Universal Soldier (1992)

Director:

Roland Emmerich

Writers (WGA):

Richard Rothstein (written by) &
Christopher Leitch (written by) ...

Release Date:

10 July 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The ultimate weapons of the future have just declared war... on each other.

Plot:

Luc and Scott were killed in Vietnam, but the army has a secret project for reanimating dead people as near-perfect soldiers.

Plot Keywords:

Vietnam | Flashback | Chase | Top Secret | Army

Cast

Jean-Claude Van Damme	...	Luc Deveraux / GR44
Dolph Lundgren	...	Andrew Scott / GR13
Ally Walker	...	Veronica Roberts
Ed O'Ross	...	Colonel Perry
Jerry Orbach	...	Dr. Christopher Gregor
Leon Rippy	...	Woodward
Tico Wells	...	Garth
Ralf Moeller	...	GR76 (as Ralph Moeller)
Robert Trebor	...	Motel Owner
Gene Davis	...	Lieutenant
Drew Snyder	...	Charles
Tommy 'Tiny' Lister	...	GR55
Simon Rhee	...	GR61
Eric Norris	...	GR86
Michael Winther	...	Technician

Also Known As:

Crystal Knights (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

103 min | Germany:84 min (TV version) (heavily cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

CDS (digital 35 mm prints) | Dolby SR (analog 35 mm prints)

Certification:

Australia:MA (DVD rating) | Germany:16 (heavily cut) | Germany:18 (JK/SPIO) | Iceland:16 | South Korea:18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Chile:18 | Finland:K-18 | France:-12 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:18 | Singapore:M18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Ashfork, Arizona, USA

Company:

Studio Canal

Trivia:

Andrew Davis was attached to direct the picture based on a different screenplay. The budget being too high and creative differences arising, Carolco hired Roland Emmerich, fresh from his low budget feature Moon 44 (1990) and a canceled Sylvester Stallone vehicle "Isobar", to deliver a new screenplay and direct the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Sergeant Andrew Scott shoots the Vietnamese boy at the beginning of the film, the boy is wearing a green shirt. But when we see him from the back as Scott shoots him, his shirt is blue.

Quotes:

Scott: They're all traitors!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Burly Man Chronicles (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Life's Too Confusin' Anyway

An action classic

Muscles from Brussels and the Swedish man-of-war Dolph Lundgren team up as superhuman soldiers brought back to life from Vietnam in this movie. I'm not sure what it is exactly that they do – I wasn't paying attention. But I'm pretty sure it's something about struggling with obeying the orders from their commanders and having flashbacks from their past lives. What I know is that they do fight a lot. They also fight civilians. They even fight each other, and that's when things start to get very entertaining.

It is only fair to watch this movie at least once since it has brought us not one, not two, but THREE sequels. What's even more awesome about these sequels is that they are all rated under 3.5 but not by enough votes to get them on the bottom 100 list on IMDb. If you fail in getting on a list like that, you even fail at failing and that is admirable. Universal Soldier is much more well-liked and higher-rated and rightly so.

I do not recall who, but another film critic put it best when he pointed to how different Universal Soldiers was from your average science-fiction movie. To summarize this, where most sci-fi movies get to the part where all the complex science needs to be explained by some brilliant professor, Universal Soldiers simply offers the explanation "we hypercharged their bodies to turn dead flesh into living tissue." And that's how dead soldiers were reanimated into superhuman killing machines. Brilliant. There's no pretension – just take it or leave it.

I can't find it in my heart to give this movie anything less than a 7 based on what it set out to do. Even though the acting is atrocious, the script is a joke and the dialogue is stupid, it's still a classic in my opinion. It had some intentionally funny moments like when Van Damme was in the diner and ate like ten meals of "today's special" and everyone was staring at him. If you don't find stuff like that funny, you have to watch it strictly tongue-in-cheek and just go for the brainless early-90s style action and cut-rate explosions. 7/10