Universal Soldier Information

Universal Soldier is a 1992 American science fiction action film directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren as soldiers who kill each other in Vietnam but are reanimated in a secret Army project along with a large group of other previously dead soldiers.

Plot

In 1969, an American special forces squad receives orders to secure a village against communist North Vietnamese forces. Private Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) discovers members of his squad and various villagers dead, all with their ears removed. Deveraux finds Sergeant Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren), who has gone insane, with a string of severed ears and holding a young boy and girl hostage. Devereaux, who is near the end of his tour of duty, tries to reason with Scott, who 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. 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 bagged and iced, and to officially cover up their deaths as "missing in action".

In 1992, terrorists have taken over the Hoover Dam, and the police are ordered not to intervene or make any attempt to rescue the hostages. The "Universal Soldiers" (or "UniSols"), an elite counter terrorism unit, are brought in. Among them are the long-dead Luc Deveraux (now designated "GR44") and Andrew Scott ("GR13"). They are wearing high-tech lenses over their left eye and have apparently been reanimated with no memory of their previous lives. Devereaux and Scott are sent in to dispatch the terrorists, with Devereaux using efficient means but Scott using excessive force. Their camera feeds cause concern among the project technicians; even though the UniSols are supposed to be emotionless, Scott is clearly enjoying himself. As the team infiltrate the area, they demonstrate their superior training and physical abilities against the terrorists, such as when GR74 (Ralf Möller) withstands close-range rifle fire. After the area is secured, Devereaux begins to regain patches of memory from his former life upon sees two hostages who strongly resemble the villagers he tried to save in Vietnam. This causes him to ignore 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 with Devereaux. 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 susceptible and their previous memories suppressed. 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), 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), the commander officer of the UniSol operation, refuses. TV journalist Veronica Roberts (Ally Walker) 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 project representatives, she only gets evasive answers. She later sneaks onto the base with a cameraman, discovering GR74 immersed in ice, still alive despite normally-fatal injuries.

When her presence is noticed, Devereaux and Scott are ordered to capture her. She flees to her cameraman's car, but they crash and overturn. Scott coldly executes the cameraman against the orders, before Devereaux stops him from shooting Roberts. Together, Devereaux and Roberts escape in a UniSol vehicle. Colonel Perry insists on preventing knowledge of the UniSols getting out, not only to the public, but to the Pentagon, which does not know the true nature of the project. Devereaux and Roberts flee to a motel. Roberts turns on the television and discovers she has been framed for the murder of her cameraman. Scott's previously insane personality begins to emerge, causing him to kill Perry and the technicians. Scott then takes command of the UniSol team, ordering them to find and kill Devereaux and Roberts.

Devereaux continues to rebuild his memory while Roberts tries to find more information about the UniSol program. They meet Dr. Christopher Gregor (Jerry Orbach), the creator of the program, who informs them that the UniSol project was started in the 1960s in order to develop the perfect soldier. Although they were able to reanimate dead humans, they were never able to overcome the body's need for constant cooling. The other major problem is that memories of the last moments of life are greatly amplified. In Devereaux's case, he still believes he is a soldier who wants to go home, while Scott believes he is still in Vietnam fighting insurgents. When Devereaux and Roberts leave the doctor's office, they are caught and arrested by the police. En route to jail, the police convoy is ambushed by Scott and GR74. A chase ensues, ending when the police bus and the UniSol truck both drive off a cliff and explode, killing GR74. Devereaux and Roberts head to Devereaux's family's farm in Louisiana.

After Devereaux reunites with his family, Scott appears 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, only to be seemingly killed by a grenade thrown by Scott. 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, eviscerating Scott. Roberts survived the explosion and she and Devereaux two embrace.

Alternate ending

The Special Edition DVD release features an alternative ending which starts 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 used Deveraux to get both him and Scott, and that Deveraux was living with people posing as his parents. He then has his men shoot Deveraux, but before Deveraux dies, the 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 as Luc Deveraux / GR44
• Eric Norris as GR86
• Leon Rippy as Woodard
• Dolph Lundgren as Andrew Scott / GR13
• Ally Walker as Veronica Roberts
• Ed O'Ross as Colonel Perry
• Michael Jai White as Soldier
• Tommy "Tiny" Lister as GR55
• Jerry Orbach as Dr. Christopher Gregor
• Tico Wells as Garth
• Robert Trebor as Motel-owner
• Gene Davis as Lieutenant
• Joanne Baron: Brenda
• Ralf Möller as GR74
• Kristopher Van Varenberg as Young Luc Deveraux (uncredited)
• Rance Howard as John Devereux
• Lilyan Chauvin as Mrs. Devereux

Production

Principal photography began on August 1991. At the 1992 Cannes Film Festival, 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.

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. It opened and peaked at No. 2, behind A League of Their Owns second weekend. From there, it made $36,299,898 in US ticket sales, becoming a moderate hit. Internationally it was far more popular, mostly opening at No. 1, 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 clone, or as a typical, mindless action film. Based on reviews from 25 critics the film holds a score of 21% on Rotten Tomatoes.