My website on the Universal Soldier saga (1992-2012)

Nov 2, 2020 1:11:50 GMT politicidal said:

Only saw the first one. Thought it was pretty lame.

Watch Regeneration and Day of Reckoning. The Return is an alternate continuity.

This is my ranking list:

1- Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009)
A sci-fi masterpiece that feels like a cross between David Cronenberg, John Carpenter and Metal Gear. Cold, ruthless, fascinating, thrilling, exciting and visually marvellous.

2- Universal Soldier (1992)
The classic that started it all! Wonderful, fun, intriguing, cool, plenty of memorable scenes. Jean-Claude and Dolph at their best.

3- Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012)
Frightening sci-fi/action jewel, very mysterious and engaging. Scott Adkins did a good job as the new lead character, John.
Luc Deveraux in his "Apocalypse Now" guise is scary and tormented. Exceptional.

4- Universal Soldier: The Return (1999)
It looks and feels like an average Van Damme flick. Still, it features great action and a new batch of Universal Soldiers. Making Luc human again was a big mistake. Good movie, not great.

"Universal Soldier: The Return" (1999) is undoubtley the least of the bunch. Generally speaking, "Regeneration" (2009) retconned it. However, I found a way to connect it to the later movies.

I'm developing and fleshing out this cool scenario. So please, follow me.

 Well:

The Return is not the second chapter, or an alternate world, but a sort of spin-off also functioning as fourth chapter. It is set in the future, 20 years after the events of Day of Reckoning.

The "Luc Deveraux" we see in the movie is a clone, like the ones depicted in DOR (or even "Andrew" in Regeneration). The main difference is that genetic engineers succeeded into toning down his UniSol DNA component in order to make him stable and useful.

This doesn't ruin the ending of DOR, because the UniSol organization ("The Brotherhood of Chronos") has surely infiltrated state and goverment the best it could, controlling many aspects of U.S.A. and people.

A special project called "UniSol 2500" is then established, mainly based on the powerful A.I. known as "S.E.T.H." (Self-Evolving Thought Helix).

On the other hand, Luc Deveraux II is as an half-human, half-UniSol clone, and retains memories of his past life. He conceived a daughter, Hillary, and then started to work as technician and counsuelor for the UniSol 2500 Program, as planned by his creators.

The Brotherhood of Chronos, led by John II (or his successor), watches the program from the shadows, in need to see what S.E.T.H. can accomplish for them.

In the movie, there are no timestamps or dates.