Universal Soldier: Regeneration review (Blu-ray) ★★★

If you want to do the right thing and disregard the two Canadian made-for-television sequels, Universal Soldier: Regeneration is the third film in the franchise. Or, if you'd like to pretend the monstrosity known as Universal Soldier: The Return doesn't exist, just like this film does, think of Regeneration and the original as the only two. Why? Because this is a pleasantly surprising in-your-face action movie that's entertaining as hell.

In Regeneration, an elite band of terrorists seize Chernobyl and threaten to blow the nuclear reactor unless the Russian prime minister releases 100 dangerous prisoners. To make matters worse for the PM, the terrorists have his son and daughter held hostage. With the site locked down by an armed troupe, an NGU (New Generation Universal Soldier) acts as the main resistance, an unstoppable killing machine that efficiently eliminates whatever target comes in its path. And then there's Van Damme, reborn as Luc Deveraux, one of the original two UniSols, given the task of being the only force with a chance of defeating the NGU, played by Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Andrei Arlovski.

The high point of the film is, as it should be, the action. There are some excellent hand-to-hand combat scenes, gun battles and explosions throughout that pretty much light the movie up like a Christmas tree, which is always a lot of fun. Arlovski inserts many mixed martial arts maneuvers into his arse-kicking repertoire, which adds a more interesting dimension to the fights rather than just punches and kicks, giving the film a tastier flavour in the action department with a mix of melee styles. Andrei's performance as the NGU is suitable to his acting ability. He has about three lines, which is wise, and spends most of the film ripping people apart and looking quite simply like a ferocious beast.

Fans of the original film will be happy to know that Dolph Lundgren makes his return as a UniSol, albeit in somewhat of a small role, though he does partake in quite an epic, wall-smashing battle with Van Damme. I couldn't help but constantly think that Lundgren looked a lot like Vlad the Impaler from Ghostbusters 2 in the flick, but nevertheless he's still in great shape. The same goes for Jean-Claude — facially he looks on the edge of 50, but his physique is out of this world and he can sure as hell still go.

Aesthetically the film looks very contemporary, not futuristic in any way like in The Return — apart from the whole UniSol story obviously — so it really has the feel of a modern day sci-fi action movie, and not something that resembles 2050 or what have you (or what we think 2050 will look like). On the contrary, the score is a dull, moody '80s-sounding synth composition and it works extremely well with the visual darkness. There's nothing better to put the exclamation point on an abandoned Bulgarian steel factory doubling as Chernobyl than a brooding synth score! Really, the factory is a terrific location, a huge, spider's web of rust and metal and age. You couldn't build anything like it on a set, it's perfect.

There may be a few dialogue issues in the script, but Regeneration gets a rock-solid three stars from me for 90+ minutes of unrelenting hi-def entertainment that's capped off with an awesome fight between Deveraux and the NGU. The original Universal Soldier is what I believe to be Roland Emmerich's only good film and this is a very worthy sequel. Van Damme said that 2007's critically-acclaimed semi-biopic JCVD breathed a new life into him, and that he wanted to keep making these kinds of movies, so I wish him the very best and hope that he will return for another UniSol if it could ever be handled as good as this one.

EXTRAS ★★ 20-minute making of feature and the trailer.