Universal Soldier: Regeneration

The original Universal Soldier is back in this straight to DVD release. I found Universal Soldier: Regeneration to be a sleeper movie loaded with brain-blowing out action, devastating gun-fights, ear-splitting explosions, and inhuman hand-to-hand combat. Taking place years after the original movie, Jean-Claude Van Damme reprises his role as Luc Deveraux. An aged and seemingly impotent, decommissioned "Uni-Sol" who's undergone years of therapy and drug treatments, to get him back in touch with his "feelings" so he can live a normal life.

Unfortunately, nothing ever goes as planned. Enter a terrorist group with their own next-generation Uni-Sol, named NGU (Andrei Arlovski). Which is short for (you guessed it) Next Generation Uni-sol. They threaten the world with nuclear catastrophe by seizing a crippled Chernobyl nuclear reactor and plan to unleash a lethal ravaging radioactive cloud. To thicken the plot, they also kidnap the Russian prime minister's son and daughter and hold them hostage. 

Before: Woe is me.

After: Who do I kill?

The only hope is to reactivate Luc Deveraux. Fortunately his original programming was so deep and ingrained that it doesn't take long to bring him back to his former fearsome self. Infused with all manner of drugs and injections, he is rearmed and reprogrammed. 

Andrew Scott

NGU

Deveraux must not only take on his old nemesis Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren) from the original Universal Soldier but also NGU. The thing that really stands out in this film is the music score when the fighting takes place. African drums rise to an inevitable crescendo heightening the action in an adrenaline pumping way.

Someone is about to die.

My recollection of the original Universal Soldier is a bit hazy, but this movie stands on it's own without having to go back to the 1992 movie to refresh your memory. Universal Soldier: Regeneration isn't a low-budget offering. The film was released theatrically in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, but not in the United States, which it should have been. As an action movie that delivers, I'm giving Universal Soldier: Regeneration 4 out of 5 fingers.