Ohjaus:
John HyamsKuvaus:
Yaron LevySävellys:
Michael KrassnerNäyttelijät:
Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Scott Adkins, Andrei Arlovski, Mariah Bonner, David Jensen, Kristopher Van Varenberg, James Rawlings (lisää)Suoratoistopalvelut (2)
Juonikuvaukset(1)
John (Scott Adkins) herää koomasta kammottaviin muistikuviin: joku tunkeutui hänen kotiinsa ja tappoi vaimon ja tyttären Johnin silmien edessä. John janoaa kostoa. Hän vannoo tappavansa murhaajan, Luc Deveraux'n (Jean-Claude Van Damme). Samaan aikaan Deveraux ja Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren) joukkoineen valmistautuvat taistelemaan anarkiaa vastaan. Heidän tavoitteensa on luoda kaaokseen vajonneeseen maailmaan uusi järjestys UniSol-sotilaiden muodostaman armottoman armeijan avulla. Brutaaleissa elämän ja kuoleman kamppailuissa sotilaat tuhoavat heikoimmat yksilöt, yhden toisensa jälkeen. Vain vahvimmat selviytyvät. Vähitellen John pääsee lähemmäs Deveraux'ta ja tämän geneettisesti paranneltujen sotilaiden armeijaa. Samalla hän oppii itsestään uusia asioita ja alkaa kyseenalaistaa kaikkea sitä, minkä hän uskoi olevan totta: inhimillisyyttään, muistojaan – jopa perhettään... (Future film)
(lisää)Arvostelut (4)
I don’t know any other movie saga that got its ass kicked as much as Universal Soldier did. The first movie was a decent sci-fi and, in turn, the second movie was an awful sci-fi. The third one was movie garbage that was getting completely off its tracks. And the fourth movie? That movie must have been made in some other galaxy. I haven’t seen such a weird, psychedelic and freaky movie in a long time. Van Damme and Lundgren are playing second fiddle in this movie, as expected. They passed the baton to Adkins and Arlovski who did a really great job. In any case, the story was absolutely otherworldly, just like the execution. The hallucinogenic effects started to kick in in the fourth of the movie already as the screen started flickering a lot and I thought that my head was about to explode. Everything was very absurd, but on the other hand, all of the scenes had an incredible charm that almost hypnotized me and put me in limbo. I think that David Lynch would enjoy this movie a lot. The cherry on top was the movie’s story flow that looks like it’s from a computer game. At first, Adkins doesn’t know what’s going on, then he does and by the end, he enjoys a completely amazing action scene as he first gets ambushed by Dolph Lundgren and then Jean Claude Van Damme, too. I wasn’t getting it and I didn’t even get it in the end, but the action scenes were really fun. I consider Scott Adkins the ace of contemporary action movies and I hope that he gets more opportunities, maybe even in bigger, commercial projects.
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To some extent, this very bizarre project deserves praise for trying to come up with something completely new in the series as well as in the direct-to-video action genre. Day of Reckoning (nomen omen) is impressive with a lot of elements that don’t entirely hold together but definitely form a completely original contribution to its category and series. The only continuity with respect to the previous instalments is maintained here by the casting of Van Damme and Lundgren and the basic concept of dead soldiers resuscitated as the ultimate killing machines. In addition to that, however, John Hyams and his collaborators created a completely autonomous narrative that was clearly inspired by Coppola’s Apocalypse Now and concurrently made attempts at depressing existentialism, albeit in the vein of adult comic books drenched in superficial pathos. The set design, with its outlandishly stylised locations and the individual gaudy figures that parade through them, also bears resemblance to the comic-book framework. Fortunately, the production shows ambition not only in the level of the screenplay and style, but also in the action scenes. It thus makes full use of the fact that, instead of the aging stars who gave their all in the previous instalment, this time around the lead role is played by the walking, talking special effect that is Scott Adkins. Thanks to Adkins and the supporting actors from the ranks of professional wrestlers and stuntmen, the action gains an impressively physical dimension. Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning features captivatingly ambitious and inventive choreography that works perfectly with the environment and the premise of superhumanly strong and resilient fighters. Larnell Stovall was given room to stretch out and, what’s more, the action scenes that he designed were created in maximum symbiosis with the formal preparation and shooting. Paradoxically, the film with which the era of ambitious low-budget action flicks culminated also became its swan song. Though Scott Adkins continues to strive to bring the highest-quality action flicks to viewers, he rather remains the last man standing among a dying breed of productions. Both John Hyams and Larnell Stovall were given a lifeline into the world of genre television productions and the Hollywood mainstream. With the collapse of the DVD market, belts began to be tightened more in the low-budget segment, which inevitably had an impact on the quality of the films released later. The last Universal Soldier was made at the height of a period spanning several years when, thanks to a combination of multiple factors (renewed interest in old stars, talented newcomers, a functioning international market and the attention of critics), American straight-to-video action movies briefly received some well-deserved attention, which positively motivated their creators and producers. Meanwhile, the lucrativeness of honestly made action scenes was sensed by others, who did more for the same money (like the competing contemporary phenomenon The Raid) or, conversely, dragged the concept of physical action and imaginative choreography into the realm of incomparably bigger budgets (Chad Stahelski, David Leitch and Tom Cruise). While in its time Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning elicited high hopes for how American action trash could further develop, today it remains the most spectacular memorial to its category.
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"Universal Soldier" is a classic of the action genre, in which both main actors from the original movie return. Yes, we will meet Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. The problem is that both actors are great attractions and have very important roles, but their screen time is relatively short. Most of the spotlight goes to Scott Adkins, who is supposed to be the new action star. However, I have a quite significant issue with him. Sometimes he looks like a fool, which bothers me. I just can't connect with him. Yet, there is certainly potential in him that is excellent. He could be a hero of the people, a person who suffers from problems he cannot influence. But as I look at him, he is not the right hero for me. He is not someone I admire and cheer for, like I do with Jason Statham, regardless of what he plays in. Scott Adkins will have to wait for my favor, but I think he doesn't mind. What I like about the movie is the brutality with which it is conceived. The action scenes look truly tough and good, which is a positive aspect that I have to highlight. When I want to make an action movie and show some proper fights, blood must flow. Or even splatter. Moreover, Van Damme and Lundgren show that they are definitely not finished. It's a good thing, we still need them. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2013/01/volte-me-sousedska-hlidka-universal.html
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Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning accomplishes exactly what I love about B-movies. Thanks to its low budget, it doesn't have to try to please as many audiences as possible, and you'll find things in it that would never pass muster in A-grade films. This almost arthouse action flick will kick the backside hard of anyone expecting conventional Hollywood action entertainment. The plot is fairly straightforward (outwardly a classic revenge story), but at times psychedelically disorienting and with unexpected horror elements. There are moments when you feel like you're watching something by David Cronenberg, Michael Haneke or Gaspar Noé. It lets you peer into the darker side of the soul of the robotised universal soldiers, depicting the protagonist's gradual plunge into the “heart of darkness”, at the end of which he is met by a modern-day Colonel Kurtz, played by a bald Van Damme, who is this time (from a reversed perspective) portrayed as the villain. And surprisingly, it doesn't come across as the least bit ridiculous. The film is uncompromisingly cynical and super-serious, absolutely devoid of humour, pathos and romance, and no sympathetic characters or flashy gimmicky attractions. As it happens in DTV (direct-to-video) films, the main and supporting cast are not great actors (which is easy to hide in the roles of cold, emotionless killers), but they really know how to fight. And their contact fights, with their extreme fierceness and brutality, beats even John Wick's “gun-fu”. The film also exists in an NC-17 version, which is quite unusual in this genre today.
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