Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2010)

Tagline: Reanimated. Rearmed. The ultimate rematch.

Curiosity: My good friend Eric described to me the fight scene between co-stars Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. That was all it took.

Plot: In a future that ignores the events of Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms, Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business, and Universal Soldier: The Return, separatists have kidnapped the Russian prime minister’s kids AND are threatened to blow up the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The terrorists are paying off mad scientist Dr. Colin (Kerry Shale) to use his next generation universal soldier NGU (Andrei Arlovski), who is basically the same as the UniSols from the original movie except he’s faster and knows UFC fighting moves. Also, he’s got a huge ass knife (it’s for stabbing!). NGU thwarts Russian and American forces’ attempts to quell this rebellion, so the military turns to Luc Deveraux (Van Damme) to kick some butt. Well, OK, and this other guy named Captain Burke (Mike Pyle), but he’s not a UniSol, so you just know he’s gonna have a rough day.

Meanwhile, Dr. Colin is working on another super soldier, one from Deveraux’s past…

[SPOILER ALERT: It’s Lundy!]

Thoughts: As my loved ones can attest, I love Dolph Lundgren with a homoerotic passion. As of such, I was a tad dismayed to see him star in only a handful of scenes, but given that Regeneration is more of an ensemble piece, I suppose I can forgive director John Hyams. In time…

About halfway through the movie, I actually started to get bored. Not with the action, the action is awesome, but just the lack of Van Damme ‘n’ Lundgren. As the film progressed, though, I grew to enjoy the newcomers. Pyle plays a key role in the middle portion, and he’s a pretty skilled martial artist in his own right. Of course, Arlovski is badass. Dude brings some technical flair to his fight scenes yet mixes in some primal, simple, and therefore more disturbing, moves as well.

Despite being the third direct-to-video entry in the series, Regeneration entertains almost as much as the original Universal Soldier. Like I said before, I could’ve use more Lundgren – he’s even more disturbing this time around and I love it – but the film mixes in so many excellent fight scenes that I don’t mind the existing version. Sure, the film’s B-movie quality degrades at times – squibs and blanks don’t properly synch, supporting actors suck, and Lundy’s death scene (and, uh, presence in the film in general) makes no sense – but that’s part of the charm. Nearly 20 years after the Universal Soldier, Regeneration proves that that there’s still fun to be had with this sci-fi/action franchise.

Reflection: It’s been a couple of months since I watched a Lundgren movie. Damn it felt good.