Wow! Such a good movie.

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

A Brilliant Conflict

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Lets not kid ourselves, Universal Soldier is a mindless action franchise that started poor and has gotten gradually worse. Whether we're talking the television universe movies or the Van Damme universe ones they are dumb action flicks with a mediocre concept which they don't even manage to capitalize on.Here we have Van Damme returning again as Luc who is being forced to return to the field for one last mission and yadadadadada.Cue generic fight scenes, gunfire, explosions and a plot so thin a fart would tear it.One for fans of the franchise and those who enjoy take your brain out paint by numbers action tosh.The Good:Emily JoyceThe Bad:Lungrens presence felt a bit pointlessIt's all so very genericThings I Learnt From This Movie:Lungren must have had more lawyer fees to pay

"Universal Soldier" is one of those films that shouldn't have any kind of sequels, unless if they were made by Roland Emmerich and after two or three years of gap between the movies. No, if my memory doesn't betray me there's was one in the 1990's with no one from the original cast (?) perhaps it was the way it was translated here to look like a sequel when it wasn't; other in 1999 with Van Damme, very forgettable; and then this one in 2007, bringing back Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. Of all the following episodes this was the one that worked better despite all the absurd and the weak plot. It's completely watchable, a guilty pleasure so to speak.The plot concerns about a terrorist group that kidnapped the sons of a political authority in Russia and they also invaded Chernobyl with the purpose of blowing the plant if their demands won't be followed. Best of all of this is that the terrorists have a trained little army of indestructible soldiers that don't feel pain, lethal machines whose mission is to destroy the enemy. Among them there's the clone of Andrew Scott (Lundgren) that doesn't seem to obey even their "new creators". The other side reprogrammed Luc Deveraux (Van Damme) to help them in this mission but he has problems of his own, since he's not the same fighter he was years ago. Some quality action and impressive fight scenes makes of "Universal Soldier: Regeneration" a movie with good attributes, nice to be appreciated. However, the most awaited part of it is quite embarrassing if not disappointing. Five minutes of screen time and that's it the fight between Deveraux and Scott and it's not exciting, awesome or fun to see; the conclusion of it was funny though, to let people wondering what just happened. If you manage to overlook the slippings and trippings of the plot (blowing the thing or not they all are gonna die, I mean they're on Chernobyl for crying out loud! Highly contaminated!!!) it can be quite a good way to spend the day. For the most part and I believe this is quite unanimous you'll be saying that the first film was the best ever and this is just a poor sequel. 6/10

like many i enjoyed the first movie, pure popcorn and better for it, this one is a different beast. i could tell you the plot, but why bother, its above me in the plot section, so go back and read it. at first its Bourne meets modern warfare, it doesn't give the audience what it wants, it gives it what it already knows, but there are suggestions of something more under the surface, jcvd was a good film, there, i said it, and i think that film infects this one, it is a mutant hybrid of both his old and new movies, and if you want to compare, i would go with machete, the Robert Rodriguez flick, it tries for nobility and sleaze and doesn't quite achieve either, but the simple fact that it tries demands my respect. i wont even bother with the plot,(snipers, anyone?) its some of the, as some one said before, boring dialogue parts that i like most, the Dolph lungren death scene is something special, maybe stealing from blade runner, but with something more. his finest 15 minutes and if you have half a brain you understand this is why he came back for this. lungren becomes the thinker, jcvd the killing machine, it is quite shocking and sad, this is a movie about the past and future, age and a contemplation on death, it is a view on what it is to be who we are and our purpose in life, be it good or bad, it is a tragedy of small proportions, the hero saves the day by having his humanity stripped from him, becomes what he was created to be, not what he wants to be. i gave this film a rating of 6 but it doesn't do justice, i love b movies with more to say than they can afford, see john sayles, James Cameron, Sam raimi, they reward me more than Oscar baiting efforts, its the surprise and love of the genre i enjoy so much. watch this movie, just for the joy of filmmakers doing what they love, right or wrong.

Universal Soldier: Regeneration is set in Russia & starts as the son & daughter of President Musayev (Stanislav Pishtalov) are kidnapped in the city streets, they are flown by helicopter to the abandoned town surrounding Chernobyl which Commander Topov (Zahary Baharov) & his army of freedom fighters have taken control of. Topov's men have rigged explosives up to the Chernobyl nuclear reactor which will go off & cause a massive nuclear explosion in seventy two hours unless his demands are met. The US military are called in because former member of the Unisol program Dr. Robert Colin is helping Topov having created an even superior version of the original Unisol, all attempts at disarming the bomb & rescuing Musayev's children fail so former Unisol Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is forced out of retirement to take on the mission that could save millions of lives but will have to defeat other Unisol's such as himself...Also known under the working titles Univseral Soldier: A New Beginning & Universal Soldier: The Next Generation this was directed by John Hyams who apparently replaced Simon Fellows who had been signed to direct & is the second proper sequel to the original Universal Soldier (1992) in which it could be argued that both JCVD & Dolph Lundgren were at the peak of their stardom with both slipping into low budget straight to video obscurity over the past few years. While Universal Soldier: Regeneration didn't blow me away & probably isn't as fun as the original I thought it was perfectly watchable with lots of violent action, the main stars of the original returning & a decent enough plot. The first thing to say is that despite featuring both JCVD & Dolph Lundgren as Unisol's there's nothing here that relates to the previous films, when they eventually meet at the end neither JCVD or Lundgren recognise each other & it's never explained why Lundgren is alive or how he is alive or why he goes insane & despite being a normal guy in Universal Soldier: The Return (1999) here JCVD is depressed & undergoing therapy! To be honest neither JCVD or Lundgren are in it that much, Lundgren in particularly feels like an afterthought & never feels like part of the story. The usual genetic experiments & super soldiers nonsense is branded about but none of it really captures the imagination & it's left to the violent action set-pieces to entertain. Everything about Universal Soldier: Regeneration is good but nothing about it is brilliant, it's just a watchable sci-fi action thriller that is more interested in violent action than the sci-fi aspects.Shot with muted colours Universal Soldier: Regeneration looks a bit dreary & overcast which was probably intentional. There's plenty of violence, there's lots of gory shootings, stabbings, guttings, slit throats & a greats end-off for one of the villains as they literally have the back of their head blown off with a shotgun. A lot of the violence is swift & quite sadistic too, the fight scenes are good as well although I was surprised the fight between JCVD & Lundgren wasn't saved for the films climax. Well made the opening sequence is very promising with two children being abducted, a cool car chase & lots of casualties later Universal Soldier: Regeneration is off to a good start which it can't quite live up to. A lack of any noticeable CGI computer effects work also helps, this is real stunt-work with real stunt-men & real fake blood (if that makes sense!).With a supposed budget of about $14,000,000 the production values are good & it's well made if a little bland looking. Filmed in Bulgaria, at least this time the makers weren't trying to pass Bulgaria off as the US. The acting is alright as far as I expected, JCVD is still rather wooden although Lundgren gets a few decent lines & manages to add a little menace to his character.Universal Soldier: Regeneration is a decent enough action film, it hasn't got much in common with the other Universal Soldier films but has enough blood, gore, violence, explosions & action to make this a worth watching. Another sequel' Universal Soldier: A New Dimension (2011) is currently in production.