UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (John Hyams, 2012)

[Jox]

German-dubbed trailer

[Jox]

http://www.boxoffice.com/reviews/2012-1 ... -reckoning

Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning isn't just one of the most remarkable action films of the 21st century, it also feels like one of the first.

Current franchise shepherd John Hyams clearly understands that his latest has to be clever and coy in order to subsist on its fading star power, and so he's reincarnated the Universal Soldier brand as an ultra-violent existential crisis. Playing like a mash-up between Enter the Void and The Raid, Day of Reckoning is an uncommonly assured slice of bargain bin cinema, as arresting to watch as it is impossible to comprehend.

Every moment of activity is muted by several of airless disquiet, the film's meticulously arch compositions and hyper-glossy sheen revitalizing and reflecting upon the testosterone cinema of yesteryear through the same warmly subversive lens that Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven looked back at the florid suburbia of Douglas Sirk. Day of Reckoning sincerely loves this stuff too much to satirize it, and the film's three major action sequences are as brutal and elegantly epic as anything the major studios have offered this year—a fight scene in a sports apparel store ends with the most vicious deathblow in recent memory.

But Day of Reckoning seems less interested in functioning as an action movie than it does as a blood-soaked simulation of pre-coded living. Many ultra-violent films present life like it's a videogame, but Day of Reckoning begins with the assumption that we're all being played. That protracted first-person opening sequence transparently deprives us of our own control, underlining the notion that free agency is a deceit. The movie is sustained by the tension that exists between John feeling like he's in control, and the fundamental knowledge that he isn't. We're repeatedly reminded that John's mind is not his own, but that information has no bearing on the choices that he makes. He understands that violence won't solve anything—just like we understand that impaling Dolph Lundgren's head with a machete won't prevent him from appearing in the next installment—but it's the only means of expression he's got. Imagine Memento's Leonard Shelby with an itchy trigger-finger, and you're halfway there. A mirror-image of Paul W.S. Anderson's similarly fascinating Resident Evil: Retribution, Day of Reckoning expresses how videogame logic reflects—not informs—contemporary culture. This is a movie about people who are created with the purpose of products, and it simulates their experience to an unnerving degree.

Ultimately, Day of Reckoning is an action movie that's stronger and smarter than most of its previous incarnations, yet so committed to its undying sense of self that it doesn't feel like anything else.

Like The Terminator on a morphine drip, it's a rich throwback to a time when gratuitous nudity was the only kind of nudity, when being a man meant dismembering another man, and you didn't need to be able to form intelligible sentences in order qualify as a warrior-poet. The lesson of this unexpectedly potent kick of sci-fi strangeness: at the end of the day, big muscles just need to be flexed.

[dolphage]

Some clever stuff in that review.

[Jox]

Yep, one of the best reviews written about the film...

[Jox]

Universal Soldier's John Hyams Is the Best Action Director Working Today (article & interview)
http://www.villagevoice.com/2012-11-28/ ... ing-today/

[Jox]

[Jox]

Movie Violence Has Never Been Better—Or More Reckless
http://www.villagevoice.com/2012-11-28/ ... -reckless/

To See the Fights, Universal Soldier 4 Demands You Suffer
http://www.villagevoice.com/2012-11-28/ ... ou-suffer/

[Jox]

Different for a Reason: John Hyams on Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning
http://www.craveonline.com/film/intervi ... -reckoning
Great interview!

[Jox]

8 Reasons Why 'Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning' Is Among the Weirdest Movies Ever
http://www.movies.com/movie-news/8-reas ... affid=news

[Jox]

More reviews
Review: 'Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning' Combines Art House Intentions & Strong Action In A Franchise Return To Form
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/ ... m-20121128

Review: "Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning" Deploys Adkins, Van Damme and Lundgren to Flip the Script
http://www.moveablefest.com/moveable_fe ... eview.html

http://wegotthiscovered.com/Movie-revie ... reckoning/

[leigh1975]

Universal Soldier finally has a release date of 4 February through Studio Canal, according to Amazon;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Universal-Soldier-Day-Reckoning-DVD/dp/B00ADSR9OY/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1354183409&sr=1-1

[Jox]

A GREAT John Hyams podcast interview (1 hour)
http://espn.go.com/espnradio/grantland/ ... id=8689164
http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood ... john-hyams

The Hollywood Reporter review
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review ... ren-395434

Superbly choreographed and filmed action sequences enliven this ultra-violent B-movie.

Say what you will about the confused narrative, blatant borrowings and wildly over-the-top gory violence of Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning -- at least you can see what the hell is going on.

It’s a lot of fun spotting the allusions in this hyper-stylized effort, from the blinking effects borrowed from Gaspar Noe to the bald Van Damme’s resemblance to Marlon Brando’s Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now to the plot elements recalling Blade Runner and various films by David Cronenberg and David Lynch. While the proceedings aren’t entirely free of self indulgence (the nearly two-hour running time is another example), they at least display an imagination uncommon in this sort of B-movie.

Hyams has filmed the highly choreographed, ultra-violent mayhem to superb effect. You may not come away breathlessly anticipating another Universal Soldier movie, but you will be anxious to see what this talented filmmaker will do next.

And a handful of other reviews:
LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/mo ... 1639.story

New York Times
http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/mo ... .html?_r=0

MISC
http://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/scifi/ ... kness.html

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movi ... w/1715207/

http://jeffreymanderson.blogspot.fr/201 ... ay-of.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainmen ... -1.1210192

http://www.edgesanfrancisco.com/index.p ... &id=139193

http://www.rr.com/entertainment/film_re ... 6/78323778

[Jox]

Behind the scenes set visit by G4 Attack of the Show
(no Dolph)
http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/7 ... oning-set/

review
http://criterioncast.com/reviews/joshua ... al-review/

[Jox]

Here's a Hyams interview I missed:

[Jox]

‘Soldier’ ready for battle
http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/m ... dEoUFXom9L

An intensity of purpose and a patient, suspenseful directing style make the B-movie “Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning” superior to most of the big-budget action films I’ve seen lately.

Combining elements of “The Terminator” and “Total Recall” while mostly ignoring the plots of previous “Universal Soldier” films dating back to 1992 (three of them, plus two direct-to-video productions), this one stars a quietly appealing Scott Adkins as a man who is beaten nearly to death while being forced to watch his wife and daughter murdered by a masked home invader (Jean-Claude Van Damme). Gradually it emerges that both men are Terminator-like killing machines destined for a bloody showdown.

Despite its B-movie status, “Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning,” featuring Dolph Lundgren, is one of the better action flicks of the year.

The director, John Hyams — whose father, Peter, made such films as “End of Days” and “Timecop” — shows unusual craftsmanship, recalling the spirit of early John Carpenter in the way he lets scenes build with long takes and slow-burning dread instead of frantic cutting. Moreover, the many fight scenes (including an especially good one in a sporting-goods store) are rousingly visceral, though the amazing level of gore may turn off some viewers. If the characters aren’t terribly well developed, the laconic English kickboxer Adkins shows real leading-man potential, and Van Damme’s lack of affect, which often reads as wooden acting, here makes him a scarily coldblooded villain.

'Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning': Is This One Of The Year's Best Action Films?
http://news.moviefone.com/2012/11/30/un ... 17627.html

http://www.soundonsight.org/universal-s ... art-house/

http://latino-review.com/2012/11/30/fil ... -reckoning