One Line Review: Universal soldiers is a one stop solution to your action and sci-fi cravings!
YouTube Trailer Universal Soldier
Starring: Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme
Director: Roland Emmerich
Release Date: 10 July 1992
Introduction
Sometimes I wonder If after 30 something years our future generation will look at today’s movies as we look at the 80s and 90s creations. Maybe our kids will talk about Avengers or Logan and wonder about the time they got released.
Today, I’ll wonder about the same for Universal Soldier. We’ll talk about its release and its impact on the audiences and some goods & bad of this movie. The universal soldier made its first appearance in Hollywood on 10 July 1985 and since then the life of its cast and producers changed forever. Let’s see what it has to offer us.
Our review for Universal Soldier is 8/10.
Iconic Dialogue from the Movie
“How can you be so damn calm? I mean, your buddies back there just shot enough ammo at us to destroy Eastern Europe, and you’re sitting here bitching at me about a goddamned seat belt?”
After the Release
The universal soldier made its special place in teenagers’ and children’s hearts, Although it wasn’t made for them. Teens used to flex on dialogues and styles of this movie. Actor Dolph Lundgren, who made his unique value in Hollywood from Rock IV, worked in 28 films after universal soldier and got recast for universal soldier 2 in 2009.
Trivia
The weapon equipment used by the unisols was custom made by the Eagle Industries including those Desert Eagles and Soldier holster harnesses for MP5k submachine guns. Also, the Vietnam scene was actually shot on a golf course in Kingman, Arizona by using fake sets and foliages.
Critic Reviews
“I suppose there is a market for this sort of thing among bubblebrained adolescents of all ages, but it takes a good chase scene indeed to rouse me from the lethargy induced by dozens and dozens of essentially similar sequences.” Roger Eberts
Plot Summary
Two American soldiers died fighting each other for some ethical reason during the Vietnam war. But, the government decided to preserve their bodies so that they can be used in a top-secret mission called Unisols. They are resurrected with help of AI and robotics and now used to kill people for the benefit of the government. But they both start to have flashbacks of the past and remembers that they hated each other which disrupts the ongoing mission.
Let’s talk about the major elements of this movie and see whether it kept up to the mark in those or not. Let’s start with…
Acting
The acting is very straightforward and simple in this movie. But, that doesn’t mean it is bad. Instead, you’ll enjoy the simplistic and minimalistic acting performances of the cast. Dolp Lundergren was very noticeable throughout the movie. Jean-Claude Van Damme is also making a significant impact on the film with his performance.
Story
Story is enjoyable. Although, there are some points where it becomes quite predictable but nothing you’ll regret after the movie. You can have a very good time pass entertainment with this movie. As for the story, I have nothing to complain about. I enjoyed it.
Visuals
The film gives a nice dose of visual entertainment as well. Honestly, without it, this film would have not survived. Good visuals and graphics are a must-have for an action sequence. It remains to a sweet spot where it is neither too overwhelming nor too less for a movie to be dull.
Direction
The director is neither too bad for this film nor he was extremely good. He did his job quite well. I feel like there are scenes that are less taken care of and could have been managed well but nothing big which you’ll notice with naked eyes.
Character Arc
The characters of this film develops to a level of a great deal from beginning to end of the movie. The writers paid good attention to the character arc. Maybe that’s the reason the characters got so much love from the younger audiences, especially the teens.
Sequels
if we talk only about film series, leaving television films aside, then there are three further releases of universal soldiers ( Universal soldiers II and Regeneration) and if we count the television releases as well then there are 8 parts of this series.
Conclusion
This film gives birth to children’s and teenager’s all-time favorite series. Just like Marve’s Avengers, it remained in the heart of young blokes of 80s and 90s.
