Universal Soldier: A Look At One of the Best Action Films of the ’90s

Many favorite 90s movies are mentioned in discussions of 90s action films. “Total Recall”, “Die Hard”, “Mission Impossible” are just some of the ones you can see. However, one underrated classic that is often overlooked is Universal Soldier. This is a gripping cyborg story featuring the team of Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. It was a commercial hit, grossing $95 million on a budget of just $23 million. 30 years after its release, let’s look at some of the reasons why this is such a great 90s action movie.

The Chemistry Between Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren

Long before the days of the Expendables movies and other action-hero team-ups, Universal Soldier found a way to get Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme in a movie together. This team-up is the main highlight of the movie and produces many great onscreen moments between the two. Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren play two Vietnam soldiers who kill each other back in Vietnam and are brought back to live in a secret government program. They are stripped of their will and emotions, but Van Damme starts to have flashbacks to when he was alive, and the two slowly realize they hate each other and try to kill each other.

The movie combines cheesy action lines and plays to the two stars’ strengths when they are on-screen together. This film casts them as action lunks with a propensity for intense violence, making every scene together even more epic. In an interview with Dolph Lundgren, he describes the series as a horror series with him as the villain. He saw himself as a spiritual leader of the group, and this unique perspective was the seed for his character to get more complex as the sequels for the series developed.

Revisiting the Universal Soldier Franchise

Fun Premise and Story

The movie’s premise is interesting and lays a solid framework for an exciting dynamic. A team of scientists has created android soldiers with enhanced abilities by using soldiers that have fallen before in battle. These soldiers are called “Unisols,” and by using genetic enhancement, they are turned into unstoppable killing machines. By making them also androids, they can suppress their feelings and free will, allowing them to perform missions that would otherwise be impossible for a regular soldier. In a typical twist, Van Damme’s character starts to break free from control and attempts to escape the program, leading to a high-stakes chase across the country, ending with a brutal and bloody stand-off that is the perfect capstone to the movie.

Classic Cheesy Moments

Universal Soldier is chock-full of classic cheesy one-liners and action movie cheese that keeps these interesting. The movie takes full advantage of the fact that the soldiers used to be dead, and dead puns are galore. There are a couple of scenes where the movie is self-aware and calls out the accents of the action stars. One character asks, “I thought you had to be French because of your accent,” and Van Damme responds with, “what accent?”. This is a playful nod to the fact that many action movie stars of the era had some sort of identifiable accent or way of speaking.

Universal Soldier: The Return (1999)

Another opportunity realized by the film is numerous jokes about the characters being androids. Characters will comment about being “seconds late” for something. Also, the androids will fail to recognize figures of speech and will be confused by any sentence that doesn’t have a literal meaning. There are also some off-the-wall moments, like when the local brags about the necklace of noses that he has in a bizarre exchange with Lundgren’s character. He is then promptly kicked in the nose.

Has Something for Everyone

This cheesy 90s action movie has something for every action lover. Its unique premise, combined with the rivalry of the characters, makes for a lot of fun in the film. He’s just serious enough for good action scenes, but he also knows what it’s like. It’s a unique one that combines a lot of clichés from other action movies that somehow make it more interesting. It has romance, sci-fi and action rolled into one.