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Universal Soldier (1992)

 
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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 06, 2019 4:13 pm    Post subject: Universal Soldier (1992) Reply with quote

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___________ Universal Soldier (1992) Trailer


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When this first came out and even before, in previews, it seemed to me an attempt to recapture the look and feel of Jim Cameron's Terminator 2 (91). That's not a bad way to go, even if you end up with a pale imitation.

The concept is not quite the same — instead of cyborgs, we have here Unisols, short for Universal Soldiers, another in a long line of attempts to create the perfect soldiers (see also Soldier of only a few years later, with Kurt Russell as the title character).

Unisols are dead Vietnam veterans, revived in some manner and kept in cold storage until needed for some special mission. They have enhanced strength and regenerative abilities, but also tend to overheat after a short time of being active (hence, back to cold storage).

They also have no memories of their old lives and are little more than automatons. Two of these humorless killers are played by Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren.

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The film begins during the waning days of the war in Vietnam. Van Damme & Lundgren — corporal & sergeant — are at odds with each other because Lundgren has gone off the deep end in the jungle, and they end up killing each other.

However, their bodies are packed in ice and — quick flash forward to the present — there's this huge para-military truck which functions as a mobile control center, dispatching a squad of Unisols to deal with some terrorists. Though their memories have been wiped, the Unisols (Van Damme & Lundgren at least) seem to retain their basic personality traits. Lundgren tends to be extra vicious in his work. Van Damme also seems to begin regaining some memory.

Enter nosy TV journalist Ally Walker and soon Van Damme is on the run with her — first from the military in general, but later from the still psychotic Lundgren.


___

This was an early effort from the writer-director team of Dean Devlin & Roland Emmerich, who later gave us Stargate (94) and Independence Day (96).

As with those, this is designed as crowd-pleasing entertainment. It was something of a casting coup to get Van Damme & Lundgren to square off against each other here. Each was at the peak of his career at this time and it was like a sci-fi action film version of the top two fighters in the WWF in final battle.

Van Damme is the best fighter, but Lundgren is just huge and more powerful. Both also give better-than-expected performances, injecting some needed humor, so that Ally Walker didn't have to carry that part all by herself. Lundgren, in particular, seems to be enjoying himself. Though there's some cartoon-style violence, there's also enough bloodshed that Lundgren poses a real threat at some points — he really does look like someone who can snap your neck too easily.

It veers sideways a bit in the climactic fight. I heard they re-shot this to extend it and give it more 'oomph', but it's still the weakest portion of the picture, full of clichés, like Van Damme standing up in slow-mo after he's supposedly had it.

This does have a strong beginning — a nearly haunting retread of the Vietnam War — and you might get a slight chill when the two dead soldiers are abruptly reintroduced in modern times. And when they zip up those body bags in Vietnam in the first act, seeming to close the story on the two before it even begins, you may think, this could be good. It kind of was.

BoG's Score: 7 out of 10

Universal Trivia: There were various sequels — a couple of direct-to-video sequels with different actors in 1998 and also one with Van Damme, Universal Soldier: The Return (1999). Van Damme & Lundgren then both returned much later in more sequels in 2009 & 2012.


____________ Universal Soldier (1992) Review


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BoG
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Krel
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 4:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

They originally wanted Dolph Lundgren to play the hero role and Jean-Claude Van Damme to play the bad guy. Lundren wanted the villain role, and clearly had a good time with it.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2020 2:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production. Very Happy
________________________________

~ Both Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren attended the 1992 Cannes Film Festival in order to promote this film. Just outside the festival hall, Van Damme and Lundgren were shown having an argument, and then pushing and threatening each other before security guards intervened and stopped them.

This brawl between the two became a talking point for the media and was reported on many news channels. However, years later, Lundgren revealed in an interview that it was all staged to garner publicity for this movie. Van Damme also confirmed this on a 2018 podcast.


Note from me: Hot damn! As soon as I started reading that item I just knew it was a stunt the boys pulled off to promote the movie! Good job, fellas. Very Happy

~ Tommy 'Tiny' Lister had his eyepiece custom made because the regular eye piece's design was blocking his good eye.



Note from me: That's Tommy Lister right behind Dolph Lundgren. Note the different positions of the eye pieces.

"So, Mr. Lister, now that you've got the eye piece on for the firsT time, is it comfortable?"

"Well, yes . . . but there's just one little problem." Rolling Eyes

~ The Vietnam scenes were filmed at the Kingman, Arizona golf course with set dressings and fake foliage.

Note from me: Hey, that golf course really does look remarkable like Viet Nam!

I guess the actors would fire off a few rounds at the enemy and then duck . . . especially if they heard somebody yell, "Fore!" Shocked



~ Though they're all supposed to be American, the Universal Soldiers are played by a Belgian (Jean-Claude Van Damme), a Swede (Dolph Lundgren), and a German (Ralf Moeller).

Note from me: I guess that's why none of them had "Made in America" tatooed on their butts!

~ The Kingman Police Department supplied officers as extras for the scene where Luc and Veronica are surrounded by the police.

Note from me: I'm not sure it was wise to hire a few dozen non-professional extras . . . all carrying loaded firearms! Laughing

~ The highly specialized load bearing equipment worn by the UniSols was custom made by Eagle Industries for the film, including the thigh holster for the Desert Eagle .357 magnum (which also held 2 extra magazines and a Cold Steel Magnum Tanto), the shoulder holster harness for the H&K MP5K sub-machine guns and the H&K P9S pistol, extra magazines and grenades.

On the opposite thigh, the UniSols are carrying collapsible PR-24 batons.




Note from me: Jeez, why didn't they stick bazookas on their backs, just in case they needed to fight the entire Chinese army! Shocked

~ The idea of the eyepieces that the Universal Soldiers wear in the movie was borrowed from Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). In that series, The Borg — humans and other alien species that have been assimilated into cyborg creatures — wear eyepieces. In the film, the Universal Soldiers are deceased soldiers who have been reanimated and brought back as cyborg commandos.

Note from me: By gum, there IS a similarity there! Very Happy



~ The film actually had some influence on the Offensive Handgun Weapon System concept for the US Special Operations Command which was intitiated in 1989 to aquire a handgun for offensive purposes, rather than strictly defensive use.

The right people saw the film and adopted some ideas of equipping their handguns with a laser and suppressor. After exhaustive testing, the weapon adopted was the Heckler & Koch Mk 23 in caliber 45 ACP, accessorized with a day/night/infrared laser aiming module from Insight Technologies, (AN/PEQ-6) and a Knights Armament suppressor. The first guns were delivered in 1996.

Due to its ungainly size and weight( 5 LBS loaded), it does not see frequent use by SOCOM, but another handgun using similar technology, the HK 45 Compact, has been adopted by Naval Special Warfare Development Group (SEAL Team 6) and has seen action in the War on Terror.




Note from me: I want one of these for Christmas. I could wear my face mask (like I always do) and rob liquor stores! Very Happy

~ The street where Luc and Veronica are surrounded by police is named after the actor Andy Devine who was raised in Kingman, Arizona.

Note from me: Hey, I know that guy! He played the chubby comic-relief deputy on the 1950s series, Wild Bill Hickok!

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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2020 3:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Along with VERY aggressive expansion of their space program the Chineese ARE making their own CAPTAIN CHINAS!

From NBC news

WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence shows that China has conducted "human testing" on members of the People's Liberation Army in hope of developing soldiers with "biologically enhanced capabilities," the top U.S. intelligence official said Friday.

His office and the CIA did not immediately respond to requests to elaborate on the notion that China sought to create "super soldiers" of the sort depicted in Hollywood films like "Captain America," "Bloodshot" and "Universal Soldier."

Last year, two American scholars wrote a paper examining China's ambitions to apply biotechnology to the battlefield, including what they said were signs that China was interested in using gene-editing technology to enhance human — and perhaps soldier — performance.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/china-has-done-human-testing-create-biologically-enhanced-super-soldiers-n1249914

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2020 3:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

At my age, I could use a few "performance enhancing genes" myself!

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Krel
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2020 7:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:

~ The highly specialized load bearing equipment worn by the UniSols was custom made by Eagle Industries for the film, including the thigh holster for the Desert Eagle .357 magnum (which also held 2 extra magazines and a Cold Steel Magnum Tanto), the shoulder holster harness for the H&K MP5K sub-machine guns and the H&K P9S pistol, extra magazines and grenades.

On the opposite thigh, the UniSols are carrying collapsible PR-24 batons.


Note from me: Jeez, why didn't they stick bazookas on their backs, just in case they needed to fight the entire Chinese army! Shocked

In 1963, the M72 LAW replaced the Bazooka. As the M72 is a collapsible tube holding the rocket projectile, they could have put one on the Soldier's backs in the movie.


Bud Brewster wrote:

~ The film actually had some influence on the Offensive Handgun Weapon System concept for the US Special Operations Command which was intitiated in 1989 to aquire a handgun for offensive purposes, rather than strictly defensive use.

The right people saw the film and adopted some ideas of equipping their handguns with a laser and suppressor. After exhaustive testing, the weapon adopted was the Heckler & Koch Mk 23 in caliber 45 ACP, accessorized with a day/night/infrared laser aiming module from Insight Technologies, (AN/PEQ-6) and a Knights Armament suppressor. The first guns were delivered in 1996.

Due to its ungainly size and weight( 5 LBS loaded), it does not see frequent use by SOCOM, but another handgun using similar technology, the HK 45 Compact, has been adopted by Naval Special Warfare Development Group (SEAL Team 6) and has seen action in the War on Terror.

The program that produced the H&K Mk 23 started in late 70s, early 80s. Practically every firearms company produced a weapon for the SOCOM. H&K produced the winning design, a truly enormous .45 that was as large (larger with all the add-ons) as a Desert Eagle Magnum pistol. It is so large and heavy that most of the Operatives didn't want to use it, except in special circumstances.

The Mk. 23 was the pistol the Hunters used in "Ultraviolet", 1998 TV series.

I always thought that the influence for the Soldiers eyepiece was the eyepiece that attack helicopter gunners wear for targeting.

David.
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