 In 1992 , Lundgren starred in one of the biggest blockbusters of the year in the sci @-@ fi action picture Universal Soldier directed by Roland Emmerich . Lundgren ( as Sergeant Andrew Scott ) and Jean @-@ Claude Van Damme ( as Luc Deveraux ) play U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War who are sent to secure a village against North Vietnamese forces . However they end up shooting each other dead after Devereaux discovers that Scott has gone insane and has resorted to mutilating the villagers and barbarically cutting off their ears , taking an innocent girl and boy hostage . They are later reanimated in a secret Army project along with a large group of other previously dead soldiers and sent on a mission as GR operatives . At the 1992 Cannes Film Festival , Van Damme and Lundgren were involved in a verbal altercation that almost turned physical when both men pushed each other only to be separated , but it was believed to have only been a publicity stunt . Universal Soldier opened in theatres on 10 July 1992 , a moderate success domestically with $ 36 @,@ 299 @,@ 898 in US ticket sales , but a major blockbuster worldwide , making over $ 65 million overseas , which earned the film a total of $ 102 million worldwide , on a $ 23 million budget . Despite being a box office hit however , it was not well @-@ received ; mainstream critics dismissed the movie as a Terminator 2 clone , or as a typical , mindless action film . Film critic Roger Ebert said , " it must be fairly thankless to play lunks who have to fight for the entire length of a movie while exchanging monosyllabic idiocies " , including it in his book I hated , hated , hated this movie . 
