Review of Universal Soldier (1992) by Brandan W — 28 Jan 2011

Probably both Van Damme's and Lundgren's best, Universal Soldier is one of the best action movies of the early nineties, with plenty of explosive stunts, fights, a decent story, some fine acting, and lots of great dialogue. In the wake of Terminator 2 this, and most sci-fi action movies look inferior, but this is a great watch for action fans, and should be seen by non-fans too as it is a good slice of entertainment.

Van Damme stars as Luc Deveraux, a marine in 'Nam. His superior is Andrew Scott, played with menace by Lundgren. Their team stumbles upon a village in 'Nam where Scott goes on a kill crazy rampage, wiping out men, women, and kids, and when Luc tries to stop him, they kill each other. Flash forward to the nineties and the US Army has managed to save and restore both Luc and Scott an their team. The are now part man, part computer, easy to control soldiers with a much higher skill and strength rate than any human could have. The Army has created them for special missions and they have a flawless success rate. Veronica Roberts is a snoopy reporter who wants to follow the mysterious team, but can never get close. The soldiers are autonomous, doing whatever they are told, and with no memory of their past lives. However, as all computers inevitably turn against their masters, Luc and Scott begin to have flashbacks. Soon Scott has killed Veronica's cameraman, and Luc has saved her to become a renegade. He begins to remember everything and Scott takes control of his team with the sole objective of killing Luc and Veronica. The chase begins.

Once we accept the Universal Soldier's abilities etc the story is all simple and will of course end with a final confrontation between the two stars. Between these two points there is a lot of action, gun fights, bombs, the usual, but it is done with a fair amount of skill and style. Van Damme does well as a cyborg and has little to say, but shows off his martial arts skills. Lundgren has less to say but is effectively sneering. Walker is the feisty heroine and gives a fine performance, and the rest of the cast range from grunts with guns to comedic parts. There is a good amount of humour which helps to make the film more appealing, and there is the inevitable Van Damme nudity. There are some interesting elements involving the Government's control of mindless soldiers, sending in faceless masses to do their dirty-work, but of course this is reading between the lines. Overall it is a simple, but effective and well-shot action film, and one of the best of its kind.