Universal Soldier reviewd by the critics

the reviews by cricitcs are below their are some who liked it but most didnt

Universal Soldier may flex its muscles at every opportunity, but it's still second-rate Schwarzenegger.
Universal Soldier
Directed By: Roland Emmerich
Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Ally Walker, Ed O'Ross, Leon Rippy, Tico Wells, Jerry Orbach

This summer's pumped-up action flick, Universal Soldier may flex its muscles at every opportunity, but it's still second-rate Schwarzenegger. Beginning with a brutal opening sequence filmed on a soundstage jungle masquerading as Vietnam in 1969, it unrepentantly defies logic from start to finish. American (!) soldiers Van Damme and Lundgren simultaneously kill each other during the war, but are inexplicably regenerated afterwards into $250-million-dollar men programmed to serve as members of a bionic SWAT team. Although seemingly perfect because they lack human emotion, there are drawbacks to these universal soldiers: they periodically require injections of a muscle enhancer that looks like antifreeze, and occasionally need to cool their hyperthermic bodies with about 50 sacks of ice. (Of course, these physiological characteristics are never really explained, as if they could be.) As it turns out, the Pentagon has disavowed the top-secret program in which these androids were created. Ultimately, something goes wrong, and Van Damme and Lundgren resume their blood feud from 23 years ago. Along the way, megaton explosions and automatic weapons fill in the movie's gaping narrative holes. Sure, there are a few highlights: Walker's scrappy reporter, a chain-smoking Lois Lane caught in the middle of the mayhem; an above-average chase sequence near the Grand Canyon; Van Damme's bubble butt. As the robotic duo, Lundgren and Van Damme have found roles tailored to their acting abilities. The stone-faced Lundgren, scary as a part killing machine/part high school jock, looks really pissed off all the time, which the boyish Van Damme -- a Belgian kickboxer by birth -- constantly struggles with an American accent and lack of charisma. (The script explains his obviously French inflection as the result of growing up in… Louisiana.) The difference in size between the two is striking; next to the hulking Lundgren, Van Damme is a Brussels sprout. In the film's finale, a fight to the death between these bitter enemies during a rainstorm, the initial domination by Lundgren of the weakened Van Damme is almost sexual, an S&M match between two hunks, one in charge and the other submissive. Of course, there's no question whether Universal Soldier ever intended to depict anything even remotely homoerotic, but you take your subtext where you can find it. Steve Davis
Austin Chronicle





I suppose there is a market for this sort of thing among bubblebrained adolescents of all ages, but it takes a good chase scene indeed to rouse me from the lethargy induced by dozens and dozens of essentially similar sequences. Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times



Mr. Lundgren, who glowers his way all too convincingly through the role of a rabid bully, may well be the only man in the universe who can make Mr. Van Damme look like an actor. Janet Maslin
New York Times


It may be little more than an expensive arcade game for overgrown kids, but it moves too fast for critical flak to stick. Channel 4 Film
Top Critic

Leaves behind almost as many derisive laughs as dead bodies. Brian Lowry
Variety
Top Critic

Though the idea is dumb enough to be fun, director Roland Emmerich does the Terminator thing without much style, and the two stars bash into each other but never connect. Peter Travers
Rolling Stone


The action and the campiness barrel along in entertaining counterpoint. You can laugh when you're not absorbed with truck chases. Desson Thomson
Washington Post

Even with this early movie, [Emmerich] had a propensity for stealing clichés from other movies... James O'Ehley
Sci-Fi Movie Page

Carolco seems to cut these guys out with cookie cutters. They seem to be martial artists with foreign accents, and the way some people habitually smoke after sex, they pun after killing people. Mark R. Leeper
rec.arts.movies.reviews

Roland Emmerich's best film, and Lundgren's best acting job. Admittedly that ain't saying much in either case, but a fun flick all in all. Luke Y. Thompson
New Times


Perhaps Van Damme and Lundgren trade blows more easily than lines, but the whole affair is enjoyable in a mindless way. Richard Harrington
Washington Post