PopHorror Let's Get Scared
The concept of a merciless, genetically enhanced super soldier that can be controlled by another is a very dangerous one. If it works, you’re a genius. If it doesn’t… well, that’s where Roland Emmerich’s Universal Soldier comes in. Back when it released on July 7, 1992, we were witness to a monster match of two 1980s icons. The normally villainous Dolph Lundgren (Rocky 4 1985) and the heroic Jean Claude Van Damme (Bloodsport 1988) finally collided in a battle for the generations. Universal Soldier has spawned five sequels of various canon, but it all started thirty years ago.
So what is Universal Soldier about? We open in 1969 in the jungle of Vietnam where Private Luc Devereaux (Van Damme) is told that his leader, Sergeant Andrew Scott (Lundgren), has gone crazy and killed a whole village of people. Deveraux comes upon Scott, who’s wearing a necklace made of human ears and brutally murdering a Vietnamese woman, and unsuccessfully tries to stop him from killing the woman’s daughter. Devereaux and Scott end up killing each other. When the dust settles, the US army tries to cover up the fact that Scott went nuts, and these two killed each other.
Fast forward to 1992 where the US government has a black op program called Unisol run by Colonel Perry (Ed O’Ross: Red Heat 1988) that features dead soldiers being brought back to life, including GR76 (Ralf Moeller: Gladiator 2000), GR86 (professional stuntman Eric Norris), GR61 (professional stuntman Simon Rhee) and GR55 (Tom Lister, Jr. as Tiny Lister, Jr.: Friday 1995), along with Deveraux (GR44) and Scott (GR13). The first mission is a success, but when GR44 sees an Asian lady screaming, he flashes back to Vietnam and temporarily freezes.
While this is going on, nosy news reporter Veronica Roberts (Ally Walker: Someone To Die For 1995) wants to get the story on the Unisols, so she enlists her cameraman, Huey Taylor (Joseph Malone: Hocus Pocus 1993), to help her infiltrate the makeshift Unisol base. While there, her presence is discovered, and the Unisols are sent to capture her. In the ensuing capture, GR13 executes Huey, and it triggers GR44 into attacking him and helping Veronica escape. From there, it’s a game of cat and mouse as GR44 slowly regains his personality, and bloodlust takes over in his quest to take down GR13 once and for all.
I’ll be the first to admit Universal Soldier isn’t a classic horror movie, but there are definitely some scary elements and a smorgasbord of gore. We’ve got dismemberments, people set on fire, headshots, buckets of blood, broken bones… all the various carnage you’d expect in a bloody action movie. We also got the very real element of the Vietnam War to start us off, which would give any veteran watching it a bit of PTSD.
Now for the acting. Don’t expect Best Actor-worthy acting from Van Damme and Lundgren, but Dolph does deserve a bit of credit. While Jean-Claude’s thick Belgian accent is on full display, Dolph was able to hide his natural Swedish accent in his performance. Ally Walker is decent as the damsel in distress, but that’s all that’s really noteworthy. Again, this is an action movie, not Citizen Kane.
The success of Universal Soldier spawned several sequels. Two were direct to video duds called Universal Soldier 2: Brothers in Arms and Universal Soldier 3: Unfinished Business, where they foolishly recast the characters from the first film. Then in 1999, a direct sequel called Universal Soldier: The Return was released, starring Van Damme and WCW World Heavyweight Champion Bill Goldberg. This one which never mentioned the two prior sequels.
In 2009, yet another sequel was released, this one starring both Van Damme and Lundgren, and was called Universal Soldier: Regeneration. This film eliminated the previous three sequels and labeled itself as the new direct sequel to the 1992 movie. In 2012, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, a sequel to Regeneration also starring Van Damme and Lundgren, was released. The problem with all of these films is all the retconning pretty much made the first three sequels completely useless. You’re better off just watching the original Universal Soldier and forgetting the sequels.
As mentioned earlier, the acting is what you’d expect out of a Van Damme and Lundgren project, so don’t expect Olivier out of them. The story is an action movie, so don’t expect Friday The 13th. But this film played with the idea of zombie soldiers, a tricky one to pull off, but the original Universal Soldier was able to do it. Just enjoy this mindless popcorn flick and all of its goriness.
