Universal Soldier: The Return (1999)

Film Title: Universal Soldier: The Return
Released: August 20, 1999
Directed by: Mic Rogers

Written by: John Fasano & William Malone based on characters created by Dean Devlin, Christopher Leitch & Richard Rothstein

Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Michael Jai White, Heidi Schanz & Bill Goldberg

Plot: When the UniSol program gets shut down by the government, the supercomputer that controls them goes rogue. Its up to Luc Deveraux, the original Universal Soldier but now human, to stop it.

IMDb: 4.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 5/100
My Score: 1.5/5

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Universal Soldier: The Return marks the return of Jean-Claude Van Damme to the franchise following his absence from the made-for-television films Brothers in Arms and Unfinished Business, the events of which are completely ignored here. Unfortunately, this movie is nearly as bad as those two. Van Damme is Luc Deveraux, the sole surviving UniSol from the first film. Not only is he human again but he also has a thirteen year old daughter (Karis Paige Bryant). How either one of these things is possible is beyond me, but I digress. He works as a technical expert for the program with scientist Xander Berkeley, creator of the Self-Evolving Thought Helix, or S.E.T.H., a self-aware supercomputer that controls the Universal Soldier units. When the government decides to stop funding the program, S.E.T.H. goes rogue, taking over the compound using the UniSols at his command, led by Bill Goldberg. S.E.T.H. then implants himself into a body enhanced with nanotechnology (Michael Jai White), effectively becoming the UniSol messiah. A fail safe built into the programming requires Van Damme to type a code into the system within eight hours or S.E.T.H.'s memory will be wiped. S.E.T.H. kidnaps Van Damme's daughter in an attempt to coerce him into giving up the code but the whole situation ends up being moot as S.E.T.H. figures it out by himself anyway. Tossed into the mix is a journalist (Heidi Schanz) who was at the facility when S.E.T.H. took over and who ends up being the gal pal and love interest for Van Damme (his wife died years previously). So if my explanation of the plot isn't enough to tell you already, this script is beyond ridiculous. The acting is sub-par by everyone and the fight scenes are pretty unexciting. There are a few good explosions and the heavy metal soundtrack is decent, featuring songs by Megadeth, Static-X, Anthrax, Fear Factory, Ministry, Gwar and Powerman 5000, but very little else of value is to be found. This was the directorial debut of stuntman Mic Rogers and stands as his only credit as a director to date. Along with Brothers in Arms and Unfinished Business, The Return is ignored by the future installments of the franchise and is not considered canon.