Universal Soldier : Brüder unter Waffen

Matt Battaglia picks up the character of Luc Devereaux where JC Van Damme left off. This again sees him going AWOL but brings in other characters (including his reanimated brother Eric) and has yet more secret Government conspiracy in the shape of Gary Busey and Burt Reynolds.

This "made-for-TV" film is a poor distant relative of the first Universal Soldier. I'm not saying the first one is a great film (it's an OK action movie) but if the first one was the President of the USA then this film would be the equivalent of his white trash, wife-beating drunken brother living in a trailer in Louisiana - it's that embarrassing to compare them.

This fails in every aspect of what should be good in a film. The plot is lazy and relies on coincidence or unlikely events to move it on. A lot of things are either unbelievable or glossed over without explanation. However this is an action movie - so if the action is good then it matters less yeah? Unfortunately the action is poor, there's one explosion and all the fight scenes make WWF look fast and exciting, none of these guys have any moves or speed. The action only has one good touch - where an explosion is set to classical music - however even this is a rip off of John Woo (remember "over the rainbow" in Face/Off?).

The acting is lamentable. Battaglia's wooden performance will make even the hardest critic think that maybe Van Damme isn't that bad an actor after all. Jeff Wincott as brother Eric is not as wooden but still acts like he's being forced to do something he's not comfortable with. Chandra West as reporter Veronica should provide the human element to proceedings but all she is left with is rubbish one-liners and an unrealistic sense of calm. As for Burt Reynolds and Gary Busey.....I could fill a page with my comments on them.

Reynolds spends most of the film in the shadows (I understand why) and delivers a rubbish accent throughout - why does someone who just got a career boost with Boogie Nights (and to a lesser extent Bean) commit to appear in this type of rubbish. Not even once but again in Universal Soldier 3!! It also is sad to see Gary Busey do another low-rent villain in a rubbish film - it's hard to believe that he is very well known and once did some high-profile films. This is yet another flush on the toilet that is his recent career.

The direction is so-so, relying on editing that Homicide: Life on the Street did years ago. Slow-motion, "jumping" edits etc all make the film a little more interesting but really they're stolen from better directors and cannot achieve the impossible feat of saving this.

This is a boring, poorly acted, poorly plotted "action" movie. Please avoid this vacuous piece of twaddle. Oh and if you enjoy this or think that it's good then you deserve a slap.

Universal Soldier was a pretty good Van Damme.flick with Dolph Lundgren. That film would be one of Van Damme's biggest successes as far as vehicles he starred in. That they could not get him to be in this thing eight years after the original and where his star power was basically gone should have let the filmmakers know that this would be bad. It is also bad in the fact that the first film was an action movie, but the makers of this film did not get that memo. Virtually no action the entire first hour of the movie unless you call driving car and riding in train action sequences! Not sure how they roped Burt Reynolds into doing this, Busey though, yeah, he was made for movies like this!

The story, well it tries to pick up where the first movie left off; however, the fact that they show the fight from that one with two new guys takes you right out of the movie. Probably best just to omit that part...well, new soldiers are made, Gary Busey is crazed with power and the reporter is going to save her man and not clear her name! I am guessing that will occur in the sequel to this. Meanwhile, Burt Reynolds does a horrible Irish accent. This all leads up to a mediocre duel in a bar where the hero has no real trouble taking out the bad guys...

The lead here is quite bland and speaks in such a boring tone. I mean Van Damme did too, but it sounded less disinterested than this guy does! Gary Busey is just insane and adds a really nice scarf while Burt remains hidden through much of the film. Seriously, this film looks worse than some of the SyFy shark films made by Asylum!

So if you have come to see your favorite undead soldier return...look for the movie with Van Damme as there was another sequel starring him out the following year. If you wanna see action, probably best if you watched the original. If you wanna see a bizarre looking dude play guitar and our hero sing along...this is the film for you!!!

Now - don't misinterpret the summary. By no means is this a good film, in fact it's far from it. But the point is, Universal Soldier was one of those films where a related sequel seemed impossible. And, thanks to these two TV made efforts and the dire Unisol: The Return, my theory is supported.

Anyway, down to business. This is a movie that should never have been made. Obviously Van Damme, Ally Walker and the other original cast members decided not to be a part of this so the producers brought in total unknowns, a very bad move. Matt Battaglia's acting is awful at the best of times and Chandra West tries way too hard to immitate Ally Walker's brilliant performance from the original film, and fails dismally. Gary Busey, once an awesome actor who nearly killed Martin Riggs and Casey Ryback throws his career away with the worst performance of his career. From Lethal Weapon to this, I can't believe it. I might add as well that he seems to developing a very, very weird vocal problem, it's almost as if he's got nuts stuffed in his cheeks. Burt Reynold's also gives us an appalling display, putting on the worst Irish accent I have ever heard.

The plot is virtually non-existent. In fact, I can't remember what it is actually. The director made a bad decision too by giving the rest of the Unisol's personalities, a feat copied by Mic Rogers for the 'Official' sequel. This basically makes them seem like human soldiers, not the souless, robotic types Roland Emerich created for the first movie which made it so believable.

I could go on forever, but I won't and will instead list the positive aspects. This film knocks spots off Universal Soldier: The Return as it at least tries to relate itself to the original. Starting with the head pieces, the leg implants, the heat monitor watch, Dr Gregor, Luc's parents and the laboratory in the truck (albeit a tiny, non-expanding one).

As I said, Universal Soldier is a film that cannot really be continued, and to be honest this film got as close as anyone could - presumably the action is continuing from where the first film left off, with Luc and Veronica still on the run.

So, the conclusion. This is a bad film. There is only one explosion and out of the two big name actors, they both give diabolical performances. However, in comparison to the Van Damme sequel, it really isn't that bad and any fan of JCVD or Unisol's should at least watch it once. 4 out of 10.

This movie has everything1 Busey! Battaglia! Reynolds! Now it's safe to say that I'm a pretty big Busey enthusiast, but I also know a great movie when I see one. The martial arts used in this film are extraordinary, even better than the karate used in Ghost Rock, another Busey classic!

The choice of Matt Battaglia to play Luc Devereaux is one of the finest acting decisions of all time! He is unbelievable! His performance is up there with the all time greats of Brando as Terry Malloy, Olivier as Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Busey as Chet Stedman.

The plot speaks for itself. If Busey, Battaglia, and the great Burt Reynolds agreed to shoot it, then you shouldn't worry about it. Only three words can describe this film...Busetastic! Busetastic! Busetastic!

Well, oddly enough then I have actually never ever seen parts 2 and 3 of the "Universal Soldier" movies, but I have seen part 1 and all subsequent movies after the 3rd one. So as I had the opportunity to sit down and watch the 1998 movie "Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms" here in 2021, of course I did so.

Now, of course I wasn't actually harboring much of any high hopes or expectations for writer Peter M. Lenkov and director Jeff Woolnough prequel, which I assume was a straight to video release as well. And why? Well, you take Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren out of the equation and add in unknown actors, the chances are not all that greatly in favor of the movie.

Sure, there were some established actors in the movie, but they were hardly suitable to substitute the likes of Van Damme and Lundgren, but then again, they weren't playing the parts of the universal soldiers. Now, I have no idea who Matt Battaglia (playing Luc Devreaux), nor am I familiar with Jeff Wincott (playing Eric Devreaux). The movie does have some familiar faces, with the likes of Gary Busey, Burt Reynolds, Barbara Gordon and Julian Richings on the cast list.

The storyline told in "Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms" was pretty straight forward. Now, it wasn't the most innovative of stories, nor was it the most well-thought through of stories, but it made for some passable, albeit mindless, action-packed entertainment.

Needless to say that "Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms", as a sequel, does have that usual sequel thing going on. Where it doesn't really live up to the things delivered by its predecessor. And that was the case for this 1998 movie as well. Of course it was. Sure, "Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms" was a watchable movie but it was hardly an outstanding or particularly memorable movie.

My rating of "Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms" lands on a less than mediocre four out of ten stars. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. And while it is a watchable movie, this is hardly a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time.