Universal Soldier: The Return Information

Universal Soldier: The Return is a 1999 American science fiction action film directed by Mic Rodgers, who made his directorial debut, and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Michael Jai White, professional wrestler Bill Goldberg, Heidi Schanz, Kiana Tom and Xander Berkeley as Doctor Dylan Cotner.

It is the second theatrical film in the Universal Soldier series, following two made-for-TV movies, Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms and Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business. The film was received with highly negative reviews and was a box-office bomb. Subsequent films in the series ignore the events of The Return and outright contradict it in places; it is no longer considered part of the series' canon.

Plot

Seven years after the events in the first film, Luc Deveraux (Van Damme), now an ordinary human, is a technical expert who is working with the government with his partner Maggie (Kiana Tom), who has been through countless hours of combat training with him, in order to refine and perfect the UniSol program in an effort to make a new, stronger breed of soldier that is more sophisticated, intelligent, to spare using living soldiers in the battlefield. All of the new UniSols, which are faster and stronger than the original UniSols, are connected through an artificially intelligent computer system called S.E.T.H. (voice of Michael Jai White), a Self-Evolving Thought Helix.

When S.E.T.H. discovers that the Universal Soldier program is scheduled to be shut down because of budget cuts, it takes matters upon itself to protect its life.

Killing those who try to shut off his power, and unleashing his platoon of super soldiers, led by the musclebound Romeo (Bill Goldberg), S.E.T.H. spares Devereaux, only because Devereaux has the secret code that is needed to deactivate a built-in program that will shut S.E.T.H. down in a matter of hours. With the help of Squid (Brent Hinkley), a rogue cyberpunk, S.E.T.H. is able to put his program in a UniSol which Squid made superior to any of the newer models (White).

Not only must Luc contend with ambitious reporter Erin Young (Schanz), who will not leave his side, but Luc must also contend with General Radford (Daniel von Bargen) who wants to take extreme measures to stop S.E.T.H.. S.E.T.H. has arranged Romeo to kidnap Luc's injured 13-year-old daughter Hillary (Karis Paige Bryant), killing Maggie in the process.

Luc is the only person who can rescue Hillary, because Luc knows firsthand how a UniSol thinks, feels, and fights. Luc infiltrates the UniSol building, but finds Maggie, now revived as one of the UniSols. S.E.T.H is able to figure out the code himself, decides to kill Luc and raise Hillary himself, who he has healed using UniSol technology. During the fight Luc covers S.E.T.H. in liquid nitrogen then shatters S.E.T.H.'s frozen body. Luc then engages into a fight with Romeo, which ends when Maggie finally rebels against the UniSols by shooting Romeo, and allows Luc and Hillary to get out of the building on time. However, the bomb that General Radford had placed was deactivated by S.E.T.H.. As Romeo and the platoon of Universal Soldiers start to march out for battle, Luc fires at the explosive charge blowing up the building, killing all the Universal Soldiers.

Cast

• Jean-Claude Van Damme as Luc Deveraux
• Michael Jai White as S.E.T.H.
• Heidi Schanz as Erin Young
• Xander Berkeley as Doctor Dylan Cotner
• Justin Lazard as Captain Blackburn
• Kiana Tom as Maggie
• Daniel von Bargen as General Radford
• James R. Black as Sergeant Morrow
• Karis Paige Bryant as Hillary Deveraux
• Bill Goldberg as Romeo
• Brent Anderson as Technician #2
• Lyle Kanouse as UniSol 2500 (voice)
• Adam Russell Stuart as the General's Aide

Reception

The movie did poorly at the box office debuting at No.4. Universal Soldier: The Return grossed $10 million in the United States. Reviews were mostly negative, with the film earning a 6% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. James Berardinelli gave the film a score of one and a half stars out of four

Soundtrack

A film soundtrack was released by Trauma.

Track listing

1. "Crush 'Em" " Megadeth
2. "Remain Calm" " One Minute Silence
3. "Awake" " Clay People
4. "Crazy Train" " The Flys
5. "Bled For Days" " Static-X
6. "Fueled" " Anthrax
7. "Majic, No. 3" " Jact
8. "Hatred" " D Generation
9. "Securitron (Police State 2000)" " Fear Factory
10. "Eureka Pile" " Ministry
11. "Chaos" " Tim Skold
12. "Saddam A-Go-Go" " Gwar
13. "Target: Devereux" " Don Davis
14. "Supernova Goes Pop" " Powerman 5000

DVD release

On July 1, 2002, DVD was released in Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment at UK.

On September 20, 2010, Jean-Claude Van Damme ten movie collection DVD was released and including nine films they were: No Retreat, No Surrender, Nowhere to Run, Hard Target, Street Fighter, Sudden Death, The Quest, Double Team, Knock Off and Desert Heat.

On October 4, 2010, Universal Soldier Trilogy DVD was released.