The film grossed $1.4 million against a production budget of $8 million. Directed by Jeff Woolnough and written by Peter M. Lenkov, the film stars Matt Battaglia, Chandra West, and Gary Busey. The Universal Soldiers are essentially zombies. The films were produced for Showtime / The Movie Channel as a miniseries meant as a backdoor pilot for a series. Like, EXORCIST evil. "Im different than you," John insists to a man who is literally identical to him. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Universal Soldier Day of Reckoning - DVD Region 1 at the best online prices at eBay! Set in a sparsely populated world, the entire thing has a mesmeric, unreal quality, where things can turn on a dime, and often do. No longer in the Universal Soldier program, Deveraux spends his days attempting to be a human being. Hes dangerous, hes terrifying, hes an extra in, How to Watch the 2023 Oscars Celebrate All 23 Categories Live Again. An overly violent mess of gory revenge, kill crazy rampages in a day-glo UniSol brothel, and an awesome brain-drilling scene. You have a zombie army, clones, regenerating body parts, bad guys who arent bad guys, good guys who arent good guys, and probably the end of the world - all delivered in a way that flies in the face of many of our movie axioms. His final adversary, a clone of UniSol Andrew Scott, overpowers Magnus and injects him with a serum that frees him from government control. In Langley, Virginia, Kevin's body is shown stored in a cryogenic chamber as a new UniSol, along with multiple clones made of him. Now that Meredith is gone, it is business as usual at Grey Sloan Memorial. Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning Blu-ray delivers stunning video and audio in this enjoyable Blu-ray release John awakens from a coma to discover his wife and daughter were. They start to take in wayward UniSols by which the government has been using as remote controlled sleeper agents. Click here. "Director John Hyams Talks 'Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning', Plus the Top 11 Things to Know About Hyams and His Film", "You Almost Definitely Haven't Seen One of the Best Action Movies of the Decade", "Paris Review Masterpiece Theatre: Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, Nick Antosca", 'Universal Soldier IV' Announced: Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren in 3D", "Universal Soldier: A New Dimension: Michael Jai White joins Van Damme, Lundgren", "'Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning' (General) Critical Consensus", Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC, "Movie review: 'Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning', "Masterpiece Theatre: 'Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning'", "Fast and Furious 'Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning' Is One of the Best Action Movies of the Year", "Watching UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING to remind myself of what elegant, committed action direction looks like", "@BilgeEbiri It sounds weird, probably, but there's evil in that movie. The Universal Soldier franchise began in 1992 with Universal Soldier, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning Action & adventure 2012 1 hr 53 min English audio R Try Paramount Plus free Buy or rent John (Adkins, The Expendables 2) wakes up from a coma to. The real Luc Deveraux is holed up in a bunker, bald and scarreda paranoid, apparently psychotic riff on Colonel Kurtz. It is the fifth installment in the Universal Soldier franchise and the alternative sequel to the original Universal Soldier from 1992, ignores the events from the 1999 theatrical sequel Universal Soldier: The Return and the two made for television sequels that were produced in 1998. Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning. He covers his bald head in warpaint . Gorman activates sleeper agent Magnus, one of the cloned Next Generation UniSols. Imagine if the next Fast & Furious movie turned out, without any prior warning, to be a ludicrously gory hard-R thriller. See other DVD options under "Other Formats & Versions". Luc Deveraux is a title character, and the protagonist of the Universal Soldier film series.He is most famously portrayed by Belgian actor and martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme in the 1992 film Universal Soldier and its sequels Universal Soldier: The Return (1999), Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009) and Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012). For the sixth entry in a formerly moribund direct-to-video cyborg franchise, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning is a remarkably ambitious movie. Though criticized for its "brutal" violence, others gave high praise for its direction, action, and "haunting" atmosphere, with some comparisons made to the works of Michael Haneke and David Lynch. Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: As part of your account, youll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime. Some of the powers that be have certainly talked about doing another one already, whether that happens or not involves a lot of elements to come together. Luc and the NGU take the fight to the site of the bomb, with less than two minutes remaining. To be fair, on page this thing must have seemed like a catastrophe: Plot points go unexplained, and characters often go unidentified. This item requires a region specific or multi-region DVD player and compatible TV. Film and television critic Matt Zoller Seitz stated that the Universal Soldier franchise "is a rare series that takes more creative risks as it goes along".[3]. Evan has been smartassing-up the Internet since 2008. As of April 7, 2010, the film has grossed $844,447 in United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Italy, Lebanon, Malaysia and the Philippines. Deveraux must save his daughter and prevent the machine from destroying mankind. Another version was developed later for the SNES, but was never released.[27][28]. His passions include dumb action movies, not-dumb action movies, Shakespeare, and Tyler Perry. The timeline was first complicated six years after the fact by the release of a pair of. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Its horrific, but theres also something off about it not the least of which is the fact that Devereaux was actually the good guy in the previous Universal Soldier films. Gorman admits to his involvement with the UniSol program and that he had purposefully put an unaware John on Deveraux's trail. While he claims to understand that people don't always get what they want, he nevertheless believes it would be cool if he could become more like Danny DeVito with age. The franchise began in 1992 with Universal Soldier and as of 2012 comprises six entries. Review John Hyams S Universal Soldier Day Of Reckoning On Sony Blu Ray Slant Magazine. [8], Van Damme and Lundgren returned for a sixth installment, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, as the first in the series to be filmed in 3-D. John Hyams also returned as director. Former UniSol Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme), who is undergoing rehabilitation therapy in Switzerland with Dr. Sandra Fleming (Emily Joyce) with the goal of rejoining society, is taken back by the military to participate in the mission. The character is also portrayed by Matt . The film has been mostly released directly to DVD / Blu-ray in the US and Europe, as well and the following figures do not include theatrical box office reports from important territories such as Israel, Japan or South Korea. This is an ongoing, illustrated countdown of my 49 1/2 most essential action movies, which doesn't mean they are the best (but in most cases, yes), but a selection of some that I think you must see. If you squint, I get paid to be funny. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Everything Everywhere All at Once has won in every category they were nominated for. NGU pulls the detonator off his back as it explodes, taking him with it. Magnus injects John with Scott's serum, whereupon John hallucinates about Deveraux but retains his will. 1:18. The terrorists, having gotten what they wanted, rejoice and shut off the bomb. The acting may be robotic, but how else would government-programmed experimental super-soldiers act? The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on Tuesday presented the testimony of four public health experts, including Martin Kulldorff, Ph.D., who described the government's response as the "worst public health mistakes in history." Convening for the first time on Tuesday, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Baca Juga. That strikes me as seriously bold, and I can understand why it turns people away from the film. In the years since Day of Reckonings release, Hyams has directed episodes of Z Nation, The Originals, and Chicago P.D. A word about the director: John Hyams also directed the previous, similarly impressive entry in the Universal Soldier franchise, 2009s Regeneration, and hes the son of Peter Hyams, who helmed one of the best Van Damme films (Sudden Death) and one of the worst (Timecop). But then the floor falls beneath your feet with Day Of Reckoning. The series centers on two American soldiers, Luc Deveraux (Van Damme) and Andrew Scott (Lundgren), who are killed during the Vietnam War and reanimated in the 1990s as highly advanced Universal Soldiers. More about DVD formats ) Of course, it turns. The film opened a week later in Ukraine and ended up grossing $31,349. Who was asking for the Universal Soldier story to be continued? Dr. Richard Porter (Garry Cooper), Dr. Colin's former colleague on the Universal Soldier program, revives four UniSols to take down the NGU, but they are systematically eliminated. He is an actor, known for Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009), Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012) and The Equalizer 2 (2018). *Luc Deveraux starts building and army and wins deflected Unisol scientists to his cause. Part 2 charts the rise of Lace's Liverpool law firm over the course of the nineteenth century, focusing especially on Lace's son Joshua and his grandson and namesake Ambrose Lace II. Andrei Arlovski was born on 4 February 1979 in Minsk, Byelorussian SSR, USSR [now Belarus]. Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren return as our favorite Universal Soldiers: Luc Deveraux and Andrew Scott, and they have since formed the Unisol Church of Eventualism, which has them. It is revealed that among the ranks of the terrorists is an experimental Next-Generation UniSol (NGU) (Andrei Arlovski), who was smuggled in by rogue scientist Dr. Robert Colin (Kerry Shale). Universal Soldier Day of Reckoning - Pt 02. andromeda. [5], Dread Central gave it 3 out of 5, saying "there is almost nothing but solid b-level action until the credits roll". Its biggest is choosing to forgo the continued narrative we actually want to see and instead reveal its story as a series of discoveries made by a totally new character (Scott Adkins). Silly as it sounds, theres a real sense of tragedy surrounding not only Luc Deverauxs character but the other Scott Adkins clone as well (yes, there are two Scott Adkinses in this movie). But you get the idea. The fight pits John against Andrew Scott and an army of genetically enhanced warriors; meanwhile, he must contend with a UniSol in relentless pursuit. However, Dr. Colin never considered Scott's mental instability, and he is killed by his own creation. [1][2] The films centered on the character of Luc Deveraux (played first by Jean-Claude Van Damme and then by Matt Battaglia) until Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, which focuses on a new protagonist named John (played by Scott Adkins). This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google The site's critical consensus reads: "The mooted final installment in the long-running series is a hyper-violent, often grim throwback to action movies of yore which will appeal to some audiences just as emphatically as it deters others". ( This DVD will not play on most DVD players sold in the UK [Region 2]. Who even remembered Universal Soldier? They fight. Its as though Hyams is so taken with the ultimate place he wants to take this Universal Soldier concept that he totally skips a movie to get us there. [16], A reboot was in development and Richard Wenk was set to write the film as of October 2018, which will focus on one resurrected soldier.[17][18]. Greg Gutfeld examines the news of the day through a satiric lens fused with pop culture. Oh, Loosey! The US Army send in troops to kill him but he wipes them out. Learn more about DVD region specifications here Frequently bought together + + Total price: $28.88 He tries to kill Sarah but is shot dead by the other John, now suspecting himself to be another UniSol sleeper agent. In the ensuing fight, John realizes he possesses superior strength, resistance and fighting abilities, eventually killing Magnus by decapitating him with a metal bat. The world grows more beautiful with each passing day. During the melee, Luc removes the detonator and jams it in the back of the NGU's uniform as they both jump out of the reactor chamber. Day of Reckoning opens with a horrifying five-minute sequenceshot entirely from Johns first-person point of viewthat begins with his young daughter waking him up because she heard a monster, and ends with three masked figures dragging his wife and daughter into the kitchen with guns to their heads. And who you can expect to see performing and presenting. This is doubly troubling. The worldwide total as of the December 12 is $992,507. No matter how many times I watch it, Scott Adkins mission to learn who he is continues to strain my patience. Wrestling with the malleable nature of identity in between ingeniously choreographed brawls, it's both a head trip and an adrenaline rush. Forced into hiding, a rogue troop of Unisols have formed an underground militia of deadly warriors. But now that we know where all this is going (or going so far, anyway), we can start to see Hyams assert his view of Unisols as cold, emotionless, almost dead monsters, a view that will run rampant in Day of Reckoning. [5] Hyams cited films such as Apocalypse Now, The Manchurian Candidate, Chinatown, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers as inspirations.[1]. By the end, we learn that Johns entire backstory is bullshit. Witness Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning . They need Deveraux to rescue those kids. Heres how Regeneration works: Terrorists kidnap the children of the Ukranian prime minister and whisk them off to Chernobyl. Sarah tells John she remembers him working as a truck driver, living in a riverside cabin, and that the two were romantically involved. Insane, esoteric, weirdly dense, and . Then we have Regeneration. John then reaches Deveraux himself; in the ensuing fight, Deveraux eventually gains the upper hand. The subsequent film in the series, Universal Soldier: Regeneration, revived the franchise in 2009, disregarding the events of The Return, as well as its made-for-cable predecessors. This one does.). (Self-Evolving Thought Helix). Its a film that takes some rather large storytelling risks on faith that the audience will be smart enough to keep up. Lead by the merciless Andrew Scott (Lundgren) and Luc Deveraux (Van Damme), their plan is to rage a war of total destruction. And John Hyams cleverly twists the "bioengineered super-soldiers" conceit of the original Universal Soldier into a new and horrifying direction. They can pull this off because they have help from a Next-Generation Universal Soldier played by Andrei The Pit Bull Arlovski. John kills Gorman, before a clone of Gorman and three UniSols emerge from John's van. A similar poll in the UK would, I suspect, disclose less than 1%, and in the rest of Europe an even smaller remnant. Soon the Government comes calling. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, thenView saved stories. In this theatrical sequel to the original film (while ignoring the previous two television films), Luc Deveraux (Van Damme) had been reverted to human state and has a 13-year-old daughter called Hillary. The Fantastic Four and X-Men are unlikely to arrive in the Marvel Cinematic Universe until the very end of Phase 4 or the beginning of Phase 5 so that means Marvel Studios will need to plan ahead . Great film, almost as good as the first. While John tries to piece his reality back together, things get more complicated . 1992's Universal Soldier has started to become somewhat forgotten - it's fallen out of the canon of classic 80s and 90s action movies, and Dolph Lundgren's character doesn't crack jokes about. Haunted by images of the attack, he vows to kill the man responsible, Luc Deveraux (Van Damme). [1] An edited R-rated version was released in theaters. Later, a sneering criminal presents him with a videotape of the murder, and he discovers that the murderer was himself. Scott, who has distorted memories of Luc, is about to kill the children when Luc attacks and a grueling fight ensues. Directed by Roland Emmerich and written by Richard Rothstein, Christopher Leitch, and Dean Devlin, it stars Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, and Ally Walker. Day of Reckoning (Destruction album) a 2011 studio album by Destruction; Day of Reckoning (Diecast album), a 2001 album by Diecast; Day of Reckoning (Pentagram album), a 1987 . After their bodies are retrieved, they are placed into a secret program in which they are reanimated as superhuman agents and trained to become unquestioning killing machines. Clark Collis of Entertainment Weekly stated that the film "is so gruelingly violent you half wonder if director John Hyams goal is to make the audience get up and leave the theater rather than be party to the brutality". One is kind of heroic. Immediately before he shoots Johns daughter, the lead burglar takes his mask off and reveals that hes Luc Deverauxthe hero of the three previous Universal Soldier films, inexplicably recast as a cold-blooded child-killer. Directed by Mic Rodgers and written by William Malone and John Fasano, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Michael Jai White, and Bill Goldberg. The chronology of Universal Soldier has gotten somewhat snarled since the franchise launched in 1992. However, when a terrorist sect uses an experimental Next Generation UniSol (NGU) to seize the atomic reactor at Chernobyl, Deveraux is reactivated to save the country from a nuclear catastrophe. In the end, "Who gives a shit about Universal Soldier?" This direct-to-video sequel takes place exactly after the events of the original Universal Soldier. John goes on a personal vendetta against the man behind the killings, revealed to be Luc Deveraux, the eponymous Universal Soldier from the previous films who has now become a powerful terrorist military leader. There are some other movies that come after this but they do not matter. John stumbles onto a corpse beaten so hard that just looking at it makes him vomit. He was created in a lab three weeks before the beginning of the moviejust the latest "John" clone created to track down the AWOL Luc Deveraux by the government that created both of them. But while its violent aesthetic and originality blew me away when I initially saw the film, it now surprises me for how standard and almost quaint it feels compared to it's sequel. Of course, it turns out there are indeed monsters, and theyre all hiding out in the kitchen, silent and decked out in black hoods. When he does, bone-crunching, limb-splitting chaos inevitably follows, as the two actors throw each other into and out of walls and doors and God knows what else, the cheap sets collapsing impressively around them. These gigantic slabs of meat take brutal punishment and hardly seem fazed. FOX News March 3, 2023 8:00pm-9:00pm PST. He also seems to have a notable ability to run into John. In its widest release, it played in three movie theaters in the United States, grossing around $5,000 on an $8 million budget. Fans of the film probably have all this stuff figured out, so this might bore you. They then dust off four of their Universal Soldiers, and, in a scene that plays like a mini-slasher film, he takes them out too. The film was officially released in the United States directly on DVD and Blu-ray on February 2, 2010, on February 9 in Brazil, April 5 in the United Kingdom, and May 4 in France and Germany. Van Damme goes in there and saves the day, but Hyams stands by the effects of this serum, and theres clearly something terrifying about him as well. After a hostage situation mistakenly leaves Veronica a fugitive, the two escape the city and go into hiding. But on the other hand, this is a very, very strange movie with flaws that confuse the issue even further. Universal Soldier is a series of science fiction action films. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT. [a] Magnus enters a brothel and slaughters both the female employees and most of the male patrons, who all display exceptional physical resistance but are no match for Magnus. Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning. Meanwhile, Luc Deveraux (Matt Battaglia) and Veronica Roberts (Chandra West) are in hiding on his parents farm. TOPIC FREQUENCY. Fast-forward ten years to 2009 and John Hyams (son of JCVD regular Peter Hyams) takes the reigns with his DTV sequel, Universal Soldier: Regeneration - an . John Hyams), focusing on the quality of its action sequences.Episode 4: Blood & Bone -- https://w. In addition, they have taken over the crippled Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and threaten to detonate it if their demands are not met. Universal Soldier Day Of Reckoning 2012 Posters The Movie Database Tmdb. 1:33. The UniSol controllers then activate a homing beacon embedded inside Deveraux's body that makes him return to the UniSol base in Chicago where his memory is reprogrammed. Music. Play over 265 million tracks for free on SoundCloud. Shop Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning [DVD] [2012] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]. A lot of violence. ), And then the first of Day of Reckonings many, many twists comes. Directed by John Hyams and written by Victor Ostrovsky, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, and Andrei "The Pit Bull" Arlovski. Thats not even a dream come true because I was never that optimistic. Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning is the last and best film in the franchise. He concluded that it is his "favorite movie of last yearthe best movie of [2012], I would argue". Unfortunately, his opponents share the same skill set. [4] As a result, two TV films were released direct-to-video starring Matt Battaglia as Luc Deveraux and Chandra West as Veronica Roberts in Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms and Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business. If nothing else, we now have an absolutely brutal artsy-fartsy action film to write term papers about. In this revival of the franchise, Regeneration disregards the events of The Return as well as its made-for-cable predecessors[1][2] by beginning the film with Former UniSol Luc Deveraux (Van Damme) undergoing rehabilitation therapy in Switzerland under Dr. Sandra Fleming with the goal of rejoining society. You have the sense that director John Hyamswho cut his teeth on 2009s more conventional Universal Soldier: Regenerationis getting away with something this time. He has even teamed up with Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren), the villain of the original Universal Soldier. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. This is the director's cut. John quickly discovers that hes a talented fighter with a tremendous capacity to endure physical pain. The original John had been mind-controlled into hunting down Deveraux, but was turned and hired as a transporter and assassin for his organization, until he met Sarah and deserted Deveraux. [5], In October 2011, writer Damien Kindler was set to write a Universal Soldier TV series for Fremantle Media North America with producers from the original film Allen Shapiro and Craig Baumgarten attached to the project. It was released on November 30, 2012 in the United States in three screens, grossing $3,181 in its opening weekend, and as of the December 6, the film has grossed $4,928. As Luc escorts the children to safety, they are attacked by the NGU. (And to describe what makes this movie special in any more detail, Im going to need to describe the plot in detailso if you have any interest in watching Day of Reckoning unspoiled, you should stop reading now.). The films were produced for Showtime / The Movie Channel as a miniseries meant as a backdoor pilot for a series. Privacy Policy and The duo went on to co-star in the sequels Universal Soldier: Regeneration and Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, as well as The Expendables 2. The fight pits John against Andrew Scott and an army of genetically enhanced warriors; meanwhile, he must contend with a UniSol in relentless pursuit. This will allow them to infiltrate the Government from the inside with Unisols that look like Dick Cheney. Luc Deveraux (Van Damme) and Andrew Scott (Lundgren) are preparing a rogue company of genetically enhanced UniSols for a final, all-out battle to free themselves from government control. Scott Adkins gets the occasional thankless role in a Hollywood movie like Doctor Strange or American Assassinand reportedly auditioned to play Batman, in the role that eventually went to Ben Affleckbut mainly stars in the types of cheesy B-movies that Day of Reckoning ended up defying. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Director John Hyams Writers John Hyams (screenplay) Doug Magnuson (screenplay) In the United States the film was released directly to video by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on February 2, 2010. While Devereaux and Scott initially have no memory of their former lives, glimpses of their pasts start to return, rekindling their intense conflict. Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning 2012 Directed by John Hyams Synopsis Under their own command After his wife and daughter are murdered in a home invasion, a widower named John now finds himself up against an army of Universal Soldiers in relentless pursuit, led by a mysterious leader who promises to set UniSols free from their conditioning. Of course, in doing so, the Government also created the monster who can finally take them down, and based on what we see of Unisol culture, they are not going to have much trouble turning the world into a horrific war zone. You can only make a movie as defiantly uncommercial as Day of Reckoning if no one cares enough to veto any of your creative choices. Hes not the nicest guy or anything, but the films plot changes significantly when we see it from his perspective - he tried to rebel, but they finally won. He works with scientist Dylan Cotner to create a new, safer breed of fighters that are connected through an artificially intelligent computer system called S.E.T.H.