UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION (John Hyams, 2009)

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Re: UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION (John Hyams, 2009)

Postby Jox on 22 Mar 2015, 14:43

Amost everythig you need to know about UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION and DAY OF RECKONING, director John Hyams tells all in this brilliant interview:
http://www.cutprintfilm.com/features/fr ... ohn-hyams/

John Hyams is a rare case today, especially in the realm of genre films and action, of not only being a very skilled director who knows what he does, but also being able to put his work into words, almost as if (much like many plastician artists) the thinking process was as important as the work (film, painting or else) itself (if not more).
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Re: UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION (John Hyams, 2009)

Postby shooby on 18 Jan 2017, 18:38

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Re: UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION (John Hyams, 2009)

Postby Jox on 08 Sep 2017, 14:30

Universal Soldier: Regeneration breathed life into both Jean-Claude Van Damme's career and straight-to-DVD action
http://www.avclub.com/universal-soldier-regeneration-breathed-life-into-both-1798679730
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Re: UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION (John Hyams, 2009)

Postby Jox on 10 Feb 2019, 14:01

The then called UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: A NEW BEGINNING (as released in Asian territories) was about to start (Feb 15) lensing 10 years ago already! :shock:

"Do you often contemplate the complexity of life?"

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Re: UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION (John Hyams, 2009)

Postby Jox on 13 Feb 2019, 16:37

In-depth interview with John Hyams from the great "Movie Crypt" podcast
https://moviecrypt.libsyn.com/ep-285-john-hyams
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Re: UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION (John Hyams, 2009)

Postby Jox on 15 Feb 2019, 19:20

A little thing I did for the 10 years of principal photography day 1

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Re: UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION (John Hyams, 2009)

Postby Jox on 19 Feb 2019, 15:48

Has anybody seen the live-action JIN-ROH movie? I read someone say their final fight was pretty much "lifted" from the DL vs JCVD brawl in REGENERATION...
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Re: UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION (John Hyams, 2009)

Postby Jox on 07 Apr 2019, 20:34

Awkward (lebanese, egyptian?) theatrical poster

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Re: UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION (John Hyams, 2009)

Postby Jox on 28 Oct 2019, 11:46

Revisiting the Universal Soldier Franchise
Tom Jolliffe revisits the Universal Soldier franchise…
https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2019/10/ ... franchise/
Universal Soldier: Regeneration

That should probably have been that after The Return, and was expected to remain a franchise killer. Even two made-for-TV extensions of Unisol lore between the first and second, which were awful, only re-emphasised the fact that as a potential franchise there was little interest. Step forward a decade after the second one, Van Damme is well and truly homed in video land along with Lundgren. John Hyams, son of Peter Hyams (Timecop) is tasked with regenerating Luc Devereaux again and on half the budget of the first film and a quarter of the second. Not too much to contend with for your narrative debut then.

Regeneration, a film no one asked for, that even fans seemed half hearted at the prospect of, was shot with little interest or fanfare. It wasn’t until some early positive responses at festivals and sales markets that word spread the film was actually surprisingly solid. Despite having no clear protagonist (as though Van Damme is essentially the leading man, the budget and schedule meant he had limited shooting time… ditto Lundgren) it’s engaging. So Luc has spent years retraining himself to cope in society as a now defunct piece of government war property. A strict diet of meds and psychological evaluations but he’s still triggered to return to the instinct of battle. Then comes the inevitable situation where, with a terrorist holding the President’s children hostage in an old nuclear reactor guarded by a new grade of Unisol (played by UFC fighter Andrei Arlovski), Devereaux becomes the only possibility of successfully extracting them and disarming a bomb strapped to the reactor.

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Gone is almost all the humour and goofy charm of the original, replaced with seriousness (not without some darkly macabre moments mind you). What is amazing though is how visionary it is despite being a Universal Soldier film, and despite some areas that the budget hampers (such as allowing for more of Van Damme). The film owes more to Blade Runner than RoboCop and Terminator with some philosophical musings and Van Damme gives an interesting performance. Despite the inherently goofy manor of Lundgren’s re-appearance (having been minced by a combine harvester in Universal Soldier) thanks to cloning, his role is Rutger Hauer-esque, and if that’s not praise, then I don’t know what is. He makes a comical, show-stopping villain from original genesis, to something more Frankenstein monster and imbued with tragic existential confusion. He’s rarely been better and similarly Van Damme, so there is this sense of wanting more from them, just in as much as screen-time, which the budget didn’t allow. A lot of JC fans seemed to really hate Luc’s arc and there’s an add rebellion against this film from the people who should probably like it the most.

Regeneration never forgets its action routes either. An opening car chase is legitimately one of the best of the last decade. Many of the action sequences, which include almost third person, video-game esque p.o.v and long takes, are all brilliantly put together, as are the fight sequences which essentially consist of huge supermen smashing the living shit out of each other. The pick of the bunch is Van Damme and Lundgren’s centerpiece finale showdown which is fantastic. Walls cave in, mise-en-scene is obliterated and the two super-soldiers batter themselves and their surroundings epically.
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Re: UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION (John Hyams, 2009)

Postby Jox on 05 Dec 2019, 06:51

PINNLAND EMPIRE
https://twitter.com/PINNLAND_EMPIRE/sta ... 3477313536

Universal Soldier: Regeneration / Blade Runner: 2049

#sidebyside #ryangosling #movies #cinema #film #bladerunner #bladerunner2049 #jcvd #ryangosling #denisvilleneuve #dolphlundgren #davebatista #davebautista

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Re: UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION (John Hyams, 2009)

Postby Scorpio on 21 Jun 2020, 22:02

Spanish Blu-ray:

https://www.amazon.es/Soldado-Universal ... 411&sr=1-1

With 11 years behind schedule... :lol:
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Re: UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION (John Hyams, 2009)

Postby Krom on 22 Jun 2020, 17:03

This movie was such a great surprise, no one expected to be turned that good!
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Re: UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION (John Hyams, 2009)

Postby Jox on 25 Jun 2020, 20:34

Yeah! JCVD and DL turned it down several times because the script was apparently really bad, and John Hyams jumped on it very late and turned it around...
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