How this sequel was theatrically released is a thought
that no one can figure out.
One doesn’t need to be intelligent to figure out the
story, but since everyone starts out doing so…
Luc Deveraux, reprised by Jean-Claude Van Damme, is
one of the original members of the Universal Soldier program. Greg Jerrett said
in his review, “This program takes battlefield dead and turns them into
automatrons controlled by S.E.T.H., a super-intelligent computer that commands
every move.”
When the Army decides to cut the Unisol 2500 program
due to the current geo-political movements, S.E.T.H., played by Michael Jai
White, cracks its own programming trying to survive.
He begins creating more Unisols to take over the
secret compound.
That’s pretty much the plot.
Next thing you know, Van Damme is trying to fight his
way out of the compound with an attractive reporter with him, played by Heidi Schanz.
Then he has to fight his way back into the compound
trying to destroy the generator.
By this time, S.E.T.H. downloads his program into a
super Unisol body that has five times the normal strength of other dead
soldiers.
S.E.T.H. kidnaps Deveraux’s daughter, played by Karis
Paige Bryant, in order to get a secret code from him that will prevent S.E.T.H.
from self-destructing.
Jerrett said, “One could spend a great deal of time
and effort picking apart the little inconsistencies that would have made the
movie end inside of 15 minutes, had the characters as much insight as the
average viewer.”
For example, if there is nothing protecting the Unisol
implants in the dead soldiers’ heads besides the skulls, why not just shoot the
dead guys in the head? No one does that – ever.
Jerrett asked, “You’ve got the army unloading with
50-caliber guns on four of these guys who are just standing there taking the
shots, and not one hits them in the head? It’s ludicrous.”
Jerrett continued, “But this movie isn’t about high
art or great acting, and it would be unfair to judge it by normal criteria.”
Instead, let’s look at in within the context of a
cheap, martial arts, sci-fi B-movie briefly just to be absolutely fair and neutral.
Jerrett started off, “Even for a B-movie, this thing
is sub-par. First off, the action was pretty pathetic. Maybe Van Damme is
getting old or wants to do more straight acting.”
However, for anyone looking to see some great martial
arts, look somewhere else. The fights scenes are nothing amazing.
In one scene, Van Damme does some great kicks great
running up on a wall to get the right height. That was cool, but it wasn’t
enough to satisfy fans of action.
Jerrett described, “Michael Jai White plays S.E.T.H.
incarnate.” Everyone remembers White from “Spawn.” White gets in a couple of
good hits, but he is supposed to be so huge and powerful that he actually
played his fight scenes a little down.
These movies typically have some type of comic relief.
In this case, it came from Unisol Romeo, played by Bill Goldberg. His job is to
get beat up continually by Deveraux and say things like, “I hate that guy,” to
everyone’s enjoyment. Weak.
Jerrett said, “The other source of amusement came from
B-movie standard Brent Hinkley, who plays Squid, a disgruntled, blue-haired
punk who had been fired from the program for being a stone freak.”
He is the only enjoyment in the film, and next to
Clint Howard, may be one of the more entertaining B-movie actors in Hollywood.
This film offers so little compared to the first one,
and that is looking at in the form of B-movies. There are no redeeming
qualities.
Another entry in the franchise that needs to be
avoided. This franchise just keeps getting worse and worse and worse. This film
is no exception. I know I keep saying that, but it is true. I can’t even say
one good thing about this terrible sequel. Just never see it.
Unfortunately, we’re not done yet. Next week, I will
be looking at the last two sequels. Sorry for the late response. I had
forgotten about the blog post, especially since I was really tired after work
that I fell asleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment