Don't you hate it when the person you're trying to choose a movie with, insists you watch a movie because they haven't seen it for x amount of years, and you simply must watch it? Mind you, I have that idea most of the time myself, only to realise the film wasn't as good as I remembered it.

Universal Soldier was chosen mainly because I've only seen two Jean-Claude Van Damme movies - Sudden Death, and Streetfighter when I was going through my Kylie Minogue phase. (I was very young, give me a break, and I remember nothing about it.)

Two soldiers are serving in Vietnam. Van Damme plays Luc Deveraux, under the command of Sergeant Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren). When Scott completely loses it, and starts chopping off ears and wearing them as necklaces (bleurgh), Deveraux has an attack of conscience, and the two soldiers kill each other. After being listed as MIA, the soldiers are complicatedly regenerated, into lean, mean, killing machines, who's memories have been wiped. Now known as GR-44 (Van Damme) and GR-13 (Lundgren), everything is kept top secret.

That is until reporter Veronica Roberts (Ally Walker), with a nose for trouble, stumbles upon the top secretness, when her cameraman (?) is killed. Deveraux has flashbacks, and rescues her before she's killed.

Enter the cross country chase, with both soldiers stripping off, and lying in baths of ice (cold!), but gives the female viewers some nice shots of some very fit men. Did I just drool? It did feel a bit Terminator-esque at points, but thankfully, it managed to get past that, and turn into an actually alright movie. (I say alright, and I've given it four stars. Duh.)

For me, the great thing about this movie was Ally Walker, she was absolutely amazing, and she had lots of great lines. I was bugged continuously throughout the movie that I knew her from somewhere, but the only thing I recognised was a very small role in While You Were Sleeping. There was a great rapport between her and Deveraux, and although the plot is a bit iffy at points (not all the way through), it was made all the better by some great leading characters.

Universal Soldier is completely entertaining, a little gem of a movie, and yes, it does have an iffy plot, but what the hell? It's brilliant.
Don't you hate it when the person you're trying to choose a movie with, insists you watch a movie because they haven't seen it for x amount of years, and you simply must watch it? Mind you, I have that idea most of the time myself, only to realise the film wasn't as good as I remembered it. Universal Soldier was chosen mainly because I've only seen two Jean-Claude Van Damme movies - Sudden Death, and Streetfighter when I was going through my Kylie Minogue phase. (I was very young, give me a break, and I remember nothing about it. )

Two soldiers are serving in Vietnam. Van Damme plays Luc Deveraux, under the command of Sergeant Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren). When Scott completely loses it, and starts chopping off ears and wearing them as necklaces (bleurgh), Deveraux has an attack of conscience, and the two soldiers kill each other. After being listed as MIA, the soldiers are complicatedly regenerated, into lean, mean, killing machines, who's memories have been wiped. Now known as GR-44 (Van Damme) and GR-13 (Lundgren), everything is kept top secret. That is until reporter Veronica Roberts (Ally Walker), with a nose for trouble, stumbles upon the top secretness, when her cameraman (? ) is killed. Deveraux has flashbacks, and rescues her before she's killed. Enter the cross country chase, with both soldiers stripping off, and lying in baths of ice (cold! ), but gives the female viewers some nice shots of some very fit men. Did I just drool? It did feel a bit Terminator-esque at points, but thankfully, it managed to get past that, and turn into an actually alright movie. (I say alright, and I've given it four stars. Duh. )

For me, the great thing about this movie was Ally Walker, she was absolutely amazing, and she had lots of great lines. I was bugged continuously throughout the movie that I knew her from somewhere, but the only thing I recognised was a very small role in While You Were Sleeping. There was a great rapport between her and Deveraux, and although the plot is a bit iffy at points (not all the way through), it was made all the better by some great leading characters. Universal Soldier is completely entertaining, a little gem of a movie, and yes, it does have an iffy plot, but what the hell? It's brilliant.