Universal Soldier (1992)

Private Luc Deveraux, a soldier from the Vietnam war, tried to save innocent civilians from being murdered by his sergeant, Andrew Scott who had become psychological and murderously insane from the war. Their confrontation had left them dead and their bodies were taken into a top secret military project to create the perfect soldiers, called the Universal Soldiers. In this project, Luc and Andrew were resurrected from the dead, with their minds wiped and their bodies super enhanced with strength that goes beyond any ordinary human being. They were programmed to follow orders and carry out missions of military purposes.

During a terrorist event at the Hoover Dam, the Universal Soldiers were called in as an elite counter-terrorism unit. They completed the task with minimal efforts, proving the success of the project. TV journalist, Veronica Roberts, who was recently fired from her job tried to pick up a story on the Universal Soldiers which ended up causing her to be pursued by the military's Universal Soldiers. Luc, under the codename GR44, was initially sent out to capture Veronica, decides to protect her as he begins to regain his memories, especially that of his final moments in Vietnam. He begins a search of his previous life; to find his home and find his family. However, Andrew, universal soldier GR13, while pursuing Luc and Veronica, also begins to regain his memory back and decides to take control over the leadership of the project.

Directed by Roland Emmerich and produced by Mario Kassar, this movie stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as Luc Deveraux, Dolph Lundgren as Andrew Scott, Ally Walker as Veronica Roberts, Ed O' Ross as Colonel Perry, Jerry Orbach as Dr Christopher Gregor, Leon Rippy as Woodward and Tico Wells as Garth.


Jean-Claude Van Damme as Universal Soldier GR44
I'm actually quite surprise with this film. Before watching it, I had a notion it will be a B-rated movie filled with mindless action. I don't deny that there were plenty of that but I was very much entertained by the concept and the story behind it, and there were plenty of action in this movie to keep you from being bored. I, at first refuse to watch it, but Terh Ren insisted that I watch it before watching the lastest of the series, Universal Soldier: Regeneration (Entitled as: A New Beginning in Malaysia) which was released just few days ago. I was expecting it to be something in between Terminator 2, from its cyborg look and Arnold Schwarzenegger's Commando being a mindless muscleman with guns action flick.


The plot is simple to understand and it is very much an action orientated movie with a good enough story to keep it alive. The scene where the movie introduces the Luc and Andrew's background in Vietnam, felt very high class, much like a scene from Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. It sets up the conflict between the two characters very nicely and how it passed on to the present day of 1992. Apart from the introduction scene, the rest of the movie felt very much like a B-rated sci-fi movie. The concept of superpowered men has been used very often in movies while the reason behind the superpowers varies. This one however, involves the resurrection of the dead, their mind wiped and reprogrammed to make superhuman more like robots which then make it feels like you're watching a rip off version of Terminator 2, which had Arnold Schwarzenegger being a robot behind the human skin. The problems and conflict arose from the Superhuman project when the soldiers begin to regain their memories back, made the story quite interesting and compelling enough to watch and follow.


Andrew and Luc in Vietnam
The plot device involving being chased by the villian and having the hero running away or/and protecting the target has been used many times before, especially in the Terminator Series. This plot device called for a lot of action sequences, which there are plenty to feed the action hungry viewers. From explosions, gun fires and even hand to hand combat (and plenty of kicks from Van Damme), this movie falls very nicely in your typical action movie category. There's nothing dazzling or groundbreaking in the effects, stunts or the action sequences, so don't expect too much from this movie. Keep your mind open and enjoy the ride.


Luc taking aim.


The Van Damme's Kick
Apart from its serious story and action-packed sequences, there were plenty of humorous moments in the film to allow the audience to mentally rest and prepare for the next adrenaline rush. Those humorous moments include the bar fight and some of the interactions between Luc and Veronica. The scenes weren't over the top funny which made watching them quite amusing and enjoyable but some of the lines being said were quite lame, especially the lines that come out of Andrew's mouth. Andrew made too many jokes during the killing scenes and fighting scenes, which became quite annoying. But I don't blame him, I blame the writers of the screenplay.


"Look who's laughing now"
The character of Luc, Andrew and Veronica were neatly carved out and their characters' development were handled very well. Some of the side characters, like Colonel Perry, Dr Christopher Gregor, Woodward and Garth have a very small significance in the movie, mostly to support or to flesh out the portrait of main characters and their history. Some of the other characters in the movie were merely for humor, like the people in the bar, the man at the gas station and the couple in the motel room.


Luc contemplating of his previous life.
One of problems I have with this movie was Van Damme's acting. He showed no expression and his line's delivery were flat. I would pass it off when he was portraying the robotic nature of the universal soldier, but when he was suppose to be apparently more human, especially when he was wholly human in the Vietnam scenes, his lines and acting were still very flat. The only positive point for him being there was his delivery in action sequences. The rest of the cast members were good in acting out their roles as compared to Van Damme, especially Ally Walker and Dolph Lundgren. But I believe the limelight goes to Dolph Lundgren's potrayal in his character. Despite having mentioned his badly written lines and the wrong timing of his jokes, he played the psychologically insane Vietnam War sergeant very well, and every delivery of his lines were good, though not perfect, but was very much better than Van Damme's.


Dolph Lundgren as the insane Sergeant Andrew Scott


Veronica overlooking the carnage done by Van Damme
Overall, the film is enjoyable and not to be taken too seriously. If you look pass some of the violent scenes and the language used, it is a very entertaining movie, especially those who love to see some action (I do feel there are better action films out there) or Van Damme executing some of his moves. Not the best around nor does it come close to being epic, but it makes a good film to watch with your popcorn. I would give this film a 6 out of 10 severed ears on a string.


Universal popcorn!