We would all like to see a movie with the youthful Jean Claude Van Damme work, but the problem is that "Universal Soldier" is not a good film. The whole premise of the film is not new: the "Universal Soldier" is really a pale imitation of the Terminator from the 1980s and 1990s.
Of course, an unoriginal premise would not be a problem if they did something fresh with the material. After all, Terminator Part II was a very good movie. Yet "Universal Soldier" really consists of a number of car chase scenes on desert high ways and Dolph Lundgren's heavy-duty jerk firing his big guns at Jean Claude Van Damme and his female companion, Veronica Roberts (Ally Walker). Is someone trying to overcompensate here with the big guns? You be the judge. There is very little suspense generated in these chases, partly because they are not well filmed and partly because the good guys never really seemed to be in any danger. Finally, there is the big fight at the end and I don't need to tell you who wins that one.
The only element in the film that worked was Ally Walker who had some humorous and witty lines during her panic attacks, which made me smile. Unfortunately, Jean Claude Van Damme has even fewer lines than Ally Walker and is incredibly restrained and robotic throughout this picture. I realize that Van Damme has to be robotic as a universal soldier (that's the whole premise anyway), but they could have done something original with the material by showing how inept Van Damme is at understanding human emotions and behaviour. For instance, there is a hilarious scene where Arnold Schwarzenegger's terminator gets schooled by John Connor on why he cannot kill people (a robot programmed to kill people would not necessity make that leap in logic without some help). But Van Damme sadly is only there as a piece of furniture and for some pretty drab action scenes. As a result, Ally Walker almost by default nearly steals the show. One wonders in retrospect if Universal Soldier would have been a better film if it was about Ally Walker discovering the universal soldier program through investigative journalism than about the universal soldiers themselves.
Of course, an unoriginal premise would not be a problem if they did something fresh with the material. After all, Terminator Part II was a very good movie. Yet "Universal Soldier" really consists of a number of car chase scenes on desert high ways and Dolph Lundgren's heavy-duty jerk firing his big guns at Jean Claude Van Damme and his female companion, Veronica Roberts (Ally Walker). Is someone trying to overcompensate here with the big guns? You be the judge. There is very little suspense generated in these chases, partly because they are not well filmed and partly because the good guys never really seemed to be in any danger. Finally, there is the big fight at the end and I don't need to tell you who wins that one.
The only element in the film that worked was Ally Walker who had some humorous and witty lines during her panic attacks, which made me smile. Unfortunately, Jean Claude Van Damme has even fewer lines than Ally Walker and is incredibly restrained and robotic throughout this picture. I realize that Van Damme has to be robotic as a universal soldier (that's the whole premise anyway), but they could have done something original with the material by showing how inept Van Damme is at understanding human emotions and behaviour. For instance, there is a hilarious scene where Arnold Schwarzenegger's terminator gets schooled by John Connor on why he cannot kill people (a robot programmed to kill people would not necessity make that leap in logic without some help). But Van Damme sadly is only there as a piece of furniture and for some pretty drab action scenes. As a result, Ally Walker almost by default nearly steals the show. One wonders in retrospect if Universal Soldier would have been a better film if it was about Ally Walker discovering the universal soldier program through investigative journalism than about the universal soldiers themselves.