Universal Soldier (DVD)

Ah Universal Soldier! In my recent Van Damme 'season' I've been trying to watch all of his films in order of release. For some, this will seem like madness and one roundhouse kick too many. For me it is perfect escapist entertainment. Universal Soldier begins in 'Nam in 1969 and introduces us to Luc Deveraux (JCVD), an army grunt in the last few days of his tour of duty. While securing a village from North Vietnamese forces he meets nutcase Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren) who is suffering a mental breakdown. He has murdered his squad as well as a host of innocent bystanders - as well as that he has cut off their ears and made a nice necklace out of ...  Read the complete review

In what many would call Jean-Claude Van Damme's first blockbuster film, director Roland Emmerich plays to his stars' strengths, casting Van Damme and co-star Dolph Lungdren as emotionless android/cyborg soldiers created by the government in a bid to create the perfect soldier. As Luc Deveraux, the Muscles from Brussels teams up with Dolph Lungdren as Andrew Scott to feature as the two characters at the heart of this futuristic plot. The military have developed a scientific programme wherby they take the bodies of dead soldiers and reanimate them electronically by turning them into the ultimate soldiers. The soldiers are completely controllable, until some ...  Read the complete review

Universal Soldier realeased in 1993 is one of the best action flicks from Jean Claude Van Damme. (The muscles from Brussels lol) In fact, this film was done during Van Damme's increasing popularity which lasted all the way about 1999. He's had a string of hits: 'Bloodsport", "Cyborg", " Lion Heart", "Sudden Death", "Maxium Risk", followed by many flops: 'Street Fighter", "Legionare", "The Quest" and many more. I read a couple of comments about Van Damme and one of them said that the reason Van has gotten so many crappy roles is the fact that Damme does want ...  Read the complete review

Whatever happened to Dolph Lundgren eh? You know that German bloke in Rocky 4, who really looked like a frightening manufactured human? Oh well, whatever, I suppose with his acting being quite plastic he was bound to dissapear in time. Atleast though he dissapeared in style with this movie! The plot of Universal Soldier begins at the end of the Vietnam war. A french soldier played by Jean Claude Van-Damme wants to go home after the gruelling aftermath of the war, but upon the advice of his sadistic American Sargeant (played by Lundgren) to kill off some remaining Vietnamese prisoners to prove he's not a traitor, he declines, and so Lundgren kills a Vietnamese ...  Read the complete review

OK, so its getting on a bit now, but that?s not to say that Universal soldier should be forgotten is it? Then again... Starring John Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren as two veterans killed in the Vietnam way, and after some advancements in biological technology they return as some kind of cyborg warriors created from the dead bodies of themselves. Feeling no pain, the pair are then 'used' by the US military as might killing machines, but as their memories somehow miraculously recover, van Damm'e gains a sense of conscience, and begins to detest the work he is being forced to do, while Lundgren continues to kill at will. Breaking free from ...  Read the complete review