Universal Soldier: The Return

Universal Soldier: The Return
File:Universalsoldier2.jpg Original 1999 theatrical poster
Directed by	Mic Rodgers
Produced by	Daniel Melnick Michael I. Rachmil Jean-Claude Van Damme Allen Shapiro
Written by	William Malone John Fasano
Starring	Jean-Claude Van Damme Michael Jai White Kiana Tom Daniel von Bargen Xander Berkeley and Bill Goldberg
Music by	Don Davis
Cinematography	Mike Benson
Production company	Long Road Entertainment IndieProd Company Productions Baummgarten-Prophet Entertainment
Distributed by	TriStar Pictures
Release dates	August 20, 1999 (1999-08-20)
Running time	77 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$45 million
Box office	$10,717,421

Universal Soldier: The Return is a 1999 American science fiction action film directed by Mic Rodgers in his directorial debut. The film stars Jean-Claude Van Damme, Michael Jai White, Bill Goldberg, Heidi Schanz, Kiana Tom and Xander Berkeley. The film was released in the United States on August 20, 1999. This was Jean-Claude Van Damme's last theatrical release film until 2008's JCVD.

It is 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 film was received with highly negative reviews and was a box office bomb. Subsequent films in the series ignore the events of The Return and contradict it in some places throughout the series; today it is no longer considered part of the series' canon.

Plot

Seven years after the events in the first film, Luc Deveraux (Van Damme), now an ordinary human, is a technical expert who is working with the government with his partner Maggie (Kiana Tom), who has been through countless hours of combat training with him, in order to refine and perfect the UniSol program in an effort to make a new, stronger breed of soldier that is more sophisticated and intelligent to reduce the use of normal, human soldiers in the battlefield. All of the new UniSols, which are faster and stronger than the original UniSols, are connected through an artificially intelligent computer system called S.E.T.H. (voice of Michael Jai White), a Self-Evolving Thought Helix.

When S.E.T.H. discovers that the Universal Soldier program is scheduled to be shut down because of budget cuts, it takes action to protect itself.

Killing those who try to shut off its power, and unleashing a platoon of super soldiers, led by the musclebound Romeo (Bill Goldberg), S.E.T.H. spares Devereaux, only because Devereaux has the secret code that is needed to deactivate a built-in program that will shut S.E.T.H. down in a matter of hours. With the help of Squid (Brent Hinkley), a rogue cyberpunk, S.E.T.H. is able to put its program in a UniSol which Squid made superior to any of the newer models (White).

Not only must Luc contend with ambitious reporter Erin Young (Schanz), who will not leave his side, but he must also contend with General Radford (Daniel von Bargen) who wants to take extreme measures to stop S.E.T.H.. S.E.T.H. has arranged Romeo to kidnap Luc's injured 13-year-old daughter Hillary (Karis Paige Bryant), killing Maggie in the process.

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, but finds Maggie, now revived as one of the UniSols. S.E.T.H is able to figure out the code itself, decides to kill Luc and raise Hillary as a daughter, who it has healed using UniSol technology. During the fight Luc covers S.E.T.H. in liquid nitrogen then shatters S.E.T.H.'s frozen body. Luc then engages into a final fight with Romeo, which ends when Maggie finally rebels against the UniSols by shooting Romeo, and allows Luc and Hillary to get out of the building on time. However, the bomb that General Radford had placed was deactivated by S.E.T.H.. As Romeo and the platoon of Universal Soldiers start to march out for battle, Luc fires at the explosive charge blowing up the building, killing all the Universal Soldiers.

Cast

• Jean-Claude Van Damme as Luc Deveraux
• Michael Jai White as S.E.T.H.
• Heidi Schanz as Erin Young
• Xander Berkeley as Doctor Dylan Cotner
• Justin Lazard as Captain Blackburn
• Kiana Tom as Maggie
• Daniel von Bargen as General Radford
• James R. Black as Sergeant Morrow
• Karis Paige Bryant as Hillary Deveraux
• Bill Goldberg as Romeo
• Brent Anderson as Technician #2
• Lyle Kanouse as UniSol 2500 (voice)
• Adam Russell Stuart as the General's Aide

Reception

The movie did poorly at the box office debuting at #4. Universal Soldier: The Return grossed $10 million in the United States. Reviews were mostly negative, with the film earning a 5% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 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."

Soundtrack

A film soundtrack was released by Trauma.

Track listing

1. "Crush 'Em" – Megadeth
2. "Remain Calm" – One Minute Silence
3. "Awake" – Clay People
4. "Crazy Train" – The Flys
5. "Bled For Days" – Static-X
6. "Fueled" – Anthrax
7. "Majic, No. 3" – Jact
8. "Hatred" – D Generation
9. "Securitron (Police State 2000)" – Fear Factory
10. "Eureka Pile" – Ministry
11. "Chaos" – Tim Skold
12. "Saddam A-Go-Go" – Gwar
13. "Target: Devereux" – Don Davis
14. "Supernova Goes Pop" – Powerman 5000

Home media

DVD was released in Region 1 in the United States on December 28, 1999, and also Region 2 in the United Kingdom on 1 July 2002, it was distributed by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment. On 4 October 2010, Universal Soldier Trilogy DVD was released. On 11 February 2013, Universal Soldier Quadrilogy Box Set was released.

In 2012, as part of a distribution deal with Sony, Mill Creek Entertainment re-released the film as part of a Jean-Claude Van Damme themed Hollywood Hits set along with Knock Off (film), The Hard Corps and, Second in Command.

In 2013, a second blu-ray of the film was released, again by Mill Creek Entertainment, as a double feature with Second in Command.

The film has since been featured in various action film compilations from Mill Creek Entertainment.

External links

• Universal Soldier: The Return at the Wayback Machine (archived November 30, 1999) Official website
• Universal Soldier: The Return at IMDb
• Universal Soldier: The Return at AllMovie