Rgirvan44
Posts: 18905
Joined: 10/3/2006
From: Punishment Park
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Director John Hyams, with a limited budget, actors who either a) were doing this for contractual reasons, b) were only available for a week or c) UFC fighters, and a single location for his action scenes to a sequel to a 15 year + movie, and its awful sequel (not to mention crappy TV Movies), produced real gold here.
What emerged is an exciting, well shot movie which avoids the trap of many DTV movies, by keeping the plot lean and functional.
The plot, as it is, involves terrorists taking over the former Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station, and threatens to blow up the core. They have also kidnapped the President of Russia (maybe somewhere else) kids. It is up to a joint US/Russian taskforce to save the kids and disarm the terrorist group. Only thing is, they have a next generation Unisolider - tougher, stronger and more cunning than those we met in the first film.
Moving away from the blockbuster fun of the first movie, and the stupidity of the second film, US3 is a pretty bleak movie, but has a heck of a lot of ambition.
Van Damme, looking pretty old now, and downbeat, gives a subdued performance, although I would not call it lazy. His character, Luc Deveraux, seems numb to the world. If the first film was about him escaping the bonds of his programming, this sequel is all about the character reverting back the function he was built for - war.
Lundgren doesn't get a huge amount of screen time, but what he has makes an impression. While not playing the role of Andrew Scott quite as broad, he brings intensity to the role which is a whole other kinda crazy. While a brief appearance, the pay off is wonderful - and a cool Blade Runner reference to boot!
Andrei Arlovski (one of the UFC fighters) plays a next generation Unisol and is suitably imposing. His fight scenes with a group of previous generation Unisoliders was great - the guy is HUGE, and says little.
Mike Pyle, playing a normal solider, in the middle of this crazy never-ending war, does good work, as goes Kerry Shale as the evilllll Dr.Colin.
Now that is out of the way, what about the action?
This is some of the most impressive DTV stuff I have ever seen. The movie starts with an impressive car chase, follows on with an attack on the terrorists base which brings to mind the Modern Warfare videogames (in fact much of the film evokes those sort of games - although the film never becomes too comic book), and never really stops. Van Damme rampaging through a building taking out the bad guys with a knife was a show stopping moment.
This isn't a film for everyone. It simply cannot compete with the blockbusters in terms of scale, but I have to say I found this film to be much more engaging than say, Terminator: Salvation. Indeed the way Hyams shot this reminds me of the young, hungry James Cameron.
That the film looks great is not coincidence. Hyams father, Peter Hyams is the director of 2010, Capricorn One, Outland, Time Cop, End of Days..., and is the cinematographer for US3. While the bleak, grey, East European setting is something of a cliché now in DTV circles, they manage to make it look beautiful. The reactor in particular is well shot.
You may think this is over hyping the pudding, but for a film like this to turn out to this good is still a rare thing. If you like solid action filmmaking, no quick cutting, plenty of violence, and some pretty nifty camera work, then you are in for a treat.
If this is the start of a reboot, long may it continue. If this is a one off, then fingers crossed that Hyams gets some bigger work.
We are entering a time when some really good stuff is coming from the world of DTV. Universal Solider 3 is further evidence that it should not be a ghetto for past it action stars and directors who have fallen from grace.
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It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known.
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Universal Soldier: Regeneration - 
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