ivo-cobra8 *SPOILERS* Universal Soldier: Regeneration in my opinion is the worst movie sequel, reboot or whatever. I just don't get the hype or why everyone loves this movie? This movie has nothing to compare to the original classic movie 1992 Universal Soldier. Is not a Universal Soldier at all. This is not a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie. For the first 17.mins. he is not in the movie. Than he shows for 2.mins and than again he is not. I think this movie is a yawn, and deserved to be direct to home video. Much, much better than the 2nd in the franchise, but that's not saying much, as I consider it to be the worst movie ever made. It was low paced, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren had a cameo scenes and they had a screen time. In this movie Andrei "The Pit Bull" Arlovski is the star of the film not Jean-Claude Van Damme! The second movie might suck for a lot of people I thought it was a good sequel. Because it was Van Damme film, it was filmed in the 90's and it was shot in USA. This film is not American Film at all! It was shot in a abandoned cold meal steal in Europe Bulgaria and not US. JCVD does look weird in, his eyes look dead and he doesn't exactly exude personality but that is the character, I guess. Luc is now quite difficult to sympathise with as he has practically lost all of his humanity; the scene where he beats a stranger nearly to death is pretty disturbing and really made me think "What the hell happen to you, Luc?" After all the mental turmoil he goes through though, he still comes out a hero in the end after some spectacular battles. Very lifeless, boring & depressing sequel that doesn't deserve all the love it gets. I am probably the only one who just doesn't like this movie. Sorry fans but in my opinion this movie is a Pile of crap with a horrible plot, a snail pace, Zero Likable characters, NOTHING about the score sounded like Carpenter and nothing about the score was like Dredd either...I don't get that at all , the actors sucked. I will never understand the praise this film gets. Van Damme is barely in it, Dolph is in a horrible cameo scene, forgettable & worst bad guys, it's a really boring, and I hate this movie with a passion. Even the fights were poor. Getting on the ground and 'punch punch punch' is not exciting to me. To each their own, but I'll never understand it. And it's barely even a Van Damme film when the guy is only in it for like 15 minutes...and just acts like a wooden zombie with nothing at all to his character. Like i'll say again, to each their own. I hate this and Day of Reckoning with a PASSION.At first, the story was going somewhere then as it went on, it just did not make any sense anymore. Without spoiling, the timeline just doesn't make sense and you wonder what the characters are exactly doing in the story. Furthermore you wonder what the hell they are doing there in the first place - there are simply no explanation. There are some great action sequences but even in an action film (or sequence) you get a sense as to why a particular action is made; often in this film you do not. Hence I was very disappointed in this film. The only things I like in this film is the ending tough, that Van Damme Killed NGU on the end. Even tough Van Damme fought with NGU, he did not beat him. The fight with Van Damme and Lundgren was horrible and it wasn't epic. That one long shot with Van Damme running through the snow killing people and knifing people was pretty sweet, though. The rest suck, bunch of army soldiers were killed. Two kids were hostages in this movie and they did not even speak at all. Most of actors had a terrible dialogue or they did not talk. I don't get why people like this movie so much. I was bored to death, I fall a sleep by the end of the film, were Van Damme was fighting with Lundgren. I am sorry but I don't like this movie, I watch it three times in the row and I still don't like it! In my opinion Day of Reckoning is much better movie than this at least for me.I am giving this movie a 3, I liked the score tough and I like Van Damme surviving on the end and running away which he was free. I am glad if you like this movie you can put down my review I don't care. I love Universal Soldier and Universal Soldier: The Return I don't like this one! Universal Soldier: Regeneration is the third official installment in the Universal Soldier film series. The 2009 sequel reunites original Universal Soldier stars Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. The film was directed by Jonathan Hyams, the son of director Peter Hyams. A fourth film in the series, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning was released in 2012.2/10 Grade: E Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Starring: Andrei "The Pit Bull" Arlovski, Dolph Lundgren, Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Mike Pyle, Garry Cooper, Corey Johnson, Kerry Shale, Aki Avni Director: John Hyams Producers: Craig Baumgarten, Mark Damon, Moshe Diamant Screenplay: Victor Ostrovsky Based on Characters created by Richard Rothstein, Christopher Leitch and Dean Devlin Rated: R Running Time: 1 Hr. 37 Mins. Budget: $10.000.000 Box Office: $844,000

ma-cortes -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 .

Comeuppance Reviews When a terrorist group takes over part of Chernobyl and threatens radioactive death if their demands are not met (and they kidnapped the son and daughter of a prominent politician to boot), Luc Deveraux (Van Damme) is called back into active duty. Now in a kind of rehab/therapy where he's learning to live again, he must retrain for combat. He faces his toughest challenge yet, as the terrorists used stolen technology to create the ultimate emotionless, unstoppable killing machine, dubbed "The Freak" by U.S. forces (Orlovsky). But they also open Pandora's box and resurrect Deveraux's old nemesis Andrew Scott (Dolph). Deveraux has his work cut out for him this time around...It's actually pretty shocking how good Universal Soldier: Regeneration truly is. It doesn't even really HAVE to be this good. Far from your average "dumb" action movie, this seems to be a rejection of that notion, striking an excellent, precise balance between melancholy intelligence and frighteningly brutal violence.Regeneration appears to be a reaction to The Return. Almost as if the filmmakers were embarrassed by the badness and silliness of that unfortunate outing, the swung the pendulum back the other direction (almost too much), creating a dark, adult, nihilistically violent creation, but it's not without some emotion and humanity as well. Just a great job done all around.Everything from the production values, to the acting, to the action, and everything else in between is light years beyond The Return, making it truly a travesty that that turkey was released theatrically in the U.S., while this wasn't. Regeneration is well-shot and well-directed by John Hyams, son of director Peter. Hyams treats the material seriously and with respect, and everything that happens plotwise makes perfect sense. It's all idea-based (even retaining the best ideas from the first Universal Soldier film), not throwaway action. In the hands of another director, this could have been half-heartedly slagged off as "just another Universal Soldier movie". But the fact that Hyams does not do that, or even come close, is totally refreshing and comes as a great relief for true action fans.Hyams hits all the right notes - from utilizing the bleak Bulgarian locations to their fullest potential, to bringing the Universal Soldier franchise into the present day. Using the Navy Seal-like soldiers strongly reminiscent of the U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the uncompromising nature of war, as a background to amplify the audience's fears about our own mortality. After all, even our best soldiers are no match for their SuperSoldiers. We'll definitely be watching to see what Hyams does in the future, as he seems to have a strong grasp of how to do muscular action.Undoubtedly, many consumers probably thought that this IS just another Universal Soldier installment - it's almost a shame that this movie doesn't have another title. Having been burned on The Return, consumers might not know what they're truly getting here - something much, much different and worthwhile.Van Damme puts in an excellent performance, Dolph is always awesome, and Orlovsky is perfectly cast as the scary freak. All the actors in the film do a pitch-perfect job. A definite win for everyone involved, we enthusiastically support Universal Soldier: Regeneration.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

vic_mackey_uk Watched this on TV, not expecting very much at all, but I don't recall seeing the first or any subsequent sequels, if that made a difference? The plot has been described in other reviews, so I won't repeat it. The direction was great, especially the set-piece opening sequence. I imagine it was achieved on a much smaller budget than the blockbuster movies, so much credit to Peter Hyams the director. The editing and cinematography was also excellent, created mood and atmosphere and kept the action ripping along. Never once was I bored during this movie.Arlovsky was a powerful screen presence right from the first scene. He played a "neo-Arnie silent pseudo-cyborg" character, similar to that which Arnie launched his career with in The Terminator. I don't know if Arlovsky will continue acting, but after recent losses in the octagon, it's worth consideration. He has more presence than a mere heavy and personifies the cold, ruthless, Russian killer character effortlessly. He showed us as much as Arnie did in The Terminator, so who knows? I was especially impressed by Mike Pyle, another MMA fighter, acting as Capt Kevin Burke. I have to admit, although I knew the name from watching MMA, I wasn't sure of what he looked like. Half-way through the film, I couldn't decide if the Burke character was played by a "proper" actor, or an MMA "plant". His acting was very naturalistic and he definitely has a career in action films and character actor roles outside of fighting.I think both MMA actors did themselves much credit in this film and blew away Dolph Lundgren - and he has made a career out of action movies! (That is intended as a compliment guys, although many may not see it as such!) In the end, the film is what it is: characters are two-dimensional, dialogue a bit cheesy, the storyline predictable. But it delivers what it sets out to do at a classy, stylish, visually interesting pace, such that you will probably be prepared to overlook these shortcomings, sit back and just enjoy the film.If the DVD has any decent extras, I'll definitely search it out and add it to my collection.