Review of Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012) by Douglas L — 29 Oct 2012

I had a blast with this movie!! This is one of best 2012 movies IMO!

Respect to John for making something like this with a movie that is called Universal Soldier. When you think about it, that can only be curse for him, and not jut for him...for any director that could involved with this project, and it had to have balls and brains to make something unique and different with heritage that he had! I mean you have this movie that is called Universal Soldier (Day of Reckoning and its some kind of a sequel to action movie from the 90s with JC and Dolph that all ready set some standards and story directions, so that people "know" what to expect. On one hand you will have people that never did like any of UniSol movies and they wont go see this movie because they will expect another cheap shitty and silly DTV action movie with washed up action stars. And they will never know that this is something far better, far more complex and far more smarter and different from what they expect. On the other had, you have action fans that loved first movie (and some sequels) that also expect simple action flick with bunch of action and dead body's. And they will get that but they will also get more then they bargain for, a horror Sci Fi thriller with awesome and complex story, and some of them wont like that, I'm sure. So basically, its impossible to please everybody when project has a certain past like Universal Soldier has.

Personally, I could give a rats ass fuck about Universal Solider franchise, because IMO there is NO franchise at all! Never was! We have bunch of movies that have Universal Soldier in title and similar theme, but each movie is totally different from the previous with different approach to that theme and except title and star(s) that play character(s) with the same name, but each time with different characterization (except Dolph), there is not other connection between them. Just bits and peaces here and there. I mean the best connection between first and second movie in Return are those flashback with footage from first movie, but those flashbacks stick out totally because Return has totally different feel and look. Same goes for Regeneration that had again title and stars but different look and feel. And the best connection with original was that scene with Dolph just before he fights with JC. And to say that Universal Soldier is a franchise like Die Hard or Indiana Jones are its just dumb. I mean, it turns out that those 90s TV movie sequels where the closes to the original movie with feel and look (only cheaper), while official sequel almost had no connection with the original. So much about franchise lol...

So, does this movie feels like sequel to first movie...not really (although it can, and it works as a sequel to last movie, Regeneration), but does this different approach to universal soldier theme still works perfectly as a part of whole universal soldier universe -yes, because its inject some new ideas to the theme that where all ready conceived in previous movie. Plus it can work as a stand alone movie also. Either way, its fine by me.

I loved the way Hyams directed the movie, like some kind of slow mystery creepy horror thriller creating awesome mysterious atmosphere, and mind fuck story was perfect for that kind of setting. And story is mind fuck in best possible way, almost like in Lynch movies, only its easy to follow, and when things sit in their place at the end, you get to see the bigger picture, and everything works perfectly. Some will say that this is simple revenge story, but they will be wrong because this is not revenge movie at all. How ever, revenge is a trigger that puts things in motion, but behind revenge are hidden far bigger things, bigger picture like I said, that include government conspiracy and secret military programs, and renegade soldiers, and one mans quest that totally reminds of Apocalypse Now in best possible way. The way the story is told from Johns point of view kind of reminded me on Memento because you as an audience ask your self "what the hell is going on" at the same time as main character, and you discover the story with him. But again, it so much easier to follow the story and all you need to do is pay attention to some details. Yeah, as much as some will be surprised this is one of those movies where you actually have to use your brain to understand things in story. And twists work perfectly...some are even predictable, but that doesn't bother the movie in general.

And lets not forget action that is fucking awesome...bloody, gritty and awesome! They way these action scenes are staged and shot is better then in most of the big Hollywood movies, and Hyams ashamed with these scenes many big time Hollywood players. I really hope that big studios will noticed him and give him bigger budgets for his upcoming projects because he has way to much potential to be stuck in DTV (or independent) land. But then again, considering how big studios are run by stupid asshols that like to keep thing under their control maybe staying outside those studios would not be a bad thing for him. Either way I just hope that he will make another Unisol movie in his way, in his vision because I'm so damn interested to see in which direction the story would took. I'm secretly hoping for 10 Scott Adkins clones that will go after John hehe...

So, is this movie perfect...no, its not (although right now I cant think of one bad thing in it)...but was it awesome in the way its made as something completely different from what would you expect from movie called Universal Soldier, oh yeah!!! It was!