Soldiers Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) and Sgt. Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren) killed each other in Vietnam. But their demise proves to be just the beginning for the U.S. government, which brings both men back to life decades later for a secret anti-terrorism program.
Before Roland Emmerich made his name as the master of disaster (“Independence Day,” “Godzilla,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” and “2012”), he made several low-budget movies but it wasn’t until his 1992 action-epic “Universal Soldier” was released that the powers-that-be in Hollywood stood up and took notice. He cast two European action stars that were not yet known to mainstream American audiences, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren, and the film became one of the biggest hits of 1992. The movie spawned three less-than-stellar sequels in which Van Damme returns as Luc Deveraux and two made-for-TV films, which have been pretty much ignored by the series in general. At the moment, there is talk of a reboot in the works that should probably hit screens in the next few years.
The original movie starts in Vietnam in 1969 where Sgt. Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren) has gone insane and killed the majority of his platoon and a neighboring village. One of his men, Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude van Damme), discovers Scott in a shack where he is holding two villagers hostage. Deveraux tries to diffuse the situation and manages to get one of the villagers to safety by distracting Scott but Scott shoots her in the back before both men kill each other. We then cut to modern-day Nevada where an elite counter-terrorism unit has been dispatched to kill terrorists who have taken hostages at the Hoover Dam just outside of Las Vegas. Both Deveraux and Scott are amongst the unit but their names have been changed to GR44 and GR13. They successfully manage to eliminate all the terrorists with no fatalities.
TV journalist Veronica Roberts (Ally Walker) has just lost her job as a local news anchor and smelling a news story with the Unisols as they are now being called, she sneaks onto a local airbase with her cameraman Huey (Joseph Malone) where their plane is being refueled and discover that the Unisols have enhanced self-healing abilities and superior strength. When she and her cameraman inadvertently give their presence away, several Unisols catch them and hold them prisoner on the base but when Scott appears, he goes haywire and shoots Huey dead. Deveraux reacts and kicks Scott to the ground, giving him time to rescue Veronica and escape off the base. On the run, Deveraux slowly begins to have memories of a past he could never remember and with Veronica’s help, they unearth documents from a Dr. Christopher Gregor (Jerry Orbach), who helped with the setup of the program years earlier and ascertain that the U.S. government found way to reanimate dead cells and suppress any memories of a former life in order to make them the perfect soldier. With the Unisols in hot pursuit and Veronica being framed for the murder of her cameraman, Deveraux knows that Scott will try and get to his parents’ home in Louisiana and kill them so he and Veronica must get there first.
“Universal Soldier” is an enjoyable shoot-em-up and while Van Damme and Lundgren strain to emote during any legitimate dramatic scenes, they more than make up for it with their own individual style of martial arts and gunplay. Director Roland Emmerich has proved that he is more than capable of delivering big-screen thrills and excitement and this movie is no different. After all, this is the film that put him on the Hollywood map and along with a great supporting cast including Ed O’Ross, Jerry Orbach, and Leon Rippy, “Universal Soldier” will entertain even the most hardened action cinephiles.
Available on 4K Ultra HD™ Combo Pack (plus Blu-ray™ and Digital) and Digital 4K November 5th
