Universal Soldier: Regeneration (Movie)

I'm currently at parent's house due to global Covid-19 crisis, working from home. I'm still fine, though. Thank God. As they said "Make use of situation" and i'm near my stash of movies (and games), so i re-watch Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009). 

The movie start with peaceful museum and "soft" title. Is this the trend of 2000s movie? Starting with title that's not grandiose like in Jurassic World. But at least in JW, the title looks iconic but here it's just dull white font. Not a good starter, if i may say.   

 

The museum sightseeing looks peaceful but there's hidden tension somehow. When this pair of lad and lady (that somehow is the focus of camera) about to enter this car, a reinforced jeep rams it from behind and someone get squished because of that collision. Suck to be that guy.

 

The young men kidnapped by the occupant of the jeep and gunfight ensues. It's clearly one-sided to the kidnapper's side which is very reasonable. Why? The arsenal, of course. The bodyguard only have handgun (and probably they outnumber the kidnapper but not by significant number. Meanwhile, the kidnappers have the famous Avtomat Kalashnikova rifle!

 

Then rude getaway happens. But there's no getaway that still obey traffic or respect other driver, isn't?

 

As you can see from the abductees' expression that the driver way of controlling the car is really frightening. Did i see snot on the lass? You better wipe that out, miss. It's disgusting.

 

Of course, the police don't stay idle with the affair. One of them drive besides the kidnapper and shoot them (without concern of hostage's safety!) but later gunned downed. Then they set the usual car barricade here which is sensible course of action. The driver is killed but later replaced by this tough guy after he mow down all the polices here while standing in the open(!) and he only got scratch in his elbow.

Not far from the barricade, there's getaway chopper out in open (again). It seems the police lack of preventive action for this case. But the police still near on their trail. The tough guy is forced to push away one of his friend to buy time but eventually they manage to escape with the hostages.     

 

Then the story jumps to the statement by the one who responsible for the kidnapping. Not only they manage to kidnap the prime minister's children, but also take over the famous Chernobyl reactor complex. They can occupy the premise relatively easy because the security is really lax. There's bit of inspection but replied by swift gun shoot by the terrorist. Then the rest of the security can only run away aimlessly and gunned down. The only "meaningful" retaliation by the security is: one of them manage to sounds alarm while being shot down. No one is smart or fast enough to take cover and return fire. Why they want the abandoned nuclear reactor anyway?       

 

Oh, of course! Terrorism and bombing have very close relation. Duh! The terrorist leader demands the release of 227 political prisoner and the independence of Pasalan (which is fictional state of former Soviet, maybe). Otherwise, the bomb which is set to next 72 hours will explode the 3rd reactor of Chernobyl which results in nuclear explosion that 100 time stronger than the "Little Boy" dropped in Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945 or so what he claimed. Also the hostages will die too. Don't forget them. 

Meanwhile, some of the separatist soldiers move a padded bag roughly and the eye-glasses man yells about their undelicated transport. It seems the thing contain something very valuable to him.

 

After that, the tough guy gets on the medical surgery. He has few bullet hole on his chest but he's still alive meaning he's The Universal Soldier (or shortened to UnSol). If you don't know what's UnSol, i will explain it later. You can assume UnSol as super soldier for know. His right arm is broken so the doctor and his assistant have to replace it with new ones. Thus his arm is sawed first without anesthetic! Sounds horrible, right?     

 

Meanwhile, there's conversation between an American general and a Russian general (who's in the middle of walking his dog). They discuss about the kidnapping affair that may involve UnSol. They're agree to join forces to solve this crisis.

 

That night, the task forces establish a command center near the power plant. After a briefing about Chernobyl power plant and separatist's threat, Dr. Richard Porter kindly brief about UnSol. The first UnSol program called 'Black Tower' operation which is resurrection or re-use of deceased soldiers that fall in operation at Vietnam. They're frozen with nitrogen gas to both conserve their body and make it more resistant to gunshot. They're also injected with super serum. Thus they become super soldiers plus they're resistant to pain feeling. Imagine if you're in FPS game where the enemy won't feel any feedback for being shot and they take a lots of damage. You get the picture of what they are. In my opinion, that's not possible in real life because if you die, your soul will go to afterlife. They may revive your body but it remain soulless thus your body still dead without your soul that govern your body. It's like you manage to totally repair a broken tank but you don't have the crew to pilot it. That's just my theory, though.

 

5 years ago, the project is replaced with 'White Tower' which is led by Dr. Robert Colin (gene therapy expert) who's the eyeglasses guy that work with the separatist group. In that project, they employ soldier's DNA injection to the experimental objects which results in more superior soldier than the first generation of UnSol and they're called NGU (New Generation UnSol). I'm not sure whether NGU comes from dead man like in 'Black Tower' program or not, because Dr. Richard doesn't explain that detail. But one thing for sure is both NGU and UnSol are expressionless cold-hearted soldier.        

 

But there's some accident that where some NGU kill 12 persons as seen in this security camera footage. This probably happens due to incorrect temperature setting in the premise. With that, they decide to lay down the NGU program. But Dr. Collin still continues with the research illegally, of course. Moreover he's a gun-for-hire that operate in Eastern Europe. Gun-for-hire sounds inaccurate as the man himself don't involve in combat directly. It's his creation that do the stuff. Maybe UnSol-for-hire is more accurate term.

 

Meanwhile Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) who's one of 5 1st generation UnSol, is in the middle of rehabilitation program called Phoenix Project that hopefully will turn Luc into normal guy that takes place in rural area of Switzerland. The project is conducted by Dr. Fleming. Luc has to go through some Rorschach test and take many pills. They decide to take a break as the dog need to be fed or so what Luc thinks.

 

Meanwhile, Dr. Collin and his assistant inject chip to all member of separatists that will ensure that they won't be targeted by the NGU. By the expression of that guy, the injection process maybe painful or he's just big drama queen.

 

Meanwhile (again), they prepare the 4 UnSol for the operation. As opposed to that separatist soldier, the UnSol seems unfazed with scientist bolt their head with camera.

 

There's 2 objective of the operation: 1) Secure reactor No. 3 and disarm the bomb 2) Rescue the hostages. One of soldier here ask what if they meet the NGU. Suddenly Dr. Richard replies the question with run and let the UnSol take care of him. He believe that the NGU will guards the bomb and isn't allowed to use powerful firearm that will trigger the explosive.  

 

Back to Luc, he's with Dr. Fleming in a cafe. Everything looks good.

 

Until he beat the hell out of some old fat man. In his defense, the old man looks suspicious indeed as if he target either Luc or Dr. Fleming back then. I kind of approve what Luc do here, simply because i'm a man who like to over-suspect at anyone. Dr. Fleming hysterically ask Luc to stop. After he stop the beating, they go back home rashly.

 

Meanwhile in Chernobyl complex, the joint force attack the separatist group. Even with mines that are set by the militia, the joint force keep charging unfaltered. Besides the minefield, the militia -i'll be honest- suck at war. They're easily mowed down by the opposition because they're lacking at tactical warfare or to put it simple they lack of sense to take cover and shoot. For instance this on upstairs. Instead shoot behind window, he kick the door like some kind of Hollywood hero and immediately gunned down. Scout_domination15.wav

 

Later on, they manage to secure area near the reactor. Captain Burke here request a backup to secure farther area but rejected. The general told them on standby and let the UnSol move further instead. The captain have no choice but to oblige.

 

The UnSol split into 4 group which is not good idea as Dr. Richard said that NGU is more superior than UnSol. They should split into larger group or don't split at all. If they outnumber him, they will win. Anyway, the NGU attacks this UnSol from behind and high elevation. It's bad for the UnSol

 

After some moment of brawl, the UnSol is pinned down by the NGU and later get stabbed right in forehead. Dead.  

 

Anothe UnSol also get assaulted from behind and he clearly lose the fight with the NGU.

The NGU punch the UnSol until he pressed against the wall and finish him with the same knife gauntlet but this time his finishing move is repeated stab on stomach.

 

Next UnSol also attacked from behind (again!). After some boring rough CQC scene, the NGU finish the UnSol by stabbing him to big hook. Fatality!

 

The last UnSol arrives at the reactor. He disobey the order to find and disarm the detonator and choose to have unarmed duel with the NGU instead. I thought UnSol are supposed to ignore stupid ego like this.

 

This UnSol gives the NGU the hardest time compare to the others. But in the end, he succumbs to this NGU's deadlock. That the end of all 4 UnSol.

 

After killing the UnSol's, the NGU is out to kill the joint force soldiers and they don't stand a chance at all. I believe they're well informed that NGU is nigh-immune to bullet and yet they keep shoot him in torso plus he's clearly wearing kevlar vest! There's one (sensible) guy that throw grenade at the NGU but as you can see it's not accurate. Nice try, by the way. There's an order by the general to retreat but for some reason their communication is jammed. Heavy_negativevocalization03.wav

One brave soldier attempts to suicide with grenade in his dying breath. It's more accurate but the NGU still fine after flies a bit due to the explosion. But again, it allows Captain Burke and the soldier that he carries to evacuate just in time.

 

Some separatist soldiers try to shoot the evacuation vehicle. This is the vision of the NGU that see the safety implant on their arm and it also emit 'ping' noise, meaning they're not his enemies thus he retreats peacefully afterward. I have to admit that this effect is neat.

 

On that night, the terrorists blow the explosives around the reactor as warning for previous operation. Their leader looks really mad about it.

 

But after the announcement, he looks sad in this crematory ceremony for his fallen comrade in that battle. They pour liquor into the fire and then they drink together. There's one greedy bloke that instead of a cup he carries a bottle of (presumably) Vodka. He really like drinking, huh?

 

At the same night, some special force attack Luc with gas grenade and baton. He fights back but he's outnumbered and/or outarmed. In the end, he got anesthetized and carried away.  

Meanwhile, the separatist leader talk a bit to the hostages but suddenly interrupted by Dr. Collin. He jest by accusing the separatist leader has Stockholm Syndrome and he proceed to talk about who's in charge. He said it can be prominent figure (hint on the separatist leader) or the one who works in background (subtle hint on himself). Also he calling the soldiers are peasant with slinger compare to The NGU. The separatist leader doesn't like him and neither do i. 

 

In the command center of the task force, Luc is trained to be proper UnSol again. He could be the last hope for this crisis. Dr. Richard claimed that Luc is the best UnSol of the first generation.

 

But they can't afford to waste time until Luc return to his tip-top shape, therefore Captain Burke works on one-man infiltration task. Good thing those soldiers swept the mine with their body on that operation otherwise Cpt. Burke won't infiltrate the site in one piece. He deal with one guard with old school way: choke him from behind. Next, he have to deal with these 2 guards. He quickly slash guard's throat and after a bit of fisticuff he finish the other with knife stab. I think he know what he's doing.

 

I take that back. He fails the basic of stealth combat. This time, he takes the gun from his victim and shoot him to death. That's clearly noisy! Good thing, there's no other guard around here to sound the alarm or they're all deaf. After that, Cpt. Burke goes inside a pipe that leads to the reactor as planned.

 

Cpt. Burke successfully infiltrates the reactor. He's told not to engage (with The NGU) which is wise as he has killed 4 UnSol and mere human like Burke won't stand a chance against him. This is like that one scene in Jurassic Park where the kids hide in the kitchen from Velociraptors. Burke asks permission to disarm the detonator but rejected. The general insist on prioritizing the hostages first. Burke set a camera that look at the detonator to let anyone in Command Center know the exact timer, before he proceed to search the hostages.   

 

Do you remember the padded bag in early times? It contains clone of Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren). Now, Dr. Collin and his assistant prepare Andrew as his failsafe. By failsafe he means a countermeasure against the terrorist because The NGU can't bring harm to them. Meaning, Dr. Collin is ready to betray the separatist group.

 

The Prime Minister Musayef finally give in to the demand. On the broadcast, he says that he will order the soldier to lay low in next 48 hours in exchange of detonator deactivation. He will also releases some of the political prisoners. While the rest will be freed in exchange of the hostages later on. The separatists once again drink near fire but in happy mood this time.

 

The leader of the separatist group obviously happy with this outcome but Dr. Collins (behind pillar) seems not content with this as if he wants this terrorism act to keep going. Feeling pissed, the leader point his handgun at the bastard doctor.

 

But Andrew comes in, punch 1 terrorist away, and proceed to beat the leader to death. There's nothing they can do to stop him. With his successful betrayal plot, Dr. Collins be like...

 

Yeah, sure. Congratulation, doc. But there's one thing that i don't understand: what's the benefit of doing this? The separatist leader clearly demands freedom to both his country and 227 his comrades. No money is involved. If it was, the doctor could hog all ransom for himself and/or his research and that makes sense. My only guess that Dr. Collins really wants to show off what UnSol can do. Basically, he's egoistic stupid or crazy.

But Andrew goes haywire, started by asking the questionnaire test (which have to be answered with either yes or no) when he's prepared. As the doctor refuse to answer them, Andrew proceed to squish his head while still asking the questions. Eventually he's dead, saving him from remembering his stupid betrayal plot in the future.

 

The hostages run in fear after seeing Andrew goes berserk. Luckily, they immediately meet Cpt. Burke and proceed to exfiltrate. Thing may goes well but Andrew restart the detonator. The crisis starts over again.

 

As there's no news from Cpt. Burke and the soldiers are told to put off, they have no choice but to send Luc there. Thus, he's given double dose of serum and he starts to attack Dr. Fleming (who gives the injection) and this nameless assistant. When he face-to-face with general and Dr. Richard, he stands silently until the doctor says "Go!". Then he picks M4 assault rifle and later kicks the door and leave.

 

Thus a battle between Luc and the separatist soldiers ensues. I have to admit that Dr. Collins is right, they're no match against UnSol as they fall like flies here with occasion firing back (which is useless). Some of them ram Luc with jeep which is nice try and later killed on their way to ram him again.

 

Luc moves from building to building, shooting any enemy who's foolish enough to fight him. He has emptied his rifle and handgun, therefore he resort to combat knife. Why he doesn't think to get rifle from fallen enemies? Your guess is as good as mine. Here's some logical warfare. The soldiers wield AK rifle which quite unsuitable with narrow space like inside building like this although it's famous rifle for its good quality. You see that the rifle is firearm with long barrel that standout and relative cumbersome to use in this condition. The better weapon will be any Submachine gun that is lighter and more appropriate in close or narrow place like this. On the other hand, Luc shows exemplary performance of knife fight. This is the most entertaining part of the movie.   

 

There's one soldier that stand in fear while Luc only giving him silent treatment and let him jumps out of window himself. Dummy! XD

 

While Luc still on killing spree, Cpt. Burke has a bad moment with the NGU but he has time to tell the kids to run away. If NGU can kill other UnSol in hand-to-hand combat (which happened the day before this), Cpt Burke lose big time against him in CQC. But he put a good fight for mere human. He reminds me of Lt. Colonel William Lennox from Transformer (live action) movie who's human soldier with bravery and luck ability to accomplish something against non-human antagonist. But unlike Lennox, Burke ends up dead. Soldier_HatOverHeartTaunt05.wav

 

Finally, Luc encounter (clone of ) Andrew and he keep digress about the yes-or-no questions. While Luc just stare at him silently. Maybe because Luc doesn't answer the question, Andrew starts attacking him.

 

So far, the duel between UnSol -i'll be honest- looks stiff and rough. There's always "Spear" move or whatever you call a move where you throw yourself to push your opponent forward very hard. At least when Luc involves in duel, he does quite fantastic kick as expected from Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Eventually, they fall outside the building. Andrew is charging at Luc but he immediately counter it by stabbing a pipe into Andrew's head and he's still alive with that fatal wound. Then Luc grabs shotgun (that happens lie nearby) and shot Andrew's brain via the pipe. He's dead for real this time.

 

After that Luc heal himself by injecting himself with this syringe. Maybe it's just painkiller instead of healing injection. Whatever it is, it makes Luc come back to his feet and proceed to mission objective.

 

For some reason, Luc manage to find the children. They looks afraid of him but when he says "Follow me!" they oblige.

Of course, thing won't go that easily. The NGU interrupts the rescue even though no one told him to do so. Dr. Collin is dead, remember? And i think his assistant also killed by Andrew clone.

 

There's chase between the fight whether between The NGU and the kids or Luc and The NGU to prevent him killing/re-capturing the hostages. As in every duel that involves The NGU, he finally use his killing blade but Luc is dexterous enough to dodge it or at least not land on his vital spot. He manage to scratch Luc's cheek.

 

In the end, Luc stab The NGU right in his neck with steel bar as they said "Don't bring knife into (steel) bar fight". Lesson learned.    

Oh, come on! That's clearly fatal wound that no human can survive. He should loss a lot of blood to the brink of death but what happen is he manage to pull the bar a few minutes after Luc and others leave, and continue to target them as if it was nothing. This total nonsense reminds me of that lady that survives after she's impaled with steel bars for very long time in Cloverfield. Dr. Richard said that UnSol have great self-healing ability which i assume their blood coagulates faster only. Not some miraculous regeneration ability like Marvel's Wolverine or Deadpool. Medic_autodejectedtie01.wav

 

Anyway, the brawl between those two UnSol continues to the reactor. The timer on detonator is low. I think it's 20 seconds left before explosion. Luc somehow manage to pull it safely and plant it on The NGU's back while fighting him.

 

Then they fall outside of the reactor into pile of pipe. Luc is able to run safely away from The NGU before the explosion kill him, for real this time. I think the timer goes inconsistency slow. It said 20 seconds left before but i think the time requires for them to stumble around until it explodes is: 30 seconds or more but i could be wrong.   

 

With the demise of the NGU (and enemy soldiers), Luc returns to command base while the kids are evacuated by the joint task force. Also nuclear specialists arrive to scanning for radioactive. You guys are the least useful! >:|  

Then the movie skips to some laboratory in Langley, Virginia. In there, Dr. Edward examine bodies of clone of The NGU inside the special padded bag which are ready for next UnSol program. The End.

The basic premise of Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009) is simple: UnSol's involved in -still rather relatable- terrorism act by separatist group from Ex-Soviet country and it's not good in my opinion. I prefer watching The Expendable over this because there's more variety in combat action. Basically the UnSol are hardened non-human (even though they were normal human) that brings death and destruction like Terminator or Jason Voorhes but without robotic or mystic reason/background. I think the reason why they make the UnSol immune to bullet is a excuse to bring hand-to-hand combat action. Even so, the unarmed combat looks stiff and less artistic especially when there's always "Spear" move to push anyone around and it gets old. Maybe asking for wrestling or fantasy kung fu move is too much but at least make the combat more on variety if they really want to show the CQC off that much. Besides in my opinion, the "Spear" move can be either dodged or countered. I don't understand why they keep insist on "UnSol is perfect invincible soldier" concept. I mean, sure. Their muscles are hardened so bullet does a little to them. But i'm pretty sure they're still vulnerable to headshot snipe because there's just a little muscle around head compare to torso. If that doesn't work, they can resort to explosive solution such as 40 mm grenade or LAW (Light Anti-Armor Weapon). There's also smoke grenade that's demonstrated by the soldiers who capture Luc. It does no damage, yes. But at least you can weaken UnSol to submission thus proves that they're not invincible. Maybe they're also weak to flash bang or anti-tank rifle. But i don't think there's any movie that support my theory because the concept of "they're invincible" is the main selling point. Regardless of the concept or mediocre-to-bad CQC, there's good acting on the movie. I especially fond on Dolph's acting as "broken" UnSol that keep spouting the test questions. It's very brilliant!  

Maybe this is my hot take but i like Universal Soldier: The Return (1999) better although it's considered Box Office Bomb because the scenario is whimsical as Luc becomes normal human and The UnSol are controlled via computer (that later get hacked) also there's no presence of Andrew at all. But it's enjoyable to me plus it's quite make sense to put computer to control the UnSol and there's Tim Sköld OST "Chaos". But i'm not Universal Soldier fans so you don't have take my word for it