Special Review: Universal Soldier: Regeneration

Note: After skipping Legion and From Paris With Love on account of their particularly atrocious reviews, and having to sit through the sequelized-mediocrity of District B13: Ultimatum, I'll admit I'd become a little disillusioned with the action genre of the new year. The standard fare of Daybreakers and The Book of Eli didn't help either, and even DTD releases like The Tournament were more of a relative letdown than not. But lo and behold, as title of the previous post states, sometimes you gotta put in the veterans if you want it done right. Universal Soldier: Regeneration is not only done right, but it's done on a sophisticated, adult level—not only surpassing the iconic original—but it's infinitely more deserving of a theatrical release than anything so far this year; the best thing I've seen since District 9 (Up in the Air, Avatar, and others, included). Anyway...



Soulless but soulful Van Damme meets his existential equal in Universal Soldier: Regeneration

From the opening shot, the opening closeup of John and Peter Hyams' (son and father, director and d.p., respectively) Universal Soldier: Regeneration, I knew this was going to be more than a new model, if you'll excuse the very review-y pun. There was a confidence in the direction, in the filmmaking, and most importantly, in the material, which obviously hadn't touched the lowly series before but even rarely surfaces in the (sci-fi action) genre as a whole... If you took the head of Solyaris, and put it on the body of Children of Men or District 9, then you'd have a frame of reference to go from: this is modern, adult, science-fiction art with two presupposed meatheads coming back for what was technically a fifth sequel. I went in with modest expectations; I wanted to be entertained, and entertained I was. But what I did not expect, was to be challenged. And challenged, I most certainly was.

CHERNOBYL. The son and daughter of the Prime Minister are kidnapped in a swift, brutal strike outside of an art gallery. This act of terrorism is only part of the picture, however, as the insurgents proceed to commandeer the nuclear power plant and site of the infamous 1986 disaster. With a stolen Uni-Sol (Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski), or Universal Soldier, on their side, and a scientist who knows how to use him, the ransom and the stakes are simply too high for the Prime Minister not to meet their demands. But there are more sinister forces at play. The Ameri-Russian forces reactivate their own remaining Uni-Sols, including rehabilitating Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme). Power struggles within the compound continue to complicate matters as does the closet resurrection of unstable Uni-Sol Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren).

Deveraux is introduced as living anything but a normal life—he is monitored and tutored daily by Dr. Sandra Flemming (Emily Joyce), stowed away in small-town Switzerland. Scott, on the other hand, is introduced as something of a Frankenstein monster: Upon defrostation, Scott questions his plight by not answering questions per protocol, an act which leaves his wily maker Dr. Colin (Kerry Shale) a little unnerved. The subtleties of these two introductions are simply beyond words; taking these two iconic characters (and actors) and the lowly original material in which exist, and somehow making it legitimate, is a joy to see. Fresh off J.C.V.D., Van Damme is at his best; soulless, soulful, and soul-searching, wit's end and then some, he carries the picture effortlessly. And Lundgren, practically stealing the show, affirms his real-life high IQ with his respect towards the character and the small role; he comes and goes as quickly as the villainous-version of HAL. His third-act speech, makes the movie. It's what Universal Soldier is all about.



Many have said that Regeneration, as a sequel, breaks away from its predecessors and thus can be seen as its own entity. I beg, beg, beg to disagree. The biggest part of the film's effectiveness is in its genius reframing of the original's material. It's the seeds, it's the childhood to adulthood that makes one appreciate the full transformation. It's not embarrassed by its past, but rather learns from it, and uses that framework to construct something that much greater and more spectacular.

In the end, who woulda thunk it? Universal Soldier: Regeneration blew me away...the biggest WTF in the DTD market quite possibly ever. There's so much going on, so many great ideas, coupled with visceral, flawlessly-executed set pieces and a setting that's shot to perfection. More art than entertainment, Regeneration is more in the line of the aforementioned Solyaris than anything in its supposed genre. A thinking man's action movie? Yes, yes, believe it so. Both Van Damme and Lundgren have been known to attempt such, but now it can be certified as truth. Much like its characters, Regeneration is a machine coming awake, coming into conscious, combining the best of both worlds of the cinematic medium... Actions speak louder than words, and so do action movies.






**** out of ****


~ Patrick Fryberger