Universal Soldier (1992 film)
Encyclopedia
Universal Soldier is a 1992 American science fiction
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...

 action film
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...

 directed by Roland Emmerich
Roland Emmerich
Roland Emmerich is a German film director, screenwriter, and producer.His films, most of which are Hollywood productions filmed in English, have grossed more than $3 billion worldwide, more than those of any other European director...

 and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg , professionally known as Jean-Claude Van Damme, is a Belgian martial artist and actor, best known for his martial arts action films, the most successful of which include Bloodsport , Kickboxer , Double Impact , Universal Soldier , Hard Target , Timecop ,...

 and Dolph Lundgren
Dolph Lundgren
Dolph Lundgren is a Swedish actor, director, and martial artist. He belongs to a generation of film actors who epitomise the movie action hero stereotype including Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme.A graduate in chemical...

 as soldiers who kill each other in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

 but are reanimated
Undead
Undead is a collective name for fictional, mythological, or legendary beings that are deceased and yet behave as if alive. Undead may be incorporeal, such as ghosts, or corporeal, such as vampires and zombies...

 in a secret Army project along with a large group of other previously dead soldiers.

Plot

In 1969, during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

, an American military squad receives orders to secure a village against North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...

ese forces. Private Luc Devereaux (Jean-Claude Van Damme
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg , professionally known as Jean-Claude Van Damme, is a Belgian martial artist and actor, best known for his martial arts action films, the most successful of which include Bloodsport , Kickboxer , Double Impact , Universal Soldier , Hard Target , Timecop ,...

) discovers members of his squad and various villagers dead, all with their ears removed. The culprit behind the mutilations is revealed to be leading officer Sergeant Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren
Dolph Lundgren
Dolph Lundgren is a Swedish actor, director, and martial artist. He belongs to a generation of film actors who epitomise the movie action hero stereotype including Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme.A graduate in chemical...

), who has gone insane. Deveraux finds Scott holding a string of severed ears and also holding a young boy and girl hostage. Devereaux, who is near the end of his tour of duty, tries to reason with Scott, saying that the war is over and that he just wants to go home. Scott becomes infuriated and shoots the boy. He then orders Devereaux to shoot the girl to prove his loyalty. Deveraux refuses and stops Scott from shooting her himself. The girl attempts to escape but Scott kills her with a grenade. Devereaux turns on Scott and both shoot each other to death. The next morning, a U.S. Special Forces squad finds their bodies. The commanding officer orders the bodies to be bagged and iced and to officially cover up their deaths as "missing in action".

In 1992, terrorists have taken over the Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President...

 and the police agencies are ordered not to intervene or make any attempt to rescue the hostages. Instead, the "Universal Soldiers" (or "UniSols"), an elite counter terrorism unit, are brought in. Among the team are the long-dead Luc Devereaux (now designated "GR44") and Andrew Scott (now designated "GR13"). They are wearing high-tech computer equipment over their left eye and have apparently been reanimated with no memory of their previous lives. Devereaux and Scott are sent in to dispatch several of the terrorists, with Devereaux using efficient means, but Scott using excessive force. Their camera feeds sent back to the command post causes concern among the project technicians that even though the UniSols are supposed to be emotionless, Scott is enjoying it. As the team infiltrate the area, they demonstrate their superior training and physical abilities against the armed terrorists, as one of them (Ralf Möller as GR74) is shown surviving close-range automatic gunfire. After the area is secured, Devereaux begins to regain patches of memory from his former life after witnessing two hostages who strongly resemble the villagers he tried to save back in Vietnam. Turning around, he looks at Scott (who is also experiencing the same memory) but as a UniSol, he cannot say anything. This causes him to ignore radio commands from the control team and become unresponsive.

Back in the mobile command center, the Unisol technician team is trying to figure out what happened at Hoover Dam with Devereaux. They reveal that the UniSols are genetically augmented soldiers with enhanced healing abilities and superior strength but also have a tendency to overheat and shut down. They are also given a neural serum to keep their minds under control and their previous memories suppressed. All of the UniSols are ordered to go back into their cooling units and inject themselves with the serum. As a result of the glitch, Woodward (Leon Rippy
Leon Rippy
Leon Rippy is an American actor.-Life and career:He has worked with Roland Emmerich on seven movies including: Moon 44 , Eye of the Storm , Universal Soldier , Stargate , The Thirteenth Floor , The Patriot , Eight Legged Freaks and also had a role in the 2004...

), one of the technicians on the project, feels it may be better to remove Devereaux from the team until he can be further analyzed. However, Colonel Perry (Ed O'Ross
Ed O'Ross
Ed O'Ross is an American actor perhaps best known for playing the giggling spectacled gangster Itchy in Dick Tracy, ruthless Georgian mobster Viktor Rostavili in Red Heat, and tough-then-alien-possessed police detective Cliff Willis in The Hidden.-Early life:O'Ross was born Edward Oross in...

), the commander in charge of the UniSol operation, disagrees with the suggestion. TV journalist Veronica Roberts (Ally Walker
Ally Walker
Allene Damian "Ally" Walker is an American actress, producer, director and screenwriter.She is best known for her roles as Doctor Samantha Waters on the NBC crime drama series Profiler , as Agent June Stahl on the FX drama series Sons of Anarchy and as Gloria Shepherd in the Lifetime drama...

) tries to get a story on the UniSol project in an attempt to get her job back, since she was fired while covering the Hoover Dam incident. Speaking with representatives from the project, she only gets evasive answers. She later sneaks onto the base with a camera to investigate, only to discover GR74, immersed in ice, who is still alive despite normally-fatal injuries.

When she tries to escape from the complex, Devereaux and Scott are ordered to bring her back. She gets to her cameraman's car, but they crash and overturn while trying to escape. Scott mercilessly executes the cameraman, against the orders of his superiors, while Devereaux intervenes, preventing him from shooting Roberts. Together, Devereaux and Roberts both escape in a UniSol vehicle. After escaping, Scott mumbles about Devereaux being a traitor, but no one on the UniSol team heard it. Colonel Perry wants to chase Roberts and Devereaux down to prevent knowledge of the UniSols from getting out, not only to the public, but to the Pentagon, who does not know the true nature of the project. As Devereaux and Roberts flee and try to get evidence of the UniSol program to the media, they arrive at a motel. Roberts turns on the television and discovers she has already been framed for the murder of her cameraman. Scott's previously insane personality begins to emerge, causing him to kill innocents. Perry and the technicians are killed as they attempt to stop him. Scott then takes command over the UniSol team, ambushing a truck stop and a supermarket in his search for Devereaux. The remaining UniSol scientists try and fail to subdue Scott and are both killed.

Devereaux continues to rebuild his memory and realize that he is truly alive. Roberts tries to find more information about the UniSol program. They meet Dr. Christopher Gregor (Jerry Orbach
Jerry Orbach
Jerome Bernard "Jerry" Orbach was an American actor and singer. He was well known for his starring role as Detective Lennie Briscoe in the Law & Order television series and as the voice of Lumière in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. As well, Orbach was a noted musical theatre star...

), the creator of the program. He informs them that the UniSol project was started in the 1960's in order to develop the perfect soldier. Although they learned how to reanimate dead human remains, they were never able to overcome the bodies need for constant cooling. The other major problem is that the memories of the last moments of life are greatly amplified. In Luc's case, he still believes he is a soldier who wants to go home, while Scott believes he is still in Vietnam fighting the insurgents. When Devereaux and Roberts leave the doctor's office, they are caught and arrested by the police. On the way to jail, the police convoy is ambushed by Scott and GR74. After an intense chase, they barely manage to escape when the police bus and the UniSol truck both drive off the edge of a cliff at Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...

 and explode. Presuming that Scott and GR74 are all dead, Devereaux and Roberts head to Luc's family's farm in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

.

After Devereaux reunites with his family, Scott tracks them down and takes the family and Roberts hostage. A brutal fight ensues, and Scott's use of muscle enhancers enables him to mercilessly beat Devereaux. Roberts manages to escape from her bonds only to be seemingly killed by a grenade thrown by Scott. He continues to dominate until Devereaux grabs the muscle enhancers Scott used and injects himself with one. With their strengths now matched, Devereaux fights back and is able to impale Scott on the spikes of a hay harvester. Devereaux then starts the machine up, grinding Scott to death. Finally, Devereaux checks on Roberts, who survived the explosion and the two embrace.

Alternate ending

The Special Edition DVD release features an alternative ending which takes place shortly after Scott takes Deveraux's family and Roberts hostage. As Deveraux grabs a shotgun in the kitchen, the front door opens and he sees his mother before Scott shoots her to death. In the final fight between Deveraux and Scott, Deveraux does not use Scott's muscle enhancers. Shortly after grinding Scott to death, Deveraux is shot by his father before Dr. Christopher Gregor and his men appear.

Gregor explains that he had Deveraux set up to get to him and Scott, and that Deveraux was living with people posing as his parents. He then has his men shoot down Deveraux, but before Deveraux dies, police and Roberts' news crew arrive. The news crew douse Deveraux with a fire extinguisher to stabilize him while Dr. Gregor and his men are arrested. Roberts is given the microphone to cover the arrest, but she loses all composure while on the air, dropping the microphone to comfort Deveraux.

Several days later, Deveraux is reunited with his real parents. The film ends with a eulogy narrated by Roberts, who explains that Deveraux rejected all life-prolonging medications before dying a natural death.

Cast

  • Jean-Claude Van Damme
    Jean-Claude Van Damme
    Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg , professionally known as Jean-Claude Van Damme, is a Belgian martial artist and actor, best known for his martial arts action films, the most successful of which include Bloodsport , Kickboxer , Double Impact , Universal Soldier , Hard Target , Timecop ,...

     – Luc Deveraux / GR44
    Luc Deveraux
    Luc Deveraux is a fictional character, and the protagonist of the Universal Soldier film series. He is most famously portrayed by Belgian actor and martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme...

  • Dolph Lundgren
    Dolph Lundgren
    Dolph Lundgren is a Swedish actor, director, and martial artist. He belongs to a generation of film actors who epitomise the movie action hero stereotype including Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme.A graduate in chemical...

     – Andrew Scott / GR13
  • Ally Walker
    Ally Walker
    Allene Damian "Ally" Walker is an American actress, producer, director and screenwriter.She is best known for her roles as Doctor Samantha Waters on the NBC crime drama series Profiler , as Agent June Stahl on the FX drama series Sons of Anarchy and as Gloria Shepherd in the Lifetime drama...

     – Veronica Roberts
  • Ed O'Ross
    Ed O'Ross
    Ed O'Ross is an American actor perhaps best known for playing the giggling spectacled gangster Itchy in Dick Tracy, ruthless Georgian mobster Viktor Rostavili in Red Heat, and tough-then-alien-possessed police detective Cliff Willis in The Hidden.-Early life:O'Ross was born Edward Oross in...

     – Colonel Perry
  • Michael Jai White
    Michael Jai White
    Michael Jai White is an American actor and martial artist who has appeared in numerous films and television series. He is the first African American to portray a major comic book superhero in a major motion picture, having starred as Al Simmons, the protagonist in the 1997 film Spawn...

     – Soldier
  • Tommy "Tiny" Lister
    Tom Lister, Jr.
    -World Wrestling Federation :Lister appeared in the 1989 wrestling movie No Holds Barred, which was financed by the World Wrestling Federation and starred Hulk Hogan. Lister's role was Zeus, a brutal monster heel....

     – GR55
  • Eric Norris
    Eric Norris
    -Biography:Norris was born in Redondo Beach, California, the son of Dianne and Walker, Texas Ranger star Chuck Norris. He won the 2002 NASCAR Winston West Championship during a limited schedule in major league NASCAR racing....

     – GR86
  • Jerry Orbach
    Jerry Orbach
    Jerome Bernard "Jerry" Orbach was an American actor and singer. He was well known for his starring role as Detective Lennie Briscoe in the Law & Order television series and as the voice of Lumière in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. As well, Orbach was a noted musical theatre star...

     – Dr. Christopher Gregor
  • Leon Rippy
    Leon Rippy
    Leon Rippy is an American actor.-Life and career:He has worked with Roland Emmerich on seven movies including: Moon 44 , Eye of the Storm , Universal Soldier , Stargate , The Thirteenth Floor , The Patriot , Eight Legged Freaks and also had a role in the 2004...

     – Woodward
  • Ralf Möller – GR74
  • Robert Trebor
    Robert Trebor
    Robert Trebor is an American character actor, perhaps best known for his role as "Salmoneus" on the cult hits Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess...

     – Motel-owner
  • Gene Davis
    Gene Davis (actor)
    Eugene M. "Gene" Davis known for playing the psychotic killer Warren Stacy in the 1983 film 10 to Midnight with Charles Bronson; he also played a killer in another Bronson vehicle, 1988's Messenger of Death...

     – Lieutenant
  • Joanne Baron
    Joanne Baron
    Joanne Baron is an actress and Meisner Method acting coach. She was raised in Providence, Rhode Island and attended Classical and Pawtucket High Schools. She received early acceptance to the University of Connecticut, then pursued Broadway opportunities and sang in Reno Sweeny’s with Cissy Houston,...

     – Brenda
  • Kristopher Van Varenberg
    Kristopher Van Varenberg
    Kristopher Van Varenberg is an American actor, who has appeared in such films as The Quest, Derailed and Universal Soldier: Regeneration.-Personal life:...

     – Young Luc Deveraux (uncredited)
  • Rance Howard
    Rance Howard
    Rance Howard is an American actor who has starred in film and on television.-Life and career:Howard was born Harold Rance Beckenholdt in Oklahoma, the son of Ethel Cleo and Engel Beckenholdt, a farmer. He changed his name to "Rance Howard" when he became an actor. He married Jean Speegle Howard...

     as John Devereux
  • Lilyan Chauvin
    Lilyan Chauvin
    Lilyan Chauvin , born Lilyan Zemoz, was a French-American actress, television host, director, writer, former Vice President of Women in Film, author, teacher and private coach....

     as Mrs. John Devereux

Production

At the 1992 Cannes Film Festival
1992 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Gérard Depardieu *John Boorman *Carlo Di Palma *Jamie Lee Curtis *Joële Van Effenterre *Lester James Peries *Nana Djordjadze *Pedro Almodóvar *René Cleitman...

, Van Damme and Lundgren were involved in a verbal altercation that almost turned physical when both men pushed each other only to be separated. On his website, Dolph Lundgren confirmed that it was just a publicity stunt to promote the film. It was the last film that used the multi-channel surround sound format, Cinema Digital Sound
Cinema Digital Sound
Cinema Digital Sound is a multi-channel surround sound format used for theatrical films in the early 1990s. The system was developed by Eastman Kodak and Optical Radiation Corporation. CDS was quickly superseded by Digital Theatre System and Dolby Digital formats.CDS format replaced the analogue...

.

Reception

Universal Soldier opened in theaters on July 10, 1992 where it grossed $10,057,084 from 1916 theaters with a $5,249 per screen average and taking #2 behind A League of Their Own
A League of Their Own
A League of Their Own is a 1992 American comedy-drama film that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League . Directed by Penny Marshall, the film stars Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Tom Hanks, Madonna, and Rosie O'Donnell...

s second weekend. From there, it made $36,299,898 in US ticket sales, becoming a moderate hit. Overseas, it was much more popular, mostly opening at #1, making over $65 million overseas, which earned the film a total of $102 million worldwide, on a $23 million budget.

Despite being a box office hit, it was not well-received by critics. Mainstream critics dismissed the movie as a Terminator 2
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a 1991 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr.. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, and Edward Furlong...

clone, or as a typical, mindless action film. The film currently holds a 21% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

.

In popular culture

On the VNV Nation
VNV Nation
VNV Nation are a British/Irish electronic music band originally from Dublin, Ireland and Essex, United Kingdom and now based in Hamburg, Germany. They combine elements of electro-industrial, trance, synthpop and electronic body music . The members are Ronan Harris and Mark Jackson...

 CD Advance and Follow
Advance and Follow
Advance and Follow is the first full-length album by futurepop artists VNV Nation, released in 1995. It is commonly abbreviated as A&F. Compared to the futurepop sound of their subsequent albums Advance and Follow has a middle era EBM sound with classical influences...

the songs "After Fire" and "Outremer" contain audio clips from Universal Soldier.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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