SnoopyStyle The Unisol program continues in a government research facility. Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is partnered with Maggie to refine the program. A new generation of Unisols are controlled by computer A.I. called S.E.T.H. When the defense budget is cut, the Unisol program is scheduled to close. SETH takes over the facility and uses the Unisols to stop the planned shut down.At least, Van Damme came back. He's a little older and not quite so powerful. He simply isn't the same guy. There is plenty of shooting and plenty of action. However, the movie lacks tension. Despite being crammed with B-movie action, the fun isn't there. The whole thing feels very flat.

Michael_Elliott Universal Soldiers: The Return (1999)* 1/2 (out of 4)Silly sequel has a computer now running the universal soldiers program and when it learns that the government is cutting back funds, the computer comes to life and orders the soldiers to go on a killing rampage. Thankfully Luc (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is around to try and take care of the matter. I'm not sure how many people were wanting a sequel to UNIVERSAL SOLIDER but this here certainly isn't a good movie on any level, although there are certainly some moments that are so campy that some might be able to get a laugh out of them. In terms of stories this one here really doesn't offer too much as the main goal of it is just to get Van Damme ready to fight just about anyone. You have to at least give the actor credit for remaining in shape and at least making it believable that he's still able to kick some butt. Performance wise he's also not all that bad and manages to have a lot more energy than he did in the first film. The rest of the cast doesn't come off that good and this includes Bill Goldberg as the main bad soldier. Some of his line deliveries got the biggest laughs of the film but there's no doubt the film wouldn't have been as entertaining without him. Michael Jai White also doesn't shine in his role as SETH. The action scenes are mainly pretty weak and the low-budget also shows because dozens of people get shot up yet you never see a drop of blood. I won't ruin the final action scene but the CGI effect used has to be one of the worst looking ever released.

Sandcooler Universal soldiers technically aren't robots, but apart from that this movie is pretty much a really low-budget and low-talent version of "The Terminator". This sequel is so unbelievably unnecessary that even Van Damme himself seems to be wondering why he's in this thing. I've never seen him look so bored throughout a movie, he jumps away from gunfire and explosions with the intense face of someone waiting for the bus. This causes a shrill contrast with Billy Goldberg, who's just totally having a blast as the main villain. He's no Dolph Lundgren (who played the bad guy in the first one), but his acting here is probably as good as it's ever going to get. He's pretty much the only person is the cast who delivers his lines with any kind of zest, I'd say he's the best actor in this movie if that wasn't such an amazingly depressing thing to write. The action lacks visual flair, but it's pretty competently done and does keep you entertained for a while. It's not surprising first(and last)-time director Mic Rodgers is actually a stuntman, because that's what the movie essentially is: a bunch of stunts. The writers try to give the thing some depth with a family storyline and the worst comic relief character of all time but who cares, let's light more stuff on fire! I didn't hate this movie nearly as much as many others do, though I'm not particularly fond of it either.

elshikh4 It was 6/10/1999. I was so worried about a result of some exam, and wanting desperately to end the time with anything. My friend (great fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme) told me while we were walking near the cinema "Let's go to Van Damme's new movie", I vetoed for many reasons, first of all I'm not that fan of Van Damme, I rather watch him in a rented video, and it was part 2 of a movie that I didn't watch. While I was explicating these points, my friend has bought the tickets already ! Although he had a very bad experience out of watching Van Damme's last movie (Knock Off), one year before, saying anguished at the time in a memorably serious way (This Is Not a Movie !), but my friend was having the gift of the fast forgetting.We sat in the first row of seats (I've decided never to repeat that again in my life !). Strange notice : we were all men in the theater ! Something I've witnessed shortly after again in 2/2000 at James Bond's movie (The World is Not Enough), the dames don't prefer to watch the guys' flicks in the movies ?? Well, I also didn't watch a chick flick in the movies ever! I recall trailers first for movies like (The 13th Warrior), (The Matrix), yet the one which made us so enthusiastic was (Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace)'s one (WAW, how we were wrong !). When the movie began, I was optimistic especially after some good chase in the sea, yet after that.. I have to say, it was hilarious; cutting the head like a slice of pizza, the huge computer (who's the idiot that designed its image ?!, it's awfully childish), and of course when I discovered the fact of it as a long wrestling match in the form of a movie. So you can imagine my feeling during the third act where all the fights were absurdly unstoppable.I remember also how all the male audience demurred at the kissing part since it came while the hero was about to face his many opponents, to hear some things like (Come' on, you have no time, it's not appropriate right now, move it MAN !). While the feast of the martial arts at the end, I was having the best time, laughing wildly to forget what I paid for watching what turned out to be a determinedly low B-movie, to forget about what my friend had promised me ("There will be a hot sex scene in the movie.. I'm sure"!), or to forget about the main reason I went to it in the first place (the annoying exam's result). I only loved the character of undying enemy named Romeo; he summarized, gleefully and ironically, the cartoonish logic of today's unbeatable foes in movies. Plus some convincing performance from Van Damme's side, with a white hair this time like he became wiser. And the beautiful heroine (my friend said that I have a thing for the unruly recalcitrant girls!). Although - as a whole - (Universal Soldier 2) wasn't important, but it was harmless too. It was just the most straight-to-video movie I've ever seen in a theater.Afterwards, we've watched in some TV channel the music video of the movie which contains a rock song from its soundtrack, and let me tell you, that was way, and I mean way, better than the movie itself. It's disappointing how the publicity's guys made a finer job than what the actual movie's makers did. I was reading in Empire at the time about Van Damme's problems (drinking, divorcing, going in or out the jail… ). Anyway neither me or my friend watched a Van Damme's movie in a theater again, simply because there weren't ones for him there anymore, as all of his works at the 2000s became straight to video, just like (Wesley Snipes) and (Steven Seagal), in the same time that (Schwarzenegger) was making bad movies to become finally a governor, and with the absence of (Mel Gibson) as an action star, it was nearly the end of the 1990s' era for us. I even didn't meet my friend himself since 2001 !! So the poster's tagline "Prepare To Become Obsolete" was a real jinx or kind of prophecy.Not to mention how the names that supplanted weren't as interesting as the previous: such as (The Rock), (Jason Statham), (Jet Li). Moreover, can you believe or stand (Ben Affleck), (Keanu Reeves), or (Tom Cruise) in action ?!! They're like the boys replacing the men !After years, the movie was on TV, I said to myself, "Now that's a good chance to watch it rightly", to sleep after the first 15 minutes. And by the way, I didn't pass that exam that year, true I passed it subsequently with honors, but still this movie is a strange reminder of not how to lose 90 minutes inasmuch as how to "lose" only !