Universal Soldier: Regeneration (aka Universal Soldier 3)

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Universal Soldier: Regeneration (aka Universal Soldier 3)

tn_usregeneration

“Why me Lord? What have I ever done / That was worth even one / Of the pleasures I’ve known / Tell me Lord, what did I ever do / That was worth loving you / or [Universal Soldier 3].”

–Kris Kristofferson, “Why Me”

Holy shit fellas, I didn’t see this one coming. I was excited about the idea of Van Damme and Lundgren doing a movie together again, but honestly I assumed they (and everybody else) would be phoning it in. Man, was I wrong. There are no phones used at all. This is a masterpiece of DTV.

I mean seriously, how did this happen?

It comes out February 2nd and I can’t wait to discuss it with everybody here after you’ve seen it. For now the review is up at The Ain’t It Cool News.

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Tags: Dolph, JCVD, John Hyams, Peter Hyams

This entry was posted on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 3:22 am and is filed under Action, Reviews, Science Fiction and Space Shit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

69 Responses to “Universal Soldier: Regeneration (aka Universal Soldier 3)”

Michael
Watched a screener last week and loved it. The JCVD scene in the warehouse where he moves around for about 10 minutes from room to room is terrific and Dolph’s last scene is spectacular.

January 25th, 2010 at 4:16 am
CJ Holden
*gasp* Must…watch…

January 25th, 2010 at 4:44 am
Kyle
The score tries SO HARD to be John Carpenter. *shakes head*

January 25th, 2010 at 5:21 am
Kyle
The score tries SO HARD to be John Carpenter. *shakes head*

Side Note: “Hollywood” should REALLY just give him enough money to make Escape from Earth, and stop raping his older films and ideas.

January 25th, 2010 at 5:22 am
Jot
Only watched the first one and this one in the universal Soldier series and whilst i disagree that the new one is better, it does show just how far DTV had come in recent years with some cool scenes and some solid performances.

Now not all DTV sequels (or originals) work or are made with such a sure hand (like Vern indicates), the start alone belongs in a theatrical release and is like a very violent Bourne that you can actually see what is happening.

What i would say is that movie does run out of steam at various points, but the ending does kinda make sense (in terms of what came before) and although i won’t be following the serious any further it looks like more Uni Sol releases are on the way.

I also kinda dug Dolph’s performance, although very brief he was able to put across the pain (both internal and committed to others) that being a Uni-Sol must bring about and the constantly confused not quite sure of where he was, or who he really is, in a way that really shone through and showed just what he is truly capable of when given the opportunity.

JCVD ain’t quite as good, while better than in a few of his older films (sorry don’t keep up to date with his newer releases) he just looks tired and haggard. Which while suiting this role i would imagine is not being done ‘method acting style’.

The other guy, from the UFC (or whatever) is alright, but isn’t really required to do much other than maul everybody he comes across. So well done there and the stiffness in his acting is probably why this movie was a good choice for him.

Overall not bad, a lot better than i expected, but the lack of money does show through, but well done to the father and son team who raise the material and shoot a movie that is far above the level you would expect, or some of the writing deserves.

January 25th, 2010 at 5:34 am
Brendan
I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen a Universal Soldier movie. First time for everything.

January 25th, 2010 at 7:50 am
dieselboy
Nice review Vern. I’ll (surprisingly) be throwing this up in the Netflix que now.

Is it weird that I don’t like seeing Vern’s stuff linked to Aint it Cool? Like I want to keep out DTV reviewing friend hidden away in our little corner, away from the haters over at Harry’s page.

January 25th, 2010 at 8:02 am
Paul
Brendan – the first one is actually a lot better than some reviews make it out to be, if you’re into that kind of thing. It’s essentially a chase flick. You get the standard Van Damme final fight* at the end, which I’ve grown bored of through constant repetition, but when it’s just doing the whole Terminator thing it’s a solid watchable movie.

*The ending of any Van Damme movie in six stages (plus an optional seventh stage):

1) Absurdly oversized villain and Jean Claude Van Damme stare each other out, without blinking, for at least thirty seconds, in slow-mo.
2) JCVD uses his superior speed and roundhouse-kicking abilities to pound the oversized villain without appearing to hurt him or do any physical harm to him whatsoever.
3) Absurdly oversized villain decides to stop showboating and start comprehensively kicking JCVD’s ass. This usually takes ten to twelve solid blows, the last three all being in slow motion and filmed from JCVD’s point of view, just to emphasize how truly fucked up he is.
4) Absurdly oversized villain inexplicably decides to stop whupping JCVD’s ass in order to demonstrate what a terrible, terrible person he actually is. This can be by a) threatening to kill JCVD’s wife / son / other close relative, b) molesting a sweet innocent female friend of JCVD’s with a firearm / grenade [please note that Dennis Rodman actually counts as "sweet innocent female friend" here], c) thinking he’s won and turning his back in a display of hubris prompted by exultation of his own delusions of invincibility, or d) monologuing his entire evil scheme to his “doomed” fallen enemy before he kills him.
5) JCVD suddenly gets a second wind from a) extra motivation (”You threatened my family… you shouldn’t have done that!”), b) chemical stimulation, c) encouragement of friendly non-combatant, or, in the worst movies, d) I have no fucking idea – act of God? – he just gets up and starts fighting again for no obvious reason.
6) Absurdly oversized villain is apparently shocked into mental submission by JCVD’s recovery, losing all of his previously formidable punching / blocking abilities and just standing there while JCVD beats the crap out of him for at least two minutes. This despite the fact that JCVD hasn’t landed a single effective blow up until this point. While the oversized villain may throw the occasional punch, and even land one once or twice, there is never any doubt who’s in charge. This continues for at least two minutes until the oversized villain collapses, probably covered in the blood of both men.
7) As an optional final twist, the defeated oversized villain may also get a second wind and reach for a weapon to stab or shoot JCVD in the back (why he didn’t just use it before is never explained). This gives JCVD a good excuse to snap the oversized villain’s neck without it technically being “murder”.

Please note that this also applies to sixty to seventy percent of all one-on-one martial arts fights with a “good guy” and a “bad guy” in cinema. Heck, Bolo Yeung vs John Saxon in “Enter the Dragon” even fit the mould. It was the one scene in that entire film that I didn’t like. (And I freakin’ love that film.)

January 25th, 2010 at 8:24 am
Wolfgang
Fuck yeah, Oleg delivers.

January 25th, 2010 at 8:25 am
RRA
Vern – Man you gotta review OUTLAND one of these days.

January 25th, 2010 at 9:06 am
AU_Armageddon
Hi, I try not to post no more cos I make too much trouble (and am slurping bottom of a cask this moment) but I do gots to chime in to give this one it’s due credit. I was loving it all the way through, but for me, the moment of shock where it became a masterpiece of dtv was dolph’s final scene – first the questions, but when I realised I was genuinely hanging off what great insight the dolph zombie was going to share… and then… I mean it’s 10/10 stuff. I never never got why people dun write good lines for all this movies when it’s so easy, fuck – someone finally took a few moments to think about what they were writing.

I cried in JCVD but this made me race out and grab 10 dolph movies (10 for 10 deals here). Bit of a mistake cos I watched Detention and half-way through thought idiot, got the wrong guy, you need to grab 10 movies from the director or writer or someone but dolph. On plus side, enjoyed Red Scorpion more than I remember and Showdown in Little Tokyo is still a 10/10 old school action even without someone thinkin too hard on the writing.

January 25th, 2010 at 9:34 am
Mr. Majestyk
AU, you should try out ARMY OF ONE. It’s got bloody as hell gunfights and a bunch of Ferraris blowing up and shit.

January 25th, 2010 at 10:43 am
CallMeKermiT
Oh hell yes , an Outland review would be amazing ! I still need to see Capricorn One , but I’m already sold on Hyams sci-fi movies . It’s strange that you mention Carpenter , because the last movie I re-watched is Ghost of Mars , and the opening of that movie reminded me of the classic Carpenter’s scores . And the movie I watched before that ? Timecop . Not as good as I remembered it ( I watched it as a child , and for me it was amazing ) , but at least with some fun moments . It’s good to hear that a DTV movie with cyber-soldiers still has the time for some peaceful acting moments…. with Jean-Claude Van Damme . Now before I watch this it’s time to re-watch Sudden Death. I would like to see Van Damme and the Hyams become a tag-team of DTV greatness , like Adkins and Florentine .

January 25th, 2010 at 11:58 am
CallMeKermiT
Wow , there’s an Outland re-imagining in the works (2012)? With Hyams on board ? Didn’t see it coming . Also on board is Michael Davis , the director of Shoot em Up .

And I was thinking …man , the Universal Soldier canonical movies , are full of good villains : Dolph , Michael Jai White and , uh…, Bill Goldberg . It’s good that the new one is interesting too .

January 25th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
RRA
CallMeKermiT – You would like Capricorn One. Anyway, I guess Vern will review 2010 eventually. Just because its 2010.

He’s many several good (and quite awful) movies, but I kinda have a sneaking admiration for Peter Hyams. Maybe its because its his willingness to tackle different genres, not exactly afraid of failure like many filmmakers (Kevin Smith) are of playing outside their comfortable sandbox.

That and he lights his own movies. An underrated cinematographer, so nice to see him use those skills outside of his movies.

I wonder if his last one BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT remake is good or bad. With Hyams, either is quite possible.

January 25th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Wolfgang
If I remember correctly isn’t Outland one of those movies where the hero knows exactly who did what right at the beginning, then he spends the whole movie doing things the honourable way by gathering evidence and conducting a professional investigation and then goes all vigilante in the last ten minutes and just beats the shit out of the bad guy like he should’ve all along?

January 25th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Carlos
Had a Hyams double feature of this w/ BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT (RRA – reviews are terrible, but I liked it) and while I didn’t like it as much as Vern did (plot not as good as action), I’m in total agreement with him that John Hyams deserves a shot at a big Hollywood flick. He’s definitely from the McTiernan school of action filmatism, which is far less attended nowadays (goddamn kids are all going to the Bay school). The action scenes here are extremely well shot and edited and there’s no flashiness for flashiness’ sake. I wonder if at least one of these producers gave him shit for it, trying to convince the dude to add a few Avid farts here and there.

January 25th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Sabreman
Has anyone mentioned Running Scared yet? (They did at AICN, briefly.)

While I thought the humor was a little over-the-top at a time, the film holds up fairly well; good New York sets; an epic car chase daring to best the French Connection.

You should do a double-feature of that and OUTLAND, Vern!

January 25th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Sabreman
Plus, Paul: would that template fit John Woo’s Hard Target? (Been a long time since I watched it, but I don’t recall the finale going that way… Would be very amused if it did, though. {g})

January 25th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
clubside
Not really Wolfgang, though Connery obviously has a good idea of what is going on early, and there is a change in his attitude, ultimately the movie is all about confrontation. Many people have called Outland “High Noon in space” and I guess I can see that, but it has a lot of other great stuff going on in the betrayals and investigation. I think Hyams (and the editor and sound designer and even the conductor) does a great job ratcheting up the tension as the hired killers are set to arrive. It’s not the “scary” tension of Alien (they share a lot of the same set design ideas so people like to trot out that comparison), it’s more traditional, and obviously the pace is a lot slower than recent movies, but I think it still works. Hoping for a Blu-ray soon as the DVD was an early release and could benefit from the resolution and color upgrade (as well as some bonus features).

Love Running Scared, Sabreman, funny and some decent action as well as Joey Pants with a mohawk getting punched in the face. Also love Sudden Death, and as many have said, Hyams being a workhorse, he has others that are at least interesting if ultimately failures.

I’m interested in the Outland reboot if only because the story is a classic and it would be cool if more people got to check it out. The original still works today, just thinking about Peter Boyle’s smirking face makes me want to load it up!

January 25th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
CallMeKermiT
In Outland I like the concept of human-only sci-fi , you know , no aliens , no jedi , no robots . Only humans and their problems , basically the same old shit .And I think the movie works very well with that idea because every single character is flawed in some way . Connery is stubborn and too attached to his idea of justice to notice that his wife is going to leave him ( you can understand her , but still , she left him , that bitch !) , his second in command is on Boyle’s payroll , the doctor is old and disillusioned and Boyle himself is the bad guy , but with problems of his own . I like that . Plus the actress playing the doctor, Frances Sternhagen , is also the old lady with the spraycan-flamethrower in the Mist . Awesome .

January 25th, 2010 at 5:25 pm
RRA
Wolfgang – Not really, and yeah Sabreman is right that OUTLAND is basically “HIGH NOON in Outer Space,” and if one consider it that way, well it works rather well as a sci-fi western. Fuck you FIREFLY. Besides, its Sean Connery kicking ass (remember that?) in outer space.

What more incentive you need?

Sabreman/clubside – Yeah I also liked RUNNING SCARED, a fun buddy cop entry in that rather crowded genre in the 1980s. Good chemistry, comedy, stunts, etc.

Then Hyams’ next movie I think was THE PRESIDIO, another buddy cop flick that is the reverse. Complete failure in almost* everyway, with ZERO chemistry between Connery and Harmon, dull action, I hate that movie. It makes STAY TUNED more likeable and not as lame in hindsight.

I would also suggest Hyams’ THE RELIC and his NARROW MARGIN remake. MARGIN isn’t as good as that B-film noir classic, but its certainly watchable. RELIC is just a good tight monster movie thriller. Its like OUTLAND. Is it necessarily original or new? No, but its well done (and entertaining) derivativity.

Carlos – Good to know about DOUBT.

*=Only one good touch: Connery kicking ass in a bar fight using only his thumbs.

January 25th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
RRA
CallMeKermiT – My favorite part of OUTLAND was Connery’s pre-war talk with the doctor, his only ally, who doesn’t get why Connery is going HIGH NOON about the arriving mercenaries.

“Why?!?”

“because… maybe they are right. They sent me here to this pile of shit because they think I belong here. I want to find out if… well if they’re right. ”

BAD FUCKING ASS

Also Connery’s beatdown of that drug dealer in the Kitchen. Not as ridiculously fun as the kitchen massacre in Hyams’ SUDDEN DEATH, but still fun.

January 25th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
CallMeKermiT
Yeah , for some reason the first dialogue between Connery and the doctor is one of the first scenes I remember of the movie , maybe because it’s so good at establishing the characters . ” I want the report immediately , or I will kick your ass all across the room . Marshall joke.” This is our hero , talking to a woman !

January 25th, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Gwai Lo
You know what movie is kinda like OUTLAND and CAPRICORN ONE? SATURN 3. Old ass Kirk Douglas running around banging Farrah Fawcett and fighting a giant robot with a christmas light for a head, programmed by Harvey Keitel doing some sort of riff on Mr. Magoo. It’s a wild ride, man. Another great one along these lines is ANDROID with Klaus Kinski. I’m on a big sci-fi kick right now actually, I just found a new favorite in COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT and I’ve acquired a small collection of obscure Russian and Polish sci-fi that sounds mindblowing, like KIN-DZA-DZA and THE UGLY SWANS among others.

I respect Hyams because he had the stones to follow Kubrick. 2010 is actually a pretty damn good movie, it’s just in the shadow of one of the greatest films ever made. The whole series is really good, I wish they’d make 2061 and especially 3001. And Rendezvous with Rama! Bring that shit on in 3D.

January 25th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
Jareth Cutestory
Gwai Lo: On the topic of 2010, how do you feel about the decision Hyams made to take everything that happened in Kubrick’s film so literally, stuff that, I’m guessing, Kubrick intended to be much more symbolic or impressionistic, like the space baby? Don’t you think it kind of hurts the film?

January 25th, 2010 at 9:23 pm
Gwai Lo
I’m definitely not going to argue that 2010 is a patch on 2001, if 2001 is a 10 out of 10 then I’m being really generous to give 2010 an 8. But I don’t think Hyams should be held responsible for taking Kubrick’s film literally, because he made a pretty faithful adaptation of Clarke’s book and Clarke had already gone to great lengths to explain what’s pretty enigmatic in the movie. I think Hyams did a good job adapting the story, or at least as good a job as any mere mortal could have done at the time. If you read the books or the scripts, you’ll find that Clarke, although a brilliant visionary with ideas to burn, is closer to Hyams’ workmanlike, prosaic style as a writer than Kubrick’s godlike artistic command of his medium. The gap between the literary 2001 and the literary 2010 is not the yawning chasm that it is in the film versions. Kubrick elevated what was there with his own genius, while Hyams mostly just got Clarke’s genius on screen intact without adding much on his own, outside of his technical ability. The biggest difference between Hyams and Kubrick might be the dialogue. Hyams has characters delivering lengthy explanations for things as Clarke does in his novels, while Kubrick found ways to translate almost all of that into a visual treatise on mankind and evolution. The only real essential dialogue in Kubrick’s entire movie is the conversations with Hal. Compare that to Roy Scheider’s obnoxiously obvious voice-over in 2010. But it’s Clarke’s doing, I think. Clarke ended his 2001 script with a narrator explaining EVERYTHING. Kubrick threw all that out of course, and the techniques he used to bookend the film with completely visual representations of our past and future stages of evolution is not something Clarke would have written if left to his own devices. Hyams isn’t Kubrick, but who is? He made a film where Jupiter turns into a star and yet it feels smaller than Kubrick’s movie. Nevertheless, I like it, and I wish we had more of Clarke’s work on film.

January 25th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Gwai Lo
Sorry for going OT I know you guys are here to discuss JCVD and Dolph Lundgren

January 25th, 2010 at 10:18 pm
RRA
Gwai Lo – 2010 really works because Hyams concentrates on what he knows best: Action. And as an old timey sci-fi space adventure, 2010 delivers.

And this aint AICN. We can go all off-topic as we wish. :)

January 25th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
F. F. Dugget
every word of this review is the truth.
what a completely awesome movie. who would’ve imagined.

January 25th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
Jareth Cutestory
Well put, Gwai Lo. I actually didn’t know that Kubrick was working with (and rejecting) a more literal-minded script.

I like 2010, but I think Hyams shouldn’t have tried so hard to incorporate Kubrick’s imagery into his film, particularly the trippy space baby and the “ages of man” stuff. It would have been less jarring if he took an approach similar to Cameron’s approach to Ridley Scott’s ALIEN.

Having said that, the scene where Dave visits his wife was nice, and everything with HAL worked really well. Helen Mirren made a cool Soviet. And Hyams succeeded way better than Bryan Singer at creating an extension to an existing work.

January 25th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
Gwai Lo
http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/2001-A-Space-Odyssey.html

Scroll down to the very bottom, then scroll up until you get to the part where there’s less ’splaining. You’ll find that part hard to identify.

Speaking of those aforementioned obscure eastern european science fiction movies, I just watched one called O-BI, O-BA – THE END OF CIVILIZATION and I’ll be fucking gobsmacked if isn’t a goddamn masterpiece. Feels like it beats CHILDREN OF MEN to the punch by about 20 years.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089714/

January 26th, 2010 at 12:15 am
Wolfgang
Thanks guys, I saw Outland once a few years ago and am kinda hazy on it.

I think I’m more of a Zardoz man.

January 26th, 2010 at 5:33 am
CC
I apologize for taking this thread even further away from Universal Soldier Regeneration (which sounds terrific, and I’m eager to see) BUT, speaking of 2010…

Which is a good movie with some terrific performances (Scheider! Mirren! Lithgow! The return of Dave!) set design (the interior of the Russian ship is particularly cool) and great effects (love the shot of the guys floating in zero g right before the space walk, which I suspect Cameron was remembering for the similar image in AVATAR). It can’t even begin to approach 2001, and whenever I watch Kubrick’s film I forget it exists, but on it’s own it has some wonderful moments. I always get chills during the Dave-as-Klaatu / Dr. Manhattan scene with Scheider and the image of the star-child, and the last shot on Jupiter’s moon.

However, speaking of Cameron–am I the only one who thinks 2010 was a huge influence on The Abyss? Instead of The Discovery, we have the crashed submarine. Lithgow freaks out on the Discovery / Jammer freaks out in the sub. Bowman sees the Star Child / Lindsay sees the alien ship and the water tentacle. The world is on the brink of nuclear war between America and the Soviet Union. It’s prevented by aliens through a miraculous display of a power greater then man’s–nuking Jupiter / creating a giant wave.

For years, I thought the end of The Abyss was Cameron’s homage to both The Day The Earth Stood Still and Watchmen, then I watched 2010 again and was like, Heeey, wait a second…..

January 26th, 2010 at 6:56 am
Jareth Cutestory
“They saw how often the first faint sparks of intelligence flickered and died in the cosmic night.”

Yeah, I’m thinking 2001 was better off without the narration. Thanks for the link, Gwai Lo.

CC: When I saw 2010 recently I thought Scheider’s performance was a bit hammy. It was like everyone else was in a low-key modern movie, but from time to time he’d have an outburst worthy of the Joan Crawford.

Lithgow, Mirren and Bob Balaban were really good.

January 26th, 2010 at 7:55 am
"Greg"
Never seen so much as a single JCVD film before this, and was indeed surprised by how much I dug it. I notice too that the elder Hyams served as D.P. for this one, which probably accounts for part of the feeling that they put their best foot forward making it — it’s got to be a kick to work with your filmmaker dad on a project. And that’s also gotta be part of why it looks so good. Doubt you can often afford a cinematographer that experienced for most D2DVD films, to say nothing of the fact that this is one of the few films I’ve seen shot on a Red camera where the DP didn’t go insane with the digital grading — just a little bit of contrast and desaturation. Nicely done all around, really.

January 26th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Sabreman
Wow… I completely forgot that Hyams directed “The Relic”. There are _so_ many great pieces to that film; I’ve been meaning to upgrade to DVD for a while, and wouldn’t actually mind a blu-ray.

True, it’s a totally unreal notion of ‘evolution’ — much like ‘Mimic’, which was released the same year I think (I saw them both the same year anyway, and adored both of them). But then again, so is 2001. {g} Which I loathe for some reason like leprosy.

“The majesty of _2001_, but with a headchomping monster bounding around on fire! This is no _Night At The Museum_!” — Sabreman, Vern’s Tell It Like It Is talkback for some other movie entirely.

January 26th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Sabreman
Edit: Vern’s Life and Art of Vern talkback for some other movie entirely.

January 26th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
odo19
Sorry about changing the subject guys. Am I crazy or didn’t Vern review The Limey? I distinctly remember reading him review it but I can’t find it and I’ve been looking for about an hour. Maybe he just talked about it in a review of some other movie. Hmmm….to google!!

January 26th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
Gwai Lo
Vern talks about The Limey a lot in reference to other movies, but I also recall reading a review. I get stoned a lot though who knows.

CC – I don’t think 2010 aligns all that closely with THE ABYSS, but I wouldn’t doubt that Cameron has read plenty of Clarke. True, the aliens in each instance stage massive shows of strength at the climax, but the interactions are totally different. In THE ABYSS the aliens are of more or less comparable to us (despite their unpreventable sneak attack). They send an obvious fuck off message with a massive tidal wave, because man is bothering them. But you can picture scenarios where we could strike back if they fucked with us. In 2010 the aliens are igniting Jupiter into a small sun so Europa will melt and begin their evolution, and we’re only there incidentally. It’s no skin off their teeth whether the ship hauled ass at the end or not. Dave Bowman is only there because he still retains the bare vestiges of his human personality, and uses himself as a cypher to communicate with the humans and give them a heads up. We are insects to the aliens in 2001/2010, the idea of retaliating against any of their god-like doings is simply ridiculous. There is the cold war aspect as well, but they are both 80s movies after all. I think THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL comparison is much more apt. And there was a string of underwater sci-fi stuff in the 80s, including LEVIATHAN from the same year which was basically THE THING crossed with SPHERE.

ps. One thing that bugs me about 2010, and pardon me if I’m being astronomy-retarded here because I haven’t crunched the numbers or done the Googling, but in the final montage the two suns always occupy the exact same space/alignment in the sky, all across the world, at different times. Wouldn’t they always be in different configurations? I’m pretty sure Jupiter is all over the night sky. Or are we seeing simultaneous shots from the same hemisphere or something?

January 26th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
Vern
Odo, I think somehow I missed reviewing THE LIMEY even though I gave it an Outlaw Award. And somehow I still haven’t written it up even though I’ve watched it more than once since then. I’ll add that to my list of things to do I guess.

January 26th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
odo19
Okay, thanks Vern. My memory has been really undependable these last few days. First I lose 10 dollars betting that Guy Pearce played Young Clint Eastwood in Space Cowboys and now I’m imagining non-existent Limey reviews. I need more than 4 hours of sleep at night probably.

January 26th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
CallMeKermiT
Gwai Lo : Thanks for mentioning all those movies , man . I’m a fan of the Strugatsky brothers ” Roadside Picnic” and of the Stalker movie by Tarkovsky , so I’m always looking for something similar . I will absolutely track down O-bi , O-ba , when I’m finished with my Frogtown retrospective . I love this place.

January 26th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
Gwai Lo
I gotta read Roadside Picnic. STALKER is another favorite of mine, as well as SOLARIS, and I’ve been burning through Lem recently. I just watched another one by the O-BI, O-BA director, Piotr Szulkin, called THE WAR OF THE WORLD: THE NEXT CENTURY. And I am as stunned as I was last night when I watched his other movie. I’m trying to fathom how I hadn’t even heard of some of the sci-fi I’ve been watching lately prior to doing fairly detailed research. Because I’m finding excellent shit left right and center, someone needs to publish a report about this stuff being out there. I’m going to check out Szulkin’s GOLEM and GA-GA: GLORY TO THE HEROES next if I can find them (by the way I don’t know what is up with this guy and babytalk two part titles, his movies are serious.) Have you seen anything by Konstantin Lopushansky? He was a Tarkovsky disciple. I think I might go through his stuff when I’m done with Szulkin. Apparently LETTERS FROM A DEAD MAN, VISITOR OF A MUSEUM, THE TURN OF THE CENTURY and UGLY SWANS are all good.

January 27th, 2010 at 12:44 am
CallMeKermiT
Roadside Picnic is very good , but drastically different from the movie . It’s one of those books I read once every 2 years , like Starship Troopers or The Forever war . I also remember reading somewhere , that the Strugatsky brothers , after Tarkovsky’s movie , completed another short story simply called Stalker , I don’t know if it’s a reimagining of the book , a sequel or something else because I wasn’t able to find it . I hope to find at least some of this movies !

January 27th, 2010 at 10:28 am
RRA
I like how we went talking about a DTV actioneer to Tarkovsky of all people.

This is why I love this web sight.

Seriously Vern, set up forums someday and you would be crackerjack popcorn rich.

January 27th, 2010 at 10:39 am
ironcupshrug
It works. Universal Soldier Regeneration actually reminded me, on occasion, of STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl (the setting, and the soldiers running around with a specific look of gun), the videogame based loosely on Tarkovsky’s STALKER.

But, you know, with guns. And none of that odd sub-textual weight that makes me want to weep at the end without having any idea why.

January 27th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Gwai Lo
I bet Tarkovsky could shoot a pretty good DTV action movie if he wanted to. Like that horse on the staircase scene in Andrei Rublev except 83 minutes long with more shootouts and cursing, and not so much reminding the viewer that all life must inevitably succumb to grim death in the end. Well OK maybe some reminding of that, just not so grim.

January 28th, 2010 at 12:04 am
AU_Armageddon
Army of One sounds decent, and shocked not to have seen it… until looking for it, can’t find it legally – and i am member of all 3 of australian movie mail libraries and mebbe 16 or so video stores in my region, and cant find it illegally – one low quality torrent with 1 seeder. Open to suggestions. BTW, can’t find Bless the Beasts & Children (1971) either – anywhere. Killing me – like living in dark of the 20th century all over again…when you hadda except missing an episode of Webster meant you wouldn’t get to see it again. Ta for thought anyhow.

January 28th, 2010 at 9:02 am
RANTBO
Hey, Vern. Watched the flick yesterday and loved it. And I just finished your review, and it’s spot on. I couldn’t believe how good this was. It goes against all logic. In fact, the only issue I took was that it was almost too dramatic, dark and serious, which goes against every film before it. Which isn’t really a gripe at all. DTV like this is single-handedly saving Bad-Ass Cinema from becoming extinct.

If you haven’t already, you should also check out some of Jesse Johnson’s work. His last couple DTV action flicks were pretty good (albeit not on US:R’s level). THE BUTCHER and THE 5th COMMANDMENT especially. I think if anyone could appreciate them, it’d be you. And I know I mentioned it once before awhile ago, but I’d love to read your thoughts on Jackie Wu Jing and FULL CONTACT. Especially since you liked BLOOD AND BONE as much as I did.

One other thing, here’s a shameless, yet on-topic, plug: My amigo’s review of UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION

http://www.allouttabubblegum.com/main/?p=5358

Keep kicking-ass Vern.

January 30th, 2010 at 10:58 am
O Goncho
Hey Vern, it’s your review that got me excited to watch the film and I enjoyed it so much I had to review it myself. It’s cool if you don’t read it, but I just thought I should post it here because as I said I wouldn’t have even watched it if not for you. I do link to this page at the bottom of it too.

http://idiomaldente.blogspot.com/2010/01/universal-soldier-regeneration.html

Peace, etc.

January 30th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Paul
Well, I’ve just seen it. Paid money to, no less. And I am frankly ASTOUNDED. Thanks very much for reviewing this one Vern, I wouldn’t have ever thought to watch it if you hadn’t. It’s scary how well-made and genuinely thought-provoking this film is. All about control, slavery, choices, consequences… it has more to say than any DTV movie that I can remember seeing, and yet it never shoves it down your throat. And you were 100% right about the bit where Dolph and JCVD meet… that had me reeling. Also the bit where Andrew starts asking questions… damn, so much of this film was memorable for all the right reasons.

And I really, really wanted JCVD to “wait a second”.

On a personal note, this review is what I come to this site for. Just occasionally you find something like this, and it’s made my day. Thanks very much.

January 30th, 2010 at 9:27 pm
Paul
Oh yeah, and the ending is nothing like I described in my earlier post either. The only other JCVD film I can think of offhand that doesn’t fit the template is “Hard Target”, another good one, although not a quarter as good as this one was IMO.

January 30th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
RRA
Well I saw Hyams’ recent BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT and…its actually kinda decent.

Essential? No, but its certainly watchable when you get involved with it. There are logic and plot holes one must get over, like why didn’t the dead friend with the sole evidence burn more copies? I mean we all get paranoid about making sure our silly fan fiction gets 5 seperate files so we can get all 7 readers to catch it.

And the ending….well, I get the point of it in Hyams’ remake of Fritz Lang’s original. It makes sense, its just maybe feels like its from another movie. Part of a thriller trend that I’m tired of.

What I laugh at is some of the petty criticisms from negative blog reviews. I thought the lead actor was fine, appropriate for your contemporary news reporter: Pretty face with shit for brains. The production values are DTV level, which seems to be Hyams’ new home. Hey Orlando Jones gets to play a cop.

But my favorite one: “I hated the outdated filmmaking.”

WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN?

Hyams never was a splashy arty director, a dependable shooter who lights good. Sure he’s not like the younger guys who does shakey camera and avid farts with the editing. I wonder if such mentality is why Vern can’t get his old school action filmmaking back.

February 1st, 2010 at 1:30 am
Scarecrow Video | New Releases for the week of February 2nd
[...] this Jean Claude Van Damme/Dolph Lundgren vehicle, but don’t take our word for it. Read what Outlaw Vern has to [...]

February 2nd, 2010 at 4:49 pm
DJR
SPOILER

What did you guys make of the final scene? Was that guy being cloned because he put up such a good fight? If so, how did they know that in the first place, and how were they cloned so freaking quickly, or was that supposed to be from an unspecified later date?

February 3rd, 2010 at 6:02 am
Darryll
I just realized this doesn’t come out in Canada until the 9th of Feb. I’ll have some catching up to do, I guess.

February 3rd, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Jared
I finally watched Universal Soldier: Regeneration. I bought it solely based on Vern’s enthusiasm and was rewarded with an incredible filmatic experience. What a great movie. It’s easily one of the best action films of the last couple of years. Maybe more than that. The direction is perfect, the score is perfect, the acting is great, and the action sequences are unbelievable. Thanks for the heads-up on this one, Vern. Definitely the finest DTV film I’ve ever seen.

February 4th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
RRA
Jared – Yeah I was too also fucking quite surprised with the ambitious filmatic imaginative scope. And for a UNIVERSAL SOLDIER DTV sequel of all goddamn things.

This will sound hyperbolic, but you know what John Hyams’ work here reminds me of?

John McTiernan on DIE HARD. Not not as good obviously, but people forget how that classic, Mctiernan focused not just on Bruce Willis or the guns or the jokes or explosions. No, Mctiernan cared about what we see on the full widescreen, and play with that.

I mean NINJA ASSASSIN had a super big budget, but all those expensive sets were effectively went to waste because of the cameras tight on faces, cutting back and forth. Really uninteresting.

Yet REGENERATION, the whole thing is fascinating to look at. Yeah Hyams had the budget of Michael Bay’s RV from Transformers 2, but he used to that his advantage. And not make excuses. We have the ole cliches of the abandoned factory as an action set-piece, and maybe the first time since ROBOCOP that I wasn’t bored when an actioneer used that location.

Hell it might also be the best lighted DTV I’ve ever seen. Thanks Peter Hyams.

February 4th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
Mr. Majestyk
I’m arriving late to this party, but I really can’t believe how shockingly good this movie is. It’s borderline perfect in execution, an instant classic. Beautifully shot, masterfully edited, expertly sound designed, well acted, and leanly scripted, it seems both fresh and old school. It might be too soon to say this, but I think this is one of the best directed action films I’ve ever seen, juggling a tone that’s simultaneously eerie, realistic, and unexpectedly poetic. The showdown between Van Damme and Lundgren is badass, absurd, and melancholy, like a one-act Beckett play about immortal cyborgs locked in an unending cycle of confrontation. This is existentialism at its most brutal, and a wake-up to all other action directors working today. This filmmaking team is so good, I’d actually let them remake DIE HARD if they really, really wanted to. (I’d prefer if they just did that DIE HARD IN A NURSING HOME movie everybody’s always joking about, though.)

February 7th, 2010 at 8:29 am
RRA
Majestyk – John Hymams would fine a way to make DIE HARD IN A NURSING HOME work.

I mean Jesus, he made a UNIVERSAL SOLDIER movie better than UNIVERSAL SOLDIER.

February 7th, 2010 at 11:54 am
ChopperSullivan
Man, I just saw and loved Universal Soldier Regeneration, and then I downloaded Cabin Fever 2 and watched it with optimism, hoping I’d have a double feature that would solidify the emergence of quality DTV. Too bad it’s fucking awful. Ti West tried to take his name off it, but I can’t imagine any way anything in the film could have worked out. It’s basically a Troma film in all the worst ways. Stupid and mean for no reason. Terrible ending on top of it.

February 8th, 2010 at 1:55 am
Darryll
Just watched this. (It came out in Canada yesterday). Fucking great flick. Hard, grungy, visceral violence. Fantastic stunt work. Cool locations. Great camera work. JCVD is outstanding. His face at the end; tired, dirty, kind of sad but pragmatic in victory. Awsome.

Some minor dislikes – Would have liked more detail in the military action. Snipers, strategy, multiple fronts etc. Also, a little disappointed at how quickly the Uni-Sols gave up on firearms.

Favorite Part – The colored rorschach that gave Luc a feeling of peace was the same color as the serums being pumped into his blood stream. Poetry.

Loved it.

February 10th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Jake
In case it hasn’t been posted here yet, here’s Dolph co-hosting a Swedish music program.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHtatY7bOUY

That is my kind of host.

February 10th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
B
I saw it yesterday and I also thought it was fantastic. One small thing bothered me – did it really take JCVD 29 hours to jog the 2 miles from the base to the reactor? I might have missed something but it sounded like they said there are 30 hours left right before he left and when he got to it the timer was almost up.

February 12th, 2010 at 9:15 am
dieselboy
Here’s some cool info on the upcoming Universal Soldier 3D project they will be shooting soon in case anyone missed it

http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/05/12/universal-soldier-iv-announced-jean-claude-van-damme-and-dolph-lundgren-in-3d/

May 12th, 2010 at 11:04 am
RRA
diselboy – Yeah Deadline reported too that John Hyams is back.

May 12th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
a little clarification about UNIVERSAL SOLDIER “4″ | The Life and Art of Vern
[...] day the internet was set on fire and punched in the face with reports from Cannes that John Hyams (UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION) would probly be returning with Van Damme and Lundgren for another UNISOL picture, and in 3-D. This [...]

May 14th, 2010 at 6:43 pm
neal2zod
Just saw the Blu Ray from Netflix, and it’s just as amazing as you guys made it out to be. Expertly choreographed action, great music, great acting, great story. Hyams has a real mastery of what’s in the frame and what your eye is supposed to be looking at. I’m actually having trouble naming my favorite part, but the car chase and the Dolph/JCVD fight are worth the price of a rental alone.

It’s definitely not a “fun” time at the movies – it’s thought-provoking and more than a little depressing – “The Dark Knight” of DTV, if you will. I still prefer Undisputed II to this one just because that one ends on a “feel-good” note and I’m a sucker for that shit, but this is one incredible movie.

I think my only nitpick was I felt the Blade Runner homage was kind of unnecessary. (The Hard-Boiled homage fit in the documentary-like style of the action, so I didn’t mind that one) – this movie was so good, it didn’t need to reference anything else, and I actually think other movies (DTV and theatrical) will be cribbing scenes from it soon.

May 28th, 2010 at 8:55 pm