Please don't spend money on this.

i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

disgusting, overrated, pointless

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

When the first Universal Soldier (1992) film came out, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren were very much in their prime of popularity. Both had been in their fair share of widely known movies and were often included into the same category as Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. It was also the movie that had one of the earliest collaborations between the big name action stars aside from Rocky IV (1985). Later on the series went underground to TV sequels but did not fair well financially due to the lack of star power. A few years later, Van Damme came back to the series in Universal Soldier: The Return (1999) but it too failed horribly. The poor writing in general and silly nature of the end product felt nothing like the first movie. With that it was no shock that the franchise remained dead a good decade before producers thought maybe another film could be made. When they did, it was met with open arms but also rolling eyes. It was passable at best but not good.Instead of being a third story time line to the original, one could consider this the first real sequel to Universal Soldier (1992). The reason behind this being that it completely ignores the events of Universal Soldier: The Return (1999) and has a more serious tone. The Ukranian Prime Minister's children have been captured by terrorist leader Topov (Zachary Baharov) and held in Chernobyl as ransom. Special forces are developing a plan to get them out but are stuck because Topov has teamed up with scientist Dr. Colin (Kerry Shale) from the UniSol project now known as Black Tower. On their side they have the next generation UniSol or NGU (Andrei Arlovski), an emotionless killing machine. After a few attempts it is decided by Dr. Porter (Gary Cooper), another scientist from the Black Tower project, to bring back Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme). However Colins has a backup and that's having Andrew Scott's body (Dolph Lundgren) on standby if a problem arises.For a continuation of the original story, the writing is average at its greatest. Yet there are still a lot of unanswered questions. So what did become of Veronica Roberts (Ally Walker)? How is Andrew Scott's body intact after the finale of Universal Soldier (1992)? Again, the UniSol project was only known by a select group of scientists so where was Dr. Colins and Dr. Porter? These questions just begin to add up over time. Written by Victor Ostrovsky (in his only credit ever), the only thing in the script that is relatively untainted is the fact that Deveraux has been in rehabilitation since the end of Universal Soldier (1992). But as for development very little of what Deveraux feels is explained and his reconvening with Scott only triggers old memories. Nothing is explained as to how both of them feel. It even seemed at one point that Scott was thinking about something but he ends up getting cut short. Why throw in something that might work only to completely negate it?There's also appearances from others like Corey Johnson, Mike Pyle, Emily Joyce and even son of the star himself, Kris Van Damme. Directing this feature is John Hyams, the son of director Peter Hyams. Hyams Sr. was the man behind 2010 (1984) and would later direct End of Days (1999). The direction here by John Hyams isn't that impressive. It's very linear in story structure. However when it comes action, the stunts and sequences are well staged. Much of the action that occurs throughout the running time are energetic by default and are very lively. The types of violence ranges from hand-to-hand combat, shootouts to improvised weapons. Also the interactions between Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme are noteworthy to view. Since these two characters share a history together that boils both their blood, it's interesting to have the two meet in a situation that is very familiar to them. Andrei Arlovski as NGU is a competent fighter too but since his character has very few words, not much can be said.Camera-work was managed by Peter Hyams, which was unfortunately disappointing. Seeing that Hyams Sr. has had previous experience in doing cinematography, it's surprising that here the look to this picture is so unappealing. With credits to movies like 2010 (1984), Running Scared (1986), Narrow Margin (1990) and Timecop (1994), the visuals to this film should've look at least okay. Instead many scenes have dull colors and the backgrounds look to much like everything else surrounding it. Music was another problem when viewing this sequel. Composed by Kris Hill and Michael Krassner, the music is just as forgettable. Featuring only a few different cues, much of the sounds are just electronic clicks and warps. There's really no main theme and the cues for various sequences are about as anonymous as they get. As far as it's known, not even an official release of the music has been announced. So it's even harder for a fan of the music to really enjoy it. Although it would be hard to say whether it's worth it or not.Stepping up from the previous sequel, the script attempts to connect to the first film. Yet only a couple places does it actually work. Camera-work and music aren't that good but Dolph Lundgren and Jean- Claude Van Damme are fun watch on screen again and the action is good too.

-Plot : With stolen top-secret technology, terrorists have created a next-generation Universal Soldier - an elite fighter genetically altered into a programmable killing machine . With this "UniSol" (Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei "The Pit Bull" Arlovski) leading the way, they seize the crippled Chernobyl nuclear reactor, threatening to unleash a lethal radioactive cloud . The only one who can stop them is Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme), a UniSol who's been decommissioned for years . Luc is nowadays protected by Dr. Sandra Flemming (Emily Joyce) . Reactivated and retrained, Deveraux must make a full-out assault on the heavily armed fortress. Luc Deveraux's codename in the UNISOL program is GR44 and is assigned a dangerous mission by the military staff (Corey Johnson as Col. John Coby and Mike Pyle as Captain Kevin Burke). But inside, he'll discover not one but two of these virtually indestructible warriors . Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren), Deveraux's vicious UniSol enemy from the original Universal Soldier, has been secretly reanimated and upgraded. Now, these elite fighters are locked, loaded and programmed to kill; and the fate of millions hinges on this high-action showdown .-Comment : This moving picture contains noisy action , thrills , shootouts and fierce combats . From start to finish the action is unstoppable and frenetic . Thrilling screenplay dispenses absurd excitement as well as violence and lots of fights . Acceptable action movie full of struggles , crossfire and tension , this is a fast-paced, stylized action-suspense film . Screenwriter John Fasano and his son John Cody Fasano designed the special military costumes worn by the old and new model Unisols in US : TNG . The tension of this picture keeps snowballing as the clock ticks ever close for a groundbreaking as well as spectacular final . Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren have some scenes together at an impressive fighting . Dolph Lundgren filmed his parts for the movie in just 5 days, whilst Jean-Claude Van Damme filmed for 20 days. This film marks the first time Peter Hyams has acted as cinematographer without also directing . The director, John Hyams, is his son . However , P.J. Pesce was considered to direct the movie and Simon Fellows was originally signed to direct but he was replaced during pre-production . Released theatrically in a few countries and Direct-To-Video (DVD & Blu-ray) in the rest of the world . Filmmaker John Hyams quickly understood the freedom and malleability that direct to video presents and has gone about creating some incredibly interesting genre fare. Hyams made his feature length film in 1997 when wrote, directed, and produced the critically acclaimed "One Dog Day," , he subsequently filmed this ¨Universal Soldier: Regeneration¨ and ¨Dragon Eyes¨ , in which displayed an acute understanding of the action genre .-Series : The best film of the series was the original ¨Universal soldier¨ by Roland Emmerich with Jean-Claude Van Damme , Dolph Lundgren , Ally Walker , Ed O'Ross ; it was followed by ¨Universal soldier : the return¨ with Jean-Claude Van Damme , Michael Jai White , Heidi Schanz , Xander Berkeley and Justin Lazard as subsequent Universal Soldier films ignore the events of The Return and outright contradict it in a number of ways ; while still an official entry, it is no longer considered part of the series canon . ¨Universal soldier : day of reckoning¨(2012) by John Hyams with Scott Adkins , Andrei 'The Pit Bull' Arlovski , Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme , but here they have not scenes together . And two TV films : ¨Universal soldier : Brothers in arms¨ (1998) by Jeff Woolnough with Matt Battaglia , Gary Busey , Burt Reynolds , Richard McMillan and Chandra West and ¨Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business¨ (1999) by Jeff Woolnough with Burt Reynolds Juan Chioran , Claudette Roche and Matt Battaglia .

"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.