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Rating: 5.5 stars

All movies seen on 03/23/2013

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Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009)

Directed by John Hyams

Action | Science Fiction | Thriller

Most recently watched by sensoria, noahphex, seanCduregger

Overview

When terrorists threaten nuclear catastrophe at Chernobyl, the world’s only hope is to reactivate decommissioned Universal Soldier Luc Deveraux. Rearmed and reprogrammed, Deveraux must take on his nemesis from the original Universal Soldier and a next-generation “UniSol” that seems almost unstoppable.

Rated R | Length 97 minutes

Actors

Jean-Claude Van Damme | Dolph Lundgren | Andrei Arlovski | Mike Pyle | Corey Johnson | Garry Cooper | Emily Joyce | Zahary Baharov | Aki Avni | Kerry Shale | Yonko Dimitrov | Violeta Markovska | Stanislav Pishtalov | Marianne Stanicheva | John Laskowski | Kris Van Damme | Franklin A. Vallette | Shelly Varod | Radina Kardjilova | Trayan Milenov-Troy | Jon Foo | Danko Jordanov | Dian Hristov | Stephen Chang | Dimitar Ilkov | Dimiter Doichinov | Velizar Peev

Viewing History (seen 2 times)

Viewing Notes

Honestly I’m surprised I haven’t seen this until now. I think I just forgot about it until the latest UniSol film was released at Fantastic Fest. And as a film it’s also mostly forgettable. Casting MMA fighters had me concerned and I was right; lots of MMA style fights. Ugh. I like it in the octagon but not in film.

For years I’ve been saying Andrei Arlovski would be great in film. He just has that kind of presence as an eastern European heavy. But here he’s pretty dopey in a paper thin character only utilizing his fight skills. Disappointed about that.

For a vehicle that puts JCVD and Lundgren in top billing, the film sadly doesn’t put them into motion until the final sequence. That’s my biggest problem w/UniSol: Regeneration. It’s a slog up until then. And JCVD looks so tired and Dolph seems like an afterthought. That said, I still wish more of the film was like the final fights. After a pretty great car chase shootout the film is a bore for a good hour until the finale.

Not something I’d want to view again anytime soon. That’s unfortunate. At least the bar is set low for the new film which I high hopes for based on others’ reactions.

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