The Film
1992's original Universal Soldier wasn't the best Jean-Claude Van Damme film, nor the worst. It was a mediocre Terminator wannabe that offered some mindless escapism. It spawned two direct-to-video sequels sans Van Damme, and then seemingly out of nowhere came this 1999 theatrical follow-up with Van Damme back as the now-former Unisol (universal soldier) cyborg Luc Deveraux, now working with the Unisol project voluntarily. Of course man wasn't meant to play god, things go wrong, mayhem ensues and Deveraux must stop seemingly unstoppable soldiers, and do so in under 85 minutes.
The Picture
Other than a training mission sequence at the start of the story, nearly the entire film takes place at night, and in mostly darkly lit buildings. This no doubt was done to help hide the tightness of the set, and to provide a greater sense of foreboding. It also looks rather good, and while this Blu-ray is hardly a reference worthy disc given the lack of eye popping scenery, the presentation is clear and lacking in any artifacts or other notable problems. The 1080p 1.85:1 presentation is thus quite comparable to HD cable or satellite TV; this is far from the best looking disc, but it still looks like true HD.
The Sound
This is not one to watch if you have a headache or worry that you'll disturb the neighbors. As with many b-movie action series, the Universal Soldier franchise is one that has been loud for the sake of being loud, and this one - being made for the big screen - went for movie-theater loudness. This is notable with the surround sound effects, and the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 takes advantage of the rear channel speakers to great effect. However, the film loses points in that there is little or no range in the film's audio dynamics. While the story really doesn't have those quiet moments where ambient sounds and whispered dialog are important, overall Universal Soldier: The Return is simply more of a loud film than it is a great-sounding film.
The Extras
There are a couple of bonus features that are essentially holdovers from the DVD release, and thus are presented in standard definition. These include a now somewhat dated "Making of" featurette and an equally dated featurette looking at Jean-Claude Van Damme's career; the latter something for only hardcore Van Damme fans - if there are in fact any.
Final Thoughts
Clocking in at a lean 83 minutes this film was released theatrically but has all the feel of a quickie made-for-video/cable movie. It is also the sort of thing you'd expect G4 or SpikeTV to air as part of a Van Damme marathon. And this isn't to say it doesn't have its moments - but it is hard to believe that in under an hour and a half so many things can go from bad to worse, and the day can still be saved with the main characters hardly looking the worse for wear.
Where to Buy
Product Details
- Actors: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bill Goldberg, Heidi Schanz, Michael Jai White, Xander Berkeley
- Director: Mic Rodgers
- Audio Languages: English, French and Portuguese Dolby TrueHD, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Dutch
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Number of Discs: 1
- Rating: R
- Studio: Tri-Star
- Release Date: April 14, 2009
- Run Time: 83 minutes
- List Price: $28.95
- Extras:
- Jean-Claude Van Damm: "Looking Back, Moving Forward"
- Michael Jai White: "A Universal Soldier's Workout"
- Making-of Featurette
