Universal Soldier: The Return, released in 1999, was the second theatrical film in the Universal Soldier series, following two made-for-TV movies, Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms and Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business. The fourth movie overall, The Return was directed by Mic Rodgers and starred Jean-Claude Van Damme, Michael Jai White, professional wrestler Bill Goldberg, Heidi Schanz, Kiana Tom and Xander Berkeley as Dr. Dylan Kotner. To date, this is the last Van Damme film with Replicant to have a wide-release in U.S. theatres, and the last to have any theatrical release until 2008's JCVD which had a limited theatrical release. In addition, Universal Soldier: Regeneration is planned for a 2010 release.
Plot
Luc Deveraux (Van Damme) is now a technical expert who is working with the government with his partner Maggie (Tom), who's been through countless hours of training and combat with him, to refine and perfect the UniSol program in an effort to make a new, stronger breed of soldier that is more sophisticated, intelligent, and agile.
All of the new UniSols, which are faster and stronger than their predecessors, are connected through an artificially intelligent computer system called SETH (voice of Michael Jai White), a Self-Evolving Thought Helix.
When SETH discovers that the Universal Soldier program is scheduled to be shut down because of budget cuts, he takes matters into his own "hands" to protect himself.
Killing those who try to shut off his power, and unleashing his platoon of super soldiers, led by the musclebound Romeo (Goldberg), SETH spares Deveraux, only because Deveraux has the secret code that is needed to deactivate a built-in program that will shut SETH down in a matter of hours. With the help of Squid (Brent Hinkley), a rogue cyberpunk, SETH takes human form (White).
Not only must Luc contend with ambitious reporter Erin (Schanz), who won't leave his side, but Luc also must contend with General Radford (Daniel von Bargen) who wants to take extreme measures to stop SETH. SETH has also kidnapped Luc's injured 13-year-old daughter Hillary (Karis Paige Bryant), and is holding her hostage.
Luc is the only person who can rescue Hillary, because Luc knows firsthand how a UniSol thinks, feels, and fights. Luc infiltrates the UniSol building, freezes SETH with liquid nitrogen, then shatters SETH's frozen body, killing him. Luc then manages to get Hillary out of the building on time. However, the bomb that General Radford had placed was deactivated by SETH. As Romeo and the platoon of Universal Soldiers start to march out, Luc fires at the explosive charge blowing up the building and killing the Universal Soldiers.
Casting
Reception
Produced on a budget of approximately $19 million, Universal Soldier: The Return grossed $10 million in the United States and $12,912,120 worldwide. Reviews were mostly negative, with the film earning a 6% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[2] James Berardinelli gave the film a score of one and a half stars out of four and remarked, "Some of the explosions are cool. There's an exploitatively entertaining sequence in a strip joint that features a bevy of topless women. Still, despite all the pyrotechnics, I almost dozed off twice."[3]
Soundtrack
A film soundtrack was released by Trauma.
Track listing
- "Crush 'Em" – Megadeth
- "Remain Calm" – One Minute Silence
- "Awake" – Clay People
- "Crazy Train" - The Flys
- "Bled For Days" - Static-X
- "Fueled" - Anthrax
- "Majic, No. 3" - Jact
- "Hatred" - D Generation
- "Securitron (Police State 2000)" - Fear Factory
- "Eureka Pile" - Ministry
- "Chaos" - Tim Skold
- "Saddam A-Go-Go" - Gwar
- "Target: Devereux" - Don Davis
Trivia
- Filmed on the location of the cancelled Superconducting Super Collider particle accelerator project in Waxahachie, Texas.
- Michael Jai White, the voice and actor who portrayed S.E.T.H. was an extra in the first Universal Soldier Movie. He is seen briefly in the opening scene set in Vietnam alongside Van Damme as a Soldier.
- The standard issue rifle/grenade launcher for the Unisols in the movie are modeled after the H&K designed O.I.C.W rifle, also known as the XM29 rifle. The modification involved the remodelling of the outer casing of the rifle to look bulkier and more rectangular in shape. On a side note, the rifle in actuality has a magazine capacity of 30 5.56x45mm NATO rounds for the assault rifle part and a magazine capacity of 6 20mm Grenade rounds for the grenade launcher part. This amount was exaggerated in the scene where the three Unisols were retaliating against the army platoon stationed outside the research facility.
- This was the first movie to feature Bill Goldberg as he would eventually star in several more movies after this.
References
See also
External links
