#35 — Universal Soldier: Regeneration

This continues the illustrated countdown of my 49 1/2 most essential action movies. Last week I talked about the coolest action hero who ever lived (he continues to live in OUR world, as Antonio Banderas)

̶M̶i̶s̶s̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶I̶m̶p̶o̶s̶s̶i̶b̶l̶e̶:̶ ̶F̶a̶l̶l̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶f̶a̶n̶t̶a̶s̶t̶i̶c̶ ̶s̶p̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶r̶i̶l̶l̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶h̶a̶p̶p̶e̶n̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶f̶e̶a̶t̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶s̶t̶u̶n̶t̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶m̶o̶d̶e̶r̶n̶ ̶b̶l̶o̶c̶k̶b̶u̶s̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶f̶i̶l̶m̶m̶a̶k̶i̶n̶g̶.̶ ̶T̶o̶m̶ ̶C̶r̶u̶i̶s̶e̶ ̶r̶u̶n̶s̶ ̶f̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶g̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶j̶u̶m̶p̶i̶n̶g̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶H̶e̶n̶r̶y̶ ̶C̶a̶v̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶b̶i̶g̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶e̶n̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶c̶a̶r̶r̶y̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶r̶m̶s̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶I̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶g̶i̶r̶l̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶d̶ ̶h̶a̶i̶r̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶t̶o̶r̶c̶y̶c̶l̶e̶.̶ ̶A̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶’̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶f̶u̶n̶n̶y̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶p̶u̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶g̶u̶y̶.̶

I was halfway down the aisle, ready to recite my vows to Fallout’s helicopter stunts, when I realized something alarming. I don’t love the movie. I don’t love any of the impossible missions, even though I love many things about them. You see Henry Cavill reload his fists and suddenly your head’s in the clouds for a couple weeks. That series can never seem to win my heart, no matter how much the Hang In There Cat of action heroes dedicates himself to climbing tall things and running very cinematically. So I ran outta that chapel as fast as I could and into the arms of John Hyams and his Universal Soldier sequels.

Let me provide some context here. The Roland Emmerich-helmed original features dead Vietnam vets being reanimated through a super-solider program to carry out special missions. Van Damme’s Luc Deveraux was the hero of the story, a soldier who defended innocent villagers to his death in a fight against series rival Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren). In spite of how grim this is on paper, it never amounted to much more than B movie silliness. After that there were two made-for-tv sequels with a new cast, then 1999’s “Universal Soldier: The Return” (a direct sequel to the first film). This franchise was dead, along with Van Damme’s career.

I previously said that Fast Five was the most successful action franchise rebranding, but in hindsight, I think it’s this. Not a commercial success, but an artistic breakthrough in recalibrating a premise ripe for exploration within the genre and giving it more sophisticated presentation within its budgetary constraints than the original ever did. Andrew Scott has become an omnipresent avatar of Frankenstein’s monster and will die the most gruesome death possible in every film appearance (in part one he gets pushed into a threshing machine). Luc Deveraux, our hero, is now a rehabilitation project — trying to control violent outbursts without fully understanding where they come from. MMA fighter Andre Arlovski is the new big baddie. He’s here to smash everything in sight.

There’s no waste and everything moves pretty fast. The story begins with terrorists (led by Arlovski) kidnapping a Ukrainian Prime Minister’s son and daughter, leading to a hostage situation at a Chernobyl power plant. If they don’t get what they want, the whole thing goes up in smoke. The military has four combat ready UniSols ready to be deployed for rescue and deescalation. I normally don’t go for movies where everyone looks like Call of Duty box art, but it really works here as a dehumanizing presentation of men as machines. The UniSols literally have their head-cams bolted into the their craniums. Within the first half hour, they’re already being sent out.

There’s a command center with tv monitors, but the colonel just yells “triangulate, triangulate!” He didn’t realize this was gonna be an Aliens type situation. They were too confident, and Arlovski picks them off like the Predator. I love the Bigger Fish trope being used like this. It reminds me a lot of Paul W.S. Anderson’s “Soldier” where Jason Scott Lee is the new and improved model, which basically turns him into a movie monster. Arlovski’s “NGU” (Next Generation UniSol) even utilizes a retractable blade for finishing moves.

I think you know where this is going. If Luc Deveraux is the last remaining UniSol, he’s gonna have to gear up and be sent back into the field. But if that happens, his doctor is going to have to watch all her agonizing work undone in an instant, right? This is my favorite creative decision in the film because it’s building up to his return like when you have to wait for Godzilla to finally get off Monster Island and save the day — but then Hyams is careful to highlight the tragedy of it. Deveraux no longer gets to live as a person. He’s just a nuclear option for mercenaries and scientists.

There’s a scene where he has a violent outburst in a diner and it’s a callback to the first movie where something similar happens. There it’s treated as a joke. “Haha, this guy doesn’t understand how things work, now he’ll beat up some rednecks”. In Regeneration it’s a troubling setback for a man in recovery. When he’s eventually injected with a reconditioning drug, he has enough awareness to tell his doctor “I understand what’s happening”, but with the tone of “hey, you tried. Thanks anyways”.

I don’t want to go overboard with praise, but the action climax really outperforms it’s DTV label, and most mainstream action movies for that matter. Deveraux enters what has become a war zone, robotically trotting through enemy fire and only occasionally slowing down for a grenade. It’s deliberately stark and dispassionate. The desaturated blues and snow-covered ground really underline the numbing experience of a man trapped in a cryo-frozen hell. Van Damme’s face is an amazing study, looking absolutely tortured.

When he finally encounters a resurrected Andrew Scott it’s a sad, strange reunion. Two men sharing the same dreams, living, dying, and being reborn into a violent cycle of servitude. Lundgren is barely in the film, but he makes the most of every second — mixing the broad villainy of his character’s origins with the confusion and mental anguish of someone suffering from dementia. You can’t help but feel sorry for him. He suddenly remembers an important thought, before it gets smoked out the back of his head through a steel pipe.

Universal Soldier was born as pulpy comic book schlock, but John Hyams isn’t here to give it a proper burial. Instead, he uses the core elements as a springboard for new chapters. He honors the undying rivalry of the hero and villain, while introducing new faces that will push the series forward. The casting of MMA fighters like Andre Arlovski and Mike Pyle (honorable mention to this guy, who is great and only has a couple film credits to his name) is a move that really pays off. Regeneration preserves and protects the sanctity of great action filmmaking, while being about more than just action — as a DTV sequel to a decade old flop!

People love to say it’s amazing that such-and-such hundred million dollar film happened, but never the underdogs like this. It’s like watching someone turn an old, dilapidated fixer-upper into their pet project. When understanding the full context, this thing is shockingly super. And it’s the rebirth of a franchise that would somehow get even better.*

* (that’s called a cliffhanger ending, it means you gotta keep reading this junk to find out what I’m talking about — sort of like a Universal Reader that keeps dying and returning to my action countdown)