Director: John Hyams
Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Andrei Arlovski, Dolph Lundgren
A sequel to a not particularly well loved 90's Roland Emmerich Sci-Fi film, I didn't even know that Universal Soldier: Regeneration existed until I saw it mentioned on twitter by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky. In need of a testosterone fix, I threw it on yesterday and it met or surpassed all of my expectations. It is common, especially on the internet, to pine for macho 80's action films while complaining that current shoot em ups ain't what they used to be, however good action movies are still being made; they are just harder to find without the aid of survivorship bias. Hyams's second feature is a sincere throwback to the movies that turned Jean-Claude Van Damme into a superstar 25 years ago; it has a lot of practical effects, doesn't feature the tongue-in-cheek post-modernity of The Expendables and could be set during The Cold War. While all three of the leads have posses the screen presence required from them , the real star of the film is Hyams's direction and fight choreography, which is brutal, easy to follow and creative; one long take in the film's climactic action sequence is remarkable and a works as a companion to the winking opening of 2008's JCVD. If you have never liked a movie featuring Van-Damme or Lundgren, you will not like this film, but if you have liked anything featuring them this well-constructed, entertaining, brawny action flick is better than watching Cobra on TBS for the 18th time.
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