new batch of super soldiers. The film opens with what the filmmakers hope is a pulse-pounding jaunt up a river, a jaunt filled with explosions, stunts, gunfire, and the briefest glimpse of Tom's incredibly fit form. As the mission grinds to a halt we learn several important things: Kiana Tom is incredibly hot but can't act her way out of a paper bag, Luc has a daughter named Hillary (Karis Paige Bryant) who you just know will get into trouble at some point, and the only soldiers we must pay attention to are Romeo (Bill Goldberg) and the one played by Michael Jai White. Frankly, turning off the film immediately after glimpsing Tom's amazing physique is probably a good thing. Everything that follows is dull, predictable, and so full of plot holes as to defy description. "Universal Soldier: The Return" feels like eighty minutes of dental surgery rather than an action film.

Sure enough, Cotner's computer goes on the fritz and unleashes the killing power of the universal soldiers. In the resulting conflagration S.E.T.H. implants its consciousness in Michael Jai White, Luc and his loved ones flee from the compound, and the military swoops in to contain the problem. An extraordinarily untalented actress named Heidi Schanz also pops in as nosy reporter called Erin who is interested in exposing the government's latest shenanigans. Predictably, Van Damme and Schanz team up to track down...er...well, track down something to defeat the supercomputer. I think they need some code to shut the system down, but in the meantime the film takes them all over the place so that a wisecracking Romeo can follow them around while absorbing all the abuse Luc can hand out. Even throwing in a few scenes set in an adult's only club can't make this turkey fly. It's dull, folks, and painfully so. By the time the film grinds to its inevitable showdown between Luc and S.E.T.H. back at the shattered compound--with an injured Hillary's life balancing precariously in the background to serve as motivation for an overwhelmed Luc (Geez, what a surprise there!)--I knew I just wasted far too much of my life with this car wreck. How bad can it be, you ask? Read on...

Plot holes in this film are innumerable, as uncountable as grains of sand on the beach or acne on a teenager's face. For example, Luc explains to Erin that he was once a universal soldier just like Romeo but Cotner "cured" him by restoring him to life; he no longer needs injections or ice or any of the other devices used by the soldiers. What the heck are we doing marveling at this amazing supercomputer when Cotner just performed a miracle of biblical implications? He brought someone back from the dead! How exactly did he accomplish this feat? We don't find out from Van Damme, who simply smirks his way through a few lines of dialogue that simply boggle the mind with their monumentally idiotic implications. I could go on, but let's discuss the performances instead--or the lack thereof. I should say I adore Kiana Tom; she's a drop dead gorgeous babe with a body that could stop the earth's rotation, but watching her stumble through dialogue is like having your appendix taken out through your mouth. Another problem is the lumbering Bill Goldberg, whose "funny" lines are anything but. And the more I think about Heidi Schanz, the less I think of her. You have to wonder about a film where Jean-Claude Van Damme is the best thespian in the cast.

You might think a movie this foolhardy shouldn't contain any bonus features on DVD. You would be wrong. Trailers for this film, "The Return," "Double Team," "Desert Heat," "Knock Off," "Maximum Risk," and "Nowhere to Run" showcase the dubious career of Jean-Claude Van Damme. A making of feature, a Van Damme career retrospective (Ha!), a Michael Jai White feature, and talent bios round out the disc. My advice to those viewers thinking of renting "Universal Soldier: The Return"? Run, my friends, run far, far away and don't look back.

Universal Soldier: The Return [Region 2]

Average customer rating:

Probably Lundgren's best film
The war is not over for the unisols and you
Ultimate Combat
very swarve and cool
shocking and pleasing and much more

Universal Soldier: The Return [Region 2]

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

( U ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Universal Soldier - The Return
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ASIN: B00004D37P

Amazon.com

Director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day) fortunately brings some crackle to this otherwise unexciting sci-fi drama about two once-dead, biologically-regenerated soldiers (Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren) who turn against one another when Van Damme's character has memories of his previous life. Emmerich is typically only as good as his scripts, and this one is pretty flat. The two stars do exactly what you'd expect them to do and nothing more. The DVD release has a wide presentation, Dolby sound, trailers, notes, and Spanish subtitles. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Probably Lundgren's best film.......2007-06-29

Van Damme plays a soldier who just wants to go home and Lundgren plays a crazed soldier who has a [...] for ears. The movie begins in Vietnam with these two soldiers who get into an argument over Van Damme's allegiance to his Sargent (Lundgren); they end up killing each other over it. The army has found a way of resurrecting the dead and these two come back as unisols whenever the army requires them. The project is very successful they have a number of successful missions until Van Damme sides with a nosy reporter snooping around looking for a story. Soon Lundgren is back to his old self and it looks like these two are headed for another Vietnam repeat. Van Damme wants to go home just like before but now Lundgren sees Van Damme as a traitor and wants to kill him. I think Lundgren is a bit arrogant he obviously tries to outdo Van Damme on the stage and this makes this movie probably one of Lundgren's best movies because his acting is superior. I was dumbfounded, I didn't think he could do it and I enjoyed this movie as a result.

The war is not over for the unisols and you.......2006-11-19

Two soldiers kill each other in the Vietnam war. Their bodies are packed in ice and later regenerated to become cyborg-like soldiers for special missions. Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren play the roles of soldiers very convincingly. Van Damme is the good guy and Lundgren is the bad guy. There is also a beautiful journalist lady, which hangs out with Van Damme.

There is a lot of military action and shooting in this movie. The universal soldiers take part in resolving hostage situations. The first site is a spectacular-looking water dam at a hydro power station. There is also a futuristic-looking huge armoured truck in which the universal soldiers (unisols) live. Their bodies are kept at low temperature and they have to get medical injections in order to stay alive.

There is a large element of fiction in this movie, because dead people cannot be brought back to life in the way that the movie suggests. However, if you suspend disbelief, I'm sure that you will enjoy this high-gear non-stop action flick. I don't give it a full 5 star rating, because there are too many shootings, gruesome bloody scenes and the restaurants, hotels and gas station in the movie look very run-down. But it made me think that we are all universal soldiers who have a special mission in our own lives. Do you agree?

Ultimate Combat .......2006-08-30

Universal Soldier is one of the best action films from Jean Claude Van Damme. The film was released in 1993. The movie is based on an awfully chilly idea of a secret government project to use the reanimated corpses of dead soldiers as Universal Soldiers. These soldiers are really killer combat zombies that are programmed to receive commands remotely. They are extremely efficient killer machines that are impervious to pain, are quick to heal, and pretty much unstoppable although they tend to overheat if they stay active for too long.

In this movie, Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as a man who was supposedly killed in the war in Vietnam. He is revived in a secret biochemical, regenerative experiment as a cyborg that is controlled by the people who made him. The project initially proceeds according to plan. However, Van Damme starts recalling memories in a series of flashes from his past, and he eventually remembers the bloodthirsty, psychotic and vindictive Sergeant (Dolph Lundgren), who is also now turned into a cyborg, and is evil to the core. The fight between them resumes from where they left when they were alive. The action really gets hot when van Damme regains his memory and eventually leads to his freedom from being controlled by his creators. But the creators are not prepared to let Van Damme go free without them doing everything they can to get him back and under their control once again.

Both Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren play their respective roles exceptionally well. The pretty and sexy Alley Walker, who plays the reporter who joins Van Damme on his fight against the Universal Soldier, also gives a good performance.

Those who love action movies will be thrilled by the fierce fist fights, unforgettable stunts and kickboxing action that will compel you to watch it again and again. I recommend anybody who likes Van Damme movies or good action movies to get "Universal Soldier." It does not have the best storyline or the best plot, but it is entertaining and exciting all the same.

very swarve and cool.......2005-10-01

This film ticks all boxes to be honest, action, comedy, emotion.

Im not going to tell you what its about because it already tells you by amazon.

This film is very swarve and cool because of the storyline, the way the soldiers dress, walk and act. Dolph lundgren plays the part of andrew scott very well. By far the best character. I love the start of the soldiers being ressurected.

The funniest part was when van damme. luc devreaux was eating in the cafe, he wants more and more food. its absolutely hilarious. Also where one of the soldiers eats a lump of raw meat in the supermarket.

The best character in this movie is Andrew Scott (lundgren). he is one of the all time best baddys in my book.

This film is extremely under-rated. 5/5 for me no doubt.

recommended to anybody that likes good films.

shocking and pleasing and much more.......2005-02-25

it gets laughs in its comicness in certain scenes
it gets shocks
like the beginning war scenes and the fight scenes
it gets more interesting as the plot unravels
great actors picked for such roles
the perfect killing machines
one insane in the brain
and one out to save lives that shouldn't be lost in the first place
the diner scene where the soldier orders alot of food and keeps eating and the guy says how you gonna pay for this and the soldier says "I just want to eat, I don't wanna hurt you, then he kicks ass while still enjoying his meal. and his reporter female friend comes in and says "good meal" as a question that is. and he says without words "makes a happy sigh" that's hilarious. and how she looks around and see everyone who got their ass kicked from keeping him from eating his food
priceless movie
worth the watch again and again
I'm glad I saw this on tv when I was younger
and I'm glad I got this on dvd

Average customer rating:

Universal Soldier: The Return [Region 2]

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

( U ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00004VXZX

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