Soldado universal: Regeneración

I really really did not want to see this movie, but boy am I glad I did. It was very well directed, well acted (for the most part), and well shot. I would have gladly paid 10 bucks to see this on the big screen. The problem is I (and most people) didn't know it until after we had seen it. After the god awful sequels I thought this outing would be the same garbage. John Hyams created a much darker bleak Universal Soldier that out shines the first installment. He has a very bright career ahead of him. The world he created in this film has the same look and feel as Terminator Salvation did. In fact this film is as good if not better than T4. Mainly because it had nothing to live up to. All the fight scenes were top notch, and graphically violent (which is a good thing). Even Dolph Lundgren was interesting. And near the end of the film there is a shot, of JVCD standing in front of a doorway looking at the kids that are his mission, that is just amazing. If you do not like action films you won't have any fun, but if you do your in for a real treat. You can give it a rent, or the better option would be to buy it on blu-ray. It's just a shame we can't see it on the big screen. Because after all these years JVCD finally has an action film thats worthy of it.

After the disappointment of Universal 2 I was afraid this would be just as bad or maybe worse. To my surprise it ended up being a pretty good action movie. The story is straight forward. A situation arises and requires the return of Luck (Van Damme). The fighting scenes are pretty well crafted and the return of Lundgren was quite enjoyable. I suppose I need to remind people again that these types of movies are not intended to change the world! They are action movies and should be reviewed as such. As far as the bad, the story is really basic and the movie is a little short. I was pleasantly surprised by the acting overall. Yeah there is almost no dialogue, but Lundgren and Van Damme seemed to have learned a little bit about their craft. I hope Van Damme continues to make these types of movies and I look forward to one of them getting a serious theatrical release. It's been a long times since one of these movies has hit the big screen. I for one would love to support this type of movie.

This was great entertainment, Story:well scripted to avoid the many pitfalls the this kind of movie could have fallen in to. More layering and character development that you could ever expect from a film like this. Acting: no Oscars gonna be won here... but hey it's a JCVD flick and he and the rest of the cast do a good job in it. Action (fights): No Jason Bourne, or Taken, but pretty close!, you can see how much went in to choreography and rehearsal, very well done. Production: Nice cutting, great timing, superb use of location. Maybe the only weakish spot was the score, it sometimes felt out of context and/or under-produced.

Anyway: Director sure knew what he was doing here, and i liked it a lot.

Please Mr Hymas (Sr and Jr?) find a big budget, a great script and go do a Jason Bourne movie!

The opening scene blew me away!! Absolutely amazing action at the beginning. Andrei (Pitbull) Arlovski stole the show with a great action performance. JCVD had a smaller role than the previous film and did a solid performance. I was disappointed that Dolph Lundgren's role was so small but he did a great job. The long fight sequence between Dolph and JCVD had some amazing parts as well.

The action at the beginning is by far the best; yet the film continues to deliver till the very end. I especially appreciate the minimal use of dialog. Extensive dialog was not needed for this film and was not included (useless and excessive dialog drives me nuts in action films).

*************SPECIALIZED CRITIQUE TO FILL SPACE!!****************

My only complaint was the tactics, weapons and armor employed by the US Army forces in the film. The weapons used by the Army forces appear to be the fully automatic M16A1 (with after market banana clips) which was used in the Vietnam War. The Army now uses the M16A4 with a 30 round magazine (slightly curved but not banana style) which is not fully automatic (Burst/Semi/Single) and Infantry are trained to rely primarily on well place single shots leaving the fully auto fire to the 240B or the SAW Gunners.

Additionally the US Army relies heavily on night-time operations thus ALL combat troops are equipped with Night Vision Devices. Mid day attacks are rarely ever performed especially against a heavily embedded enemy force. None of the "good guys" had night vision devices.

The US Army ubiquitously uses the Interceptor System of body armor which utilizes heavy ceramic plates in front and back of the soldier to protect from small arms fire and to minimize wounds from explosions. The soldiers in the film appear to wear simple Kevlar.

Furthermore Recon operations are never performed by a single operator but by small silent teams (2 or 4 men) moving slowly, smoothly and silently together. The lone Recon guy's equipment, weapon, and movements were completely wrong and his equipment made way too much noise.

I guess my main complaint would be the Director didn't do his research when it came to a large portion of his film. This is a common complaint for me in most movies which attempt to show modern US Army tactics and weapons. You would think that with all the unemployed Iraq War veterans out there they could find a few to advise them on their films.

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Ultimately Universal Soldier: Regeneration was an enjoyable film. I read one snobbish review relegating it to "B" movie oblivion yet I found the movie to be better than most "A" action movies coming out of Hollywood.

Congrats to Dolph and JCVD for a great movie I hope to see more films of this quality from both!

After a decade-long hiatus since the abysmal "The Return", this third outing in the "Universal Soldier" cult franchise sees original stars Van Damme and Lundgren, returning to arguably their most memorable roles. Joining them are fighters Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski and Mike Pyle.

Now obviously the "Universal Soldier" series inevitably became dead as soon as "The Return" was released. That film was so cheesy it was unbearably bad, and it put Van Damme's career straight to the direct-to- video business (at least until "JCVD" two years ago). So should you have hopes for this movie? It was released in the United States of America, direct-to-video. That's a sign for a bad movie, no? But I live in Malaysia, and this movie (renamed "Universal Soldier: A New Beginning") was released theatrically here, giving me the chance to see one of the action heroes I grew up with, on the big screen. This is my first JCVD movie in the cinema, so I walked in expecting a cheese-fest.

My. God.

Did I really just see that movie? Was that really "Universal Soldier 3"? The film blew me and my expectations away. I mean, sure it's not gonna win any Oscars, but still, hot damn! The action is lean, mean and balls- to-the-wall brutal, prompting some faint-hearted people to look away at many points. The fight scenes were VERY well handled with actors doing 90% of their own fights/stunts. The mood of the film is very dark, brooding and moody (a complete 180 departure from the previous two); the same can be said of its John Carpenter-esquire electronic music score, which is PERFECT throughout the movie. From the moment the movie starts, the action never lets up until the very end.

The story is brief: The Russian Prime Minister's children get kidnapped by terrorists looking to extradite prisoners in exchange, to make things serious they plan to detonate a nuclear plant in Chernobyl. Their ace up their sleeve? an NGU (Next-Generation Unisol). The allies forcibly bring Luc Devereaux back into action to help thwart this threat when all hope is seemingly lost. (It helps to understand that this movie ignores all other Universal Soldier sequels, it directly follows the first one.)

Simple, no? Just like any B-movie would. But nowadays there are D-movies starring Steven Seagal, but this is a definite B-movie. Short, straight to the point, and extremely entertaining from start to finish. THIS is how you make action movies.

Van Damme looks old. And he's moody. And doesn't say a lot. The same can be said for Lundgren. However both of them improved A LOT in their acting range, which is above-average. However, Van Damme appears nearly halfway through the movie and Lundgren's overall appearance is no less than 20 minutes. But when both of them are on screen they dominate it. Before smashing through it, of course. The main villain, the NGU played by The Pitbull, is a lumbering tank on autopilot, not unlike The Terminator. That's a good thing. Pyle plays an American soldier who secretly goes to complete the rescue mission while Van Damme, Lundgren and Arlovski are punching about. He's perhaps the most likable character in the movie.

What I like about this film is its meat-and-bones approach. The actors don't say much, the story is simplistic, but the action is fast and comes at you like a speeding bullet. The main actors don't appear much, because it focuses more on the story and the action. This is good, it shows that you don't really need stars in EVERY action scene. This isn't action in the vein of Jerry Bruckheimer or Die Hard where the characters kill people with glorious music in the background and comic relief. You will find no music and no comic relief throughout the film (although there is a funny scene near the end of the movie). The used of CGI is absent in this movie (thank God for that refreshing trait). There is little shaky-cam in the movie, allowing you to see the mano-e-mano action in all its glory. All the stunts you see in the movie are REAL with a capital R. And who do we have to thank for this? Director John Hyams. He knows what he wants and boy does he delivers. His direction is taut, solid and focused throughout. And the way he directs a low-budget B-movie, imagine if he gets a bigger-budgeted project. His father is Peter Hyams, who worked with Van Damme on "Timecop" and "Sudden Death". Dad Peter works as cinematographer for this one, and he captures the bleakness of the film beautifully. It's much better than that "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt".

In short, I'm really surprised at how well-directed the film is, and I'm also surprised that I ended up really liking the movie. It's sad for it not to be released theatrically in the U.S., because it deserves that. JCVD and Lundgren still got it, but I'll be keeping an eye out for John Hyams. He looks like a very promising director.

Entertainment value: 10/10

Overall: 8/10