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#534 - Universal Soldier
Roland Emmerich, 1992
A pair of dead soldiers are resurrected as part of a program to create an army of super-soldiers, which is complicated when one of them rejects his programming and escapes.
I should probably know better than to give certain directors chance after chance after chance to win me over, and now I realise that this is especially true of Roland Emmerich. This early film of his features a relatively small-scale story compared to the apocalyptic extravaganzas he'd go on to create, but that's still no guarantee of "less-is-more" quality. To start off, there's the inherently silly premise to consider. I can understand why the military might want to use deceased soldiers as the guinea pigs for experiments designed to yield a more powerful commando, but you'd think that there would then be an explanation for why they're using dead soldiers from the Vietnam War despite taking place in the film's early-'90s present day. Two of these soldiers become the hero (Jean-Claude Van Damme) and villain (Dolph Lundgren) as they start to regain their memories. Van Damme quickly realises that he is alive in the present day and goes on the run with an aspiring reporter (Ally Walker). Meanwhile, Lundgren's recall is a lot less total; he thinks that he's still in Vietnam for some reason, immediately prompting him to leave a bloody trail as he pursues Van Damme at all costs.
Unfortunately, Universal Soldier ends up being little more than an extremely generic chase movie distinguished only by its extremely ludicrous premise. The odd spot of unique world-building is squandered in some sub-par manners - the concept of the super-soldiers needing extreme cold to heal and survive is an interesting one, but it's poorly executed and frequently played for weak humour. Though Lundgren and Van Damme are not exactly known for their acting abilities, I do think the former manages to pull off an appropriately bloodthirsty villain with gusto while the latter struggles with the demands of being a mentally tormented killing machine struggling to regain his humanity. The action generally isn't distinctive enough to make much of a difference as it runs through a fairly standard collection of set-pieces. Shoot-outs, vehicular chases, the odd instance of excessively violent death...none of it feels especially fresh or inventive. As such, I feel like this is something of an audition reel for Emmerich to prove how capable he is of directing action movies on a larger scale. It certainly doesn't lack for basic technical competence, but that's hardly much of a justification when it's in service to such a wholly unremarkable film. That being said, I'm intrigued by the weirdly cult-ish reputation that its two most recent sequels have earned, but it wouldn't be difficult to be better than this.
Roland Emmerich, 1992
A pair of dead soldiers are resurrected as part of a program to create an army of super-soldiers, which is complicated when one of them rejects his programming and escapes.
I should probably know better than to give certain directors chance after chance after chance to win me over, and now I realise that this is especially true of Roland Emmerich. This early film of his features a relatively small-scale story compared to the apocalyptic extravaganzas he'd go on to create, but that's still no guarantee of "less-is-more" quality. To start off, there's the inherently silly premise to consider. I can understand why the military might want to use deceased soldiers as the guinea pigs for experiments designed to yield a more powerful commando, but you'd think that there would then be an explanation for why they're using dead soldiers from the Vietnam War despite taking place in the film's early-'90s present day. Two of these soldiers become the hero (Jean-Claude Van Damme) and villain (Dolph Lundgren) as they start to regain their memories. Van Damme quickly realises that he is alive in the present day and goes on the run with an aspiring reporter (Ally Walker). Meanwhile, Lundgren's recall is a lot less total; he thinks that he's still in Vietnam for some reason, immediately prompting him to leave a bloody trail as he pursues Van Damme at all costs.
Unfortunately, Universal Soldier ends up being little more than an extremely generic chase movie distinguished only by its extremely ludicrous premise. The odd spot of unique world-building is squandered in some sub-par manners - the concept of the super-soldiers needing extreme cold to heal and survive is an interesting one, but it's poorly executed and frequently played for weak humour. Though Lundgren and Van Damme are not exactly known for their acting abilities, I do think the former manages to pull off an appropriately bloodthirsty villain with gusto while the latter struggles with the demands of being a mentally tormented killing machine struggling to regain his humanity. The action generally isn't distinctive enough to make much of a difference as it runs through a fairly standard collection of set-pieces. Shoot-outs, vehicular chases, the odd instance of excessively violent death...none of it feels especially fresh or inventive. As such, I feel like this is something of an audition reel for Emmerich to prove how capable he is of directing action movies on a larger scale. It certainly doesn't lack for basic technical competence, but that's hardly much of a justification when it's in service to such a wholly unremarkable film. That being said, I'm intrigued by the weirdly cult-ish reputation that its two most recent sequels have earned, but it wouldn't be difficult to be better than this.