Rating: 7/10

Writer: Victor Ostrovsky
Director: John Hyams
Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Andrei Arlovski
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment

A rogue general kidnaps the Russian president’s two children. He sets up base at the uninhabited Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, outfitting one of its reactors with explosives. If his demands are not met, not only will he kill his hostages, but many more innocent people by blowing up the plant, causing an atomic explosion that would make Hiroshima look like a firecracker on the fourth of July.

Who else are you going to bring in to take out a maniacal madman such as this that threatens our existence? Damn right, it’s a universal soldier! A handful of them actually, just to be on the safe side. Unfortunately, these universal soldiers that America brings in to help are the vintage model, equipped with vintage parts. They are no match for the terrorists’ upgraded model (played by MMA fighter Anrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski), who they have procured from a Frankenstein-like scientist that worked on the original UniSol project. Just to really cover their asses, the baddies have taken the liberty of cloning one of the most notorious, murderous universal soldiers of the past. That being Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren) of course.

With nowhere else to turn, America looks to Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme), now in a reconditioning program in the attempts to reintroduce him to society. But, just as you can’t make a wolf a lap dog, you can’t keep Deveraux from doing what he does best…and that is kicking ass and taking names he can’t pronounce.

As both a fan of the original and a kid that grew up in the heyday of huge action films with huge action stars, I need to preface by saying I love the original UNIVERSAL SOLDIER. So after 17 years, 1 theatrical sequel, and 2 made-for-TV sequels, the idea of another film seemed like fodder appropriate for a here today, gone tomorrow straight-to-DVD release. With that said, it is much to my pleasure to say that UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: A NEW BEGINNING – or UNIVERSAL SOLDIER 3 as we’ve been told will be the actual title – is actually quite the opposite. It proves that even after close to two decades, a film series can have a rebirthing without being a reboot or a remake or even a reimagining.

The film’s story works to serve its purpose of justifying just why Deveraux and Scott are back – or furthermore, why Van Damme, Lundgren, and the franchise in general are back. It does not feel as if it is for nothing, made just to be made. The story is worthy of being told, and both Van Damme and Lundgren’s performances show it. They may be old dogs, but they can be taught new tricks, while still performing the classic ones we love and expect to see.

Director John Hyams – son of famous action/sci-fi director Peter Hyams (OUTLAND, TIMECOP) – brings an old school sensibility to the way said story and the action within is shot, while also including a very new school look. Hyams, who derives from the world of documentary, applies a gritty, washed-out style with a lot of handheld work, seen in modern day action films like the BOURNE series. But what the BOURNE films and others like it lack is that you can’t see the fight choreography. Granted, that is because, most of the time, the fights are fought by stunt men and not actors. But, as aforementioned, the heyday of action films brought us actors that were their own stunt men, giving birth to the last great generation of true action stars. It was all about the absence of editing. You wanted to leave the camera on these guys to see what they could do. Hyams does a fantastic job of providing us with more than a few scenes of great action, where we don’t feel like we are standing in the middle of a fight with a camera, spinning in circles, as it is being turned on and off.

Such is the case with the sequence in which Van Damme runs through the battlefield, into a building where he takes out who knows how many guys off screen and back out of the building, continuing to run down the battlefield. Not one cut within the whole scene. It is something that is sure to garner at least a few fists in the air, claps, or cheers during your viewing.

That is not meant to knock the current style of cinematography used in action films today. It can be most effective when used properly, and Hyams explores this in UNIVERSAL SOLDIER as well. The opening kidnapping to car chase scene is one that I would be so bold to say rivals that of the famous CHILDREN OF MEN car chase scene, which is not an easy feat.

In short, Hyams and company bring to the table just what UNIVERSAL SOLDIER needs. An new upgrade on an old generation of reliable soldier.