| Review:
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Universal Soldier, originally released in 1992, is
directed by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day) and stars
Jean-Claude Van-Damme (Timecop) and Dolph Lundgren (Rocky
IV.) ***
Universal Soldier follows ex-military soldiers who
are called in to prevent a hostage situation at Hoover Dam,
which has been taken over by terrorists, from becoming a
disaster. Things are only made all the more complicated
by reporters on the scene, adding more potential casualties
to an already-dangerous situation. ***
This is one of those films that’s purely a “surface”
movie – all flas h and little substance. Critics wrote this
one off as a Terminator 2 rip-off, and while it isn’t hard
to find the similarities, it does deserve more credit than
that. The performances are good, and while the overall exec
ution of the project is a bit over-the-top, there’s still
plenty to enjoy. This was never meant to be a thinking man’s
movie. ***
If you like action movies and you’re familiar with
the kind of stuff Van-Damme usually gives his viewers, you’ll
probably like Universal Soldier. The movie was popular enough
to spawn a theatrical sequel as well as some made-for-TV
ones, though none topped the original (not that that’s really
saying much.) If you like you’re movies with plenty of action
and the storyline playing second fiddle to the action, this
will be the movie for you. ---
Image and Sound:
I’m quite impressed with the transfer Lionsgate manages
to deliver here. There are no defects in the picture, and
it’s always a bright, clean image. It’s possible that some
digital noise reduction was used in creating this transfer,
but the amount of detail in the image doesn’t appear to
have been greatly compromised, so I’m not complaining. When
done right, a DNR-based transfer can actually look pretty
good, and if it was indeed used here, this is a good example
of a movie that uses the technique well. Audio gets a boost
up to lossless as well, so the action scenes will rock your
speakers good – just don’t expect it to sound like a modern
theatrical blockbuster.
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| Special
Features: |
Like the film itself, this disc lacks any real depth.
There are hardly any features on the disc, apart from a
trivia track, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and another
featurette chronicling the careers of Lundgren and Van-Damme.
I’m glad it’s not a bare-bones package, but I was expecting
more.
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