Universal Soldier (1992)

Today on the TV/Movie Rewind Podcast, Matt & Todd get reanimated and rearmed with Universal Soldier—Roland Emmerich’s 1992 sci-fi action flick that boldly blends high-octane combat with Frankenstein, war crimes, and plenty of roundhouse kicks.

Starring:

• Jean-Claude Van Damme as “LUC, SAD!” Luc Deveraux, a memory-wiped near-automaton as confused about what he is as he is about who he is.

• Dolph Lundgren as “ANDREW, MAD!” Sgt. Andrew Scott, a completely unhinged maniac with a necklace made of ears and probably loves Casualties of War for all the wrong reasons.

• Ally Walker as Veronica Roberts, a journalist just trying to do her job and not get murdered by government cyborgs.

• Whit Bissell Award winners Jerry Orbach (as Dr. Gregor) and Robert Trebor (as the motel owner), plus genre favorites Ed O’Ross and Leon Rippy.

This is great early-90s action:

• Government conspiracies

• Secret military programs

• And a plot that could be described as RoboCop meets First Blood with a dash of Short Circuit if Johnny 5 had been developed by Cyberdyne Systems.

• Van Damme kicks people. Lundgren screams about betrayal. There’s a diner fight, a farm showdown, and a final battle that ends with a hay baler and some light existential horror.

Despite 5 sequels, this one is often forgotten in the larger pool of muscley-action films. For one, Van Damme’s box-office draw was waning, and it could be said that this kind of action film a dying genre in 1992, especially with Die Hard a few years earlier establishing a new action archetype.

Lastly, at least in America alone, 1992 would be dominated by other classics such as:

Disney’s Aladdin, Academy Award Winning Unforgiven, Basic Instinct, Reservoir Dogs, A Few Good Men, Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula,Batman Returns, and The Bodyguard, to name a few.

This one had an up-hill battle for your memory, so we’re giving it another look. You should too!

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