Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning

Way back in '92, this action star was already a legend. Jean-Claude van Damme He finally made his jump into big-budget Hollywood with a massive sci-fi action spectacle. Universal Soldier Many people used to call him the "budget Terminator." Plus, Universal Soldier actually served as his big Hollywood breakout. Roland Emmerich Which one’s actually going to win people over later? Independence Day I'm here. What's up? StargateAnd a bio is here too, obviously. It's essential. Dolph Lundgren He delivers one of his best performances here as the psychotic Sergeant Andrew Scott. The movie was a massive hit, pulling in about $100 million worldwide, which kept van Damme in big-budget productions for a while. That lasted until the mid-90s, when his ego and substance abuse started tanking what was once a killer career. Desperate to get back to the top, van Damme filmed Universal Soldier: The Return in 1999. Universal Soldier: The Return Directed by the stunt coordinator and Gibson's double. Mica RodgersI'm not sure what you're trying to say there. You lost me. Michael Jai White Playing the villain. Even with two DTV sequels already under his belt, they couldn't stop him from being cast in the next van Damme follow-up. Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms I'm here. Ready when you are. Universal Soldier II: Unfinished BusinessWhatever, the "official" sequel flopped at the box office, barely pulling in $20 million. Aside from the title and having van Damme lead the cast, it had almost nothing in common with the original. He ended up stuck in the Direct-to-video circuit pretty quickly after that, and even die-hard fans count Return as one of his absolute worst.
Just when you think the whole saga is finally dead and buried, ten years later in 2009, van Damme decides to jump back in for another sequel. Universal Soldier: RegenerationVan Damme only agreed to this one because he backed out of a different project the producers had already signed him for—he basically did this to avoid getting sued. He fought to keep his screen time minimal, so he's only in it for about 30 minutes. Even Dolph Lundgren shows up for a bit, but mostly they just handed the lead roles over to some MMA fighters. Tim Kennedy I'm here. What's up? Mike PyleThis time, the guy behind the lens was... John HyamsYeah, without much more of the big names. Peter Hyams Which director has already teamed up with van Damme twice for his movies? Timecop I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. What's on your mind? Sudden DeathSurprisingly, Universal Soldier: Regeneration actually became a hit. It even wowed people outside the genre, which is wild considering it was a Direct-to-video release. Because it did so well, John Hyams quickly got the green light for another sequel, which he also wrote and directed this time around. van Damme only has a small role here—even less screen time than last time—and Dolph Lundgren is back, despite basically dying twice already in this franchise. This time, the lead role goes to a rising action star. Scott Adkins, who you probably already know from flicks like El Gringo, Assassination Games, Ninja, and that killer fight movie Undisputed III: Redemption, is back. This actually marks his fourth outing with van Damme and his second alongside Dolph Lundgren. All three even shared the screen in The Expendables 2, where Adkins played van Damme's right-hand man. This sequel carries an $11.5 million budget, was shot in 3D on locations in Louisiana, and has already hit the circuit at festivals like Fantastic Fest in Austin. Surprisingly, critics are actually digging this one; it’s sitting at a solid 80% on Rotten Tomatoes—granted, that's only based on four reviews so far, but still! Crave Online called it intense, brutal and beautiful all at once with an 8.5/10 rating. Variety describes the vibe as a deliberately paced mashup of noirish mystery, splatter-movie intensity, first-person-shooter vidgame and "Apocalypse Now"-style surrealism. Meanwhile, IGN.com says it's a very different kind of Universal Soldier movie... with intriguing stuff, with shades of Frankenstein, Blade Runner, Total Recall and even Apocalypse Now thrown into the mix... ranking it right up there with The Raid as the best of the year. Indiewire isn't holding back either, calling this UniSol One of the Best Action Movies of the Year!
Most people agree this is way more than just some cheap DTV action trash. It’s actually brave, mixing in horror, thriller, and noir elements. You can definitely see influences from Carpenter, Lynch, and Cronenberg, which director John Hyams has cited as his inspirations. A lot of reviewers are also drawing parallels to Coppola's Apocalypse Now, calling it a gutsy move for a franchise like this. Sure, there are some haters, but they're easily outnumbered by the positive buzz, which is pretty rare for this genre.
The US premiere hits VOD platforms on October 25, 2012, followed by a limited theatrical run across America on November 30. It’ll be hitting home video overseas later in December.



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PLOT
Survivors Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude van Damme) and Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren) have to fight through total chaos to establish a new world order run by Unisols, completely off the grid. It’s all about purging the weak and forcing the strongest warriors into savage, do-or-die fights. Luc is now running the Unisol Church of Eventualism—basically a support group for rogue Unisols who were being used as secret, remote-controlled sleeper agents by the government. He's on a mission to break those programmed memories and expose the lies the feds shoved into their heads.

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Three character posters dropped, along with a movie clip and some decent reviews...

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CLIP

joblo.com

If you're looking for the cheesy, campy vibes of the original Universal Soldier (or its first sequel), Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning is going to catch you off guard. It feels way more like a gritty horror-thriller than your typical sci-fi action flick. Directed by John Hyams, this thing is nasty, weird, and plays it totally straight—it might be a hard pill to swallow if you aren't into heavy violence and gore. But honestly? If that's what you want, Day of Reckoning nails it.

7/10

dreadcentral.com

Quote: Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning is the fourth installment in what everyone assumed was a dead franchise. This time around, John Hyams has surprised filmgoers with an interesting twist by making this sequel more horror than sci-fi in this Frankenstein-inspired festival hit that has managed to put in more blood-letting, adrenaline-racing action sequences and well-choreographed fight scenes than the mainstream theatrical action films that have been polluting the multiplexes as of lately.

3.5/5

Just watched it!!! Honestly, the movie feels more like a psychological horror thriller than an action flick—it hits me with a vibe similar to > or some of those > films. And I wouldn't even call it a true sequel; at least, that's how I experienced it, since there isn't any real indication that the plot follows anything from the previous installments. My only gripe is that it drags a bit because it leans so hard into the psychedelia. It’s also a shame that > and > don't have much screen time, but even so, the film is killer. That final half hour is absolutely insane when they crank the realistic action and violence up to the max—especially that fight between > and >. Seriously, I haven't seen a better brawl in a long time.

The movie kicks off with Scott Adkins being woken up by his little girl, who’s terrified by something in the kitchen. He goes to check it out and gets jumped by some masked attackers, then one of them pulls off the mask to reveal a bald, weathered Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van Damme kills his family right in front of him, and Adkins wakes up from a coma nine months later. He can't remember anything except the attack, so he decides to dig into why his family was targeted and get some payback...

I remember the last one, Regeneration, was a pretty decent action flick with tons of potential, though I can't quite wrap my head around how Lundgren and Van Damme are still kicking... maybe they've got clones or something, who knows... anyway, point is, you can totally watch this without seeing the previous entries.

Basically, Adkins is the big star here. Lundgren shows up plenty, but not over the top, while Van Damme just has a long cameo, which is a bummer since I expected him to lead. But hey, Adkins carries his weight—he's probably the reason the movie works for a younger crowd since Jean-Claude looks pretty old and checked out here. Lundgren could've been used more too, so Andrei Arlovski basically acts as the main villain throughout the whole thing.

The story is actually pretty engaging with a few twists; it feels like they really tried to cook up an interesting plot. It gets a bit messy and confusing in spots, though. I don't want to overthink it or nitpick because I'd find a million dumb things, but they definitely put in the effort, which is fine for this kind of flick... even if half of it makes zero sense to me, whatever.

I watch those newer B-movie action flicks starring Van Damme pretty often, and you can always tell when they're shot on a shoestring budget. This one, though? The production value felt surprisingly high, at least to me. The director experiments a bit too much in certain scenes—some parts are almost enough to give you an epileptic seizure, so that was a bit much—but otherwise, the directing and camera work are totally solid... but hey, it's a B-movie, so I wasn't expecting a masterpiece.

Now for the main event—the action. It's good. Actually, it's freaking awesome. There are several killer scenes, especially that whole final act ranging from the epic bunker battle to the cool fight with Lundgren and the ultimate showdown with Van Damme. Tons of blood, great choreography, and it gets seriously brutal at times. I dug it.

7/10

Just watched it and I’m floored. The hype is totally legit... this is easily landing on my personal top movies of 2012 without a second thought.

First off, hats off to director and co-writer John Hyams for even having the guts to tackle something like this under the Universal Soldier banner. Honestly, looking back, that title is basically a curse for any director brave enough to touch this project. You’d need serious nerve to make something this unique and different from the predecessors, especially given the legacy those older movies left behind. We're talking about a movie called Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning that acts as a spiritual successor to those 90s action flicks starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren—who actually reprise their roles here, just with way less screen time and completely different vibes—which already set certain standards and expectations for what an audience thinks they're getting from anything titled Universal Soldier.
Look, you've got two different crowds here. On one hand, there's the group that's always hated the previous Universal Soldier movies—most probably haven't even seen them because they just view the whole franchise as cheap, low-budget action trash. They're expecting this sequel to be another garbage Direct-to-video flick starring washed-up action stars. But honestly? That crowd will likely never realize this installment is actually way better, smarter, and more complex than what they're bracing for. Then you've got the actual action fans, including the die-hards who loved the original. They're looking for a straightforward, maybe even mindless, adrenaline rush filled with bodies dropping. They’ll definitely get that, but they’re also getting way more than they bargained for: a sci-fi horror thriller with an actual, interesting story. Some of them might not even dig that change. At the end of the day, you can't please everyone when the project is carrying the baggage of a legacy like Universal Soldier.
Personally, I don't give a damn about the Universal Soldier franchise, because IMO there isn't even a franchise! It never actually existed, at least not in the way we usually think of movie franchises. What we really have are just a few visually and stylistically different movies that happen to share the Universal Soldier title and similar themes. Every single film takes a completely different approach to the concept. Aside from the title and certain actors playing characters with the same names—though their personalities change every time (except for Dolph Lundgren)—there’s basically zero connection between them. Just tiny fragments here and there. For instance, the strongest link between the first movie and the second one, Universal Soldier: Return, is just some flashbacks using footage from the original, but those clips look totally out of place since the style and look of Return are so different. The same goes for the third official entry, Regeneration; it had Universal Soldier in the title and featured Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren in smaller roles, but it felt like a complete reboot rather than a sequel. The only real nod to the original was that scene with Dolph Lundgren right before his fight with Jean-Claude Van Damme, which hinted at the beginning of the first film where Dolph Lundgren's character kills that young Vietnamese couple and Jean-Claude Van Damme tries to stop him. Calling the Universal Soldier franchise anything like Die Hard or Indiana Jones is just stupid. Honestly, the 90s TV movies feel the closest to the original in terms of style and atmosphere (even if they were miles cheaper), while the official sequels vary so much they feel disconnected. That's my take on the franchise lol...
So, does this movie feel like a straight-up sequel to the original? Not really. It works if you view it as a follow-up to Regeneration, but the whole shift in how they handle the Universal Soldier concept still fits perfectly within the universe established by the earlier films. The director clearly injected his own signature style into this one, which we already saw peeking through in the previous installment. Honestly, you could even watch it as a standalone reboot if you wanted to. Either way, I'm fine with it.
The way Hyams handled this movie and his directing style is pure genius. The whole thing feels more like a slow-burn, eerie mystery thriller with a heavy atmosphere and a total mind-fuck story that fits his direction perfectly. The plot is a head-trip in the best way possible; even if some people find it "confusing" or vague—kind of like a David Lynch flick—it’s actually much easier to follow here. Once all the puzzle pieces finally click, you get the big picture and everything just works. Some might call this a simple revenge story, but they're dead wrong because that’s not what this is about. Sure, revenge kicks the ball rolling, but there's way more going on beneath the surface—the "big picture" involving government conspiracies, secret military programs, and rogue Universal Soldiers with their own consciousness. It's a man's quest that honestly feels like a modern-day Apocalypse Now. Telling the story through the protagonist's eyes reminded me of Memento; just like that film, the audience discovers the chaos right alongside the lead. Nothing is spoon-fed to you, so you're never ahead of him. Still, it's way more digestible than Memento—you just have to pay attention to the details. And yeah, people might roll their eyes at me saying this, but this is one of those movies where you actually have to use your brain to grasp the plot instead of just zoning out and staring at a blank screen. Plus, there are a few killer twists that fit the narrative perfectly. A couple might be slightly predictable, but it doesn't really ruin the ride.
And I can't forget the action—it's freaking incredible... bloody, brutal, and just awesome! The way these action sequences are directed, shot, and edited is better than most big-budget Hollywood blockbusters. Honestly, Hyams Jr. is shaming a lot of major Hollywood players with these scenes. I really hope the big studios take notice and hand him bigger budgets for his upcoming projects, because the guy has way too much directorial potential to stay stuck in the Direct-to-video (or indie) circuit. Then again, since big studios are mostly run by morons who want to control every single detail, maybe it's better for his vision that he stays outside that system. Either way, I just hope he makes another Universal Soldier film his own way, following his own vision, because I'm dying to see where he takes this franchise next.

Is it a perfect movie? No, it isn't (even if I can't think of a single bad thing about it right now)... but is it badass because of how Hyams approached it and delivered something totally different from what people likely expected from a title like Universal Soldier?? Oh yeah baby!

For anyone interested, here's a cool 4-minute behind the scenes video...

BEHIND THE SCENES

Spot on, man. I’m actually wondering if I was a bit too harsh on it—I mean, at the end of the day, it’s still a total badass action flick. I'll probably give it another spin before the year's out and see if it sticks

Judge Dredd turned out great. I’m hoping this one stays focused on the action instead of trying too hard to be "deep."

Honestly... Judge Dredd is total garbage in general, and compared to this (at least for me). But yeah... this is way more intense than I expected... and definitely more than Dredd...

but honestly, it doesn't even touch The Raid

Not if you're counting pure action scenes... John Wick has way more kinetic energy... though I'd say the quality of the fights is right up there with John Wick, maybe even more brutal here since the gore is so much more visceral (BTW this is just the theatrical cut... there's an uncut version that hit the festival circuit and will be coming out on DVD soon). It edges ahead because the story is actually better and more engaging... mostly because it actually *has* a story.
Even with that subplot about the hero's brother and those corrupt cops, plus the whole mystery of who's pulling the strings behind the raid, John Wick still felt a lot like a video game where you just clear one floor after another and beat up everyone in sight... not that I'm complaining haha 😁

Either way, they're both great... just different vibes...

Honestly, it didn't really do much for me... I actually drifted off halfway through the movie. ☕I ended up waking up just in time to catch those last two final scenes.

I actually felt the urge to look up how slow and mind-numbingly boring this movie is... at least until that car chase kicks in and we get that little bit of action in the sporting goods store. Then I thought about checking the stats again for the final thirty minutes, because that’s when the movie finally starts to feel like it actually makes sense. Honestly, those last thirty minutes are better than the entirety of the last three Unison films combined (this one included).

btw, if anyone deals with epilepsy, maybe skip this flick or just fast-forward to the last half hour. You won't be missing much anyway.

It’s a shame, really. It had enough potential to be something way better than this.

Absolutely phenomenal movie, I honestly don't have anything else to say about it beyond that.

feralorca82 said:I seriously felt like looking up how slow and boring this movie is... right up until that car chase and that little scene in the sporting goods store. Then I wanted to check the runtime again because the last thirty minutes are the only part where the movie actually starts making sense. Honestly, that final half hour is better than the entire last three sequels combined (this one included).

btw, if anyone has epilepsy, maybe skip this movie or just fast forward to the end. You won't be missing much anyway.

Such a shame, it had the potential to be something way better.

And it could've been something way better... it just wouldn't have been some mindless "shoot 'em up" action flick, but an actual movie you have to pay attention to.

Anthony Smith3 said:And there's something incomparably better... not just some mindless "kill 'em all" action flick, but an actual movie that demands concentration...

Concentration? For what?
The movie follows its own plot, I'll give you that, but the pacing is so dragged out that everything loses its impact. Aside from Van Damme and Lundgren popping up for a few minutes here and there, this has zero connection to the original. Even the previous one was starting to lose that original spark.
It felt like the screenwriter lost his train of thought halfway through and suddenly realized what he was doing. At one point, I actually thought I’d accidentally switched over to some low-budget local TV movie. 😁

I don't know, maybe you see something special in it. To me, it just looks like an experimental attempt at a thriller that tries to pass off an action sequence as a finale.
It's like walking into a restaurant, ordering dessert, and being served a tasteless brick decorated with a little whipped cream and a cherry on top.

You need to focus to actually catch the plot and see where it’s heading... you need concentration to grasp the big picture. Because beneath this exterior—this revenge story (which isn't even the main point)—there's a different narrative at play. If you sat down expecting some mindless, straight-to-the-point action flick like the first one or that penultimate entry, just a non-stop barrage of stunts, then you walked in with the wrong expectations. I get why you'd be disappointed...
But this takes a completely different approach to the concept of the Universal Soldier. It's designed more like a sci-fi noir thriller with horror and action elements, focusing way more on the storytelling than just pure carnage. And yeah, like I mentioned before, this sequel doesn't share much DNA with the original... but honestly, no official sequel really sticks close to its predecessor since all the Unisol films differ so much in style, look, and their take on the theme.
Again, the writer (who also directed, John Hyams) clearly intended to—and totally succeeded in—distancing himself from the well-known Universal Soldier concept from the first movie (by the way, the third one ignores the second, The Revenant, right?) to make something entirely unique. He wanted to explore different motives, like playing God or creating modern "Frankensteins." The third film already set some new directions for the lore, and those directions are just being pushed further here in a totally different way. Basically, that old Universal Soldier program from the original where they used reanimated corpses? That's dead. As I see it, that program was shut down after the first film, but it evolved in a whole new direction (as mentioned in Regeneration): cloning.
In this case, the Unisol soldiers are cloned killing machines owned by the Government, which maintains total control over them. The movie explores what happens when they break free and become self-aware. You can definitely see the Blade Runner nods too... through the film, John starts questioning if he’s a man who once had a family, or a clone (a replicant) who just has those memories implanted. He eventually finds the answer... well, actually, even earlier than that... but anyway...

All in all, it's a slow burn—slower than I expected—but damn interesting, IMO...

SPOILER!

Anthony Smith3 said:Concentrating on following the plot and where it's headed... concentrating on grasping the big picture.

I honestly don't see much to grasp here. Everything is pretty straightforward from start to finish. You have the cause at the beginning and the consequence for the rest of the movie.

Because beneath this exterior—this revenge story (which isn't even the main theme)—lies a different story altogether.

I can't agree with that. It revolves entirely around revenge. It's fictional, sure, but it's about what a person is willing to do when the one thing that matters to them is taken away.
It’s just all handled a bit clumsily; I’d even go as far as saying it was poorly put together.

If you went into this expecting something like the first or second film—just a straightforward, simple-minded action flick with endless action scenes stacked one after another—then you went in with the wrong assumptions, and I get why you're disappointed...

I expected a movie that actually made sense. To me, this movie makes zero sense.
The only fact is that you have Akri, Van Damme, Lundgren (and for some reason, Aralovski again). Actually, you really just have Akri; JCVD and Lundgren are basically just there for show because they represent the brand, and without them, the franchise doesn't exist. As for Aralovski... I didn't get why he was even in it. Maybe he thought he was filming a new 300 🤣

But this is a completely different approach to the concept of the soldiers, designed more as a sci-fi (noir) thriller with elements of horror and action, focusing more on storytelling rather than pure action.

There's nothing "sci-fi" about it. There isn't even an "S" or an "F" in it. Just a few vague hints.
I think someone who hasn't seen any of the previous films wouldn't understand a single thing. Everything important to the plot is just briefly mentioned by side characters as if they're explaining it to someone who missed everything. "Noir"? In my opinion, there isn't even an "N."

And yes, as I mentioned in my comment, this sequel doesn't share much with the original... but then again, no official sequel shares much with the original since all these movies differ in style, look, and their take on the theme.
And again, the writer (who also directed, John Hyams) clearly wanted to—and succeeded in—completely distance himself from the well-known concept from the first film (the third one ignores the second, The Revenant, right?) to make something totally different, exploring other motives like the God complex or creating modern-day "Frankensteins."

To felt like some half-baked indie project in the vein of Uwe Boll’s work—you know, those movies based on big video game titles that have absolutely nothing to do with the actual games except for the name on the box. 🤷

The third installment already established its own narrative rules, and this one just takes them in a completely different direction. That whole program from the original where they used reanimated corpses? It’s dead. From what I can tell, that program was shut down after the first movie, but it found new life through cloning instead, which is what they touched on in >.

The third movie actually handled things somewhat logically. It kept the focus on the Unisol project, which feels totally missing here.

In this case, the soldiers are basically the Government's cloned killing machines under total control. The movie explores what happens when they break free and gain self-awareness. You get those > vibes too... > starts questioning if he’s a real guy with a family or just a replicant with implanted memories. He eventually finds the answer, though... well, actually, he figures it out even earlier than that... but anyway...

He doesn't really "question" anything. Honestly, he's clueless because his memory is full of holes. All he has is an implanted memory of killing his wife and kid, nothing more. Until he runs into a previous clone, he doesn't realize what's happening, and even then, he's still just driven by that fake memory of revenge. Even during the "lobotomy" phase, those memories take over and he breaks control again, simply because he has to finish his revenge and kill anyone in his way. To me, there's no depth here; it's just style over substance.

Plus, right at the end before that guy spills brains all over the combo, he tells him directly: "you were designed with selfish motivations, loyalty to the family, not country," whereas the previous clone wasn't built that way.
So, they basically created him with the goal of finding whoever killed his family (Luke Deveraux) and taking him out, which he does. Then he realizes he didn't even kill the right person because the memories weren't real. Whoever planted those memories also killed the memories themselves—which was the only thing he actually had.

Maybe I'm missing some deeper layer and you're right, but personally, I think it could have been much, much better.

All in all, it's a slow movie—slower than I expected—but damn, it's interesting IMO...

I agree it's interesting, but unfortunately, I think they dropped the ball on the execution.
Slow, indescribably so, but the last thirty minutes actually shine.

Look, I gotta say I'm on board with some of what you're saying, but there are definitely a few points where we just don't see eye to eye.

feralorca82 said:SPOILERS AHEAD!

I honestly don't see what there is to dig into here. It’s all pretty straightforward from start to finish. You've got the cause at the beginning, and then you just get the fallout for the rest of the movie.

Heh... I bet a lot of people would push back on that... judging by some of the comments online where folks are still acting like they don't get what's going on.
Glad you finally caught on to everything... though it feels like you totally misread a few things along the way.

feralorca82 said:I can't get behind this. It’s all just revenge porn—fictionalized, sure, but still just about what someone is willing to do once you take away everything they actually care about.
Honestly, the whole thing feels pretty half-baked. I’d even go as far as saying it was just sloppily put together.

Yeah, revenge is what kicks the plot into gear. It drives the hero to dig into why things went south and hunt down whoever did it. But by the time you hit the end, you realize there’s something way bigger at play. You find out the Government orchestrated the whole thing just to pull the strings and finally take out Luke. I don't see anything lazy about that setup... honestly, it's a cliché used perfectly within the story, especially when everything clicks at the finish line.

feralorca82 said:I was expecting a movie that actually made sense. Personally, this one’s just nonsense.
The truth is, you’ve got Adkins, Van Damme, and Lundgren in this flick—plus Aralovski for some reason. Honestly, it’s really just an Adkins movie. JCVD and Lundgren are basically just cameos to give the title any actual meaning. As for Aralovski... I have zero clue why he's even in it. Maybe he thought he was filming a remake of 300. 🤣

It all makes sense if you actually look at the series history. Like I said before, the government completely ignored Universal Soldier in Regeneration, but that's exactly why this movie matters. Basically, after the first film, Luke spent about 20 years in rehab trying to act human—which is pretty much impossible for a reanimated soldier. Then, they reprogram him in Regeneration to save those two teens, he snaps, and bolts at the end. The director said this movie takes place about 10 years after that. Now, Luke’s a rogue, self-aware ex-Unisol who knows exactly what the Government is up to. He’s even building his own army of reprogrammed soldiers to take them down. He’s officially become the biggest threat to the state.

As for Aralovski... he's just a clone cooked up by the Government, one of those sleeper agents they trigger when they need some dirty work done (just like both Johns). The only thing I can't wrap my head around is why the agent even activated him to go after Dolph and his Terminator squad right after John woke up. Wasn't John supposed to be the one hunting them down?

feralorca82 said:As for SF, there’s no S or F to be found. It’s just some vague hints at best.
If you haven't seen any of these movies before, you’re probably going to be totally lost. They just have side characters briefly recap everything that actually matters to the plot, like they're explaining it to someone who missed the whole point. As for calling it "noir"... not even close.

If you’re looking for hard sci-fi like *Prometheus* or *Star Trek* where high-tech gadgets drive the plot, then sure, this doesn't fit that mold. But if you define sci-fi by the concept itself—cloning super soldiers who can be controlled like puppets—then it absolutely counts. That kind of stuff isn't real life (or maybe it already is), which makes it sci-fi just as much as the original movie did. Those little hints are enough for me.
If you’re looking for a classic noir—you know, the whole black-and-white aesthetic, the femme fatale, the gritty detective monologue—then yeah, this isn't that. But it hits those noir notes because we're stuck inside the lead's head, trying to piece together the story through his fractured memory. It actually reminded me a bit of Memento in how he's basically just trying to solve the puzzle of his own mind. And since Memento is basically the gold standard for modern neo-noir, I guess that's where the vibe comes from.

feralorca82 said:To me, the whole thing just felt like some half-baked attempt at art, basically on par with those Uwe Boll movies where they slap a famous video game title on the screen just to trick you, even though the actual plot has absolutely nothing to do with the game. 🤷

Uwe Boll? Seriously? Honestly... this isn't even worth a real response.

feralorca82 said:The third one was actually pretty decent and made sense. It had that focus on the Unisol project, which is exactly what's missing here.

Like I said, this trilogy is just a straightforward, simple-minded DTV action flick where we’ve got some Terminator types trying to stop a nuclear reactor from blowing up. When they fail, they send in the one and only original Terminator to fix the mess. It's that simple. There aren't any deep themes or hidden messages here... it's just pure action, though it feels like the action itself is almost an afterthought at times. But when it actually hits, it's better than most big Hollywood blockbusters. With this specific movie, though, the director was clearly aiming for something more prestigious, and judging by the reviews online—from both critics and regular viewers—he actually pulled it off.
Sure, some people—just like you—didn't really dig this one, which is totally fair...

feralorca82 said:man, he doesn't reflect on anything. He’s basically clueless because his memory is full of holes. All he’s got is this implanted memory of killing his wife and kid, nothing more. It isn't until he runs into a previous clone version that he starts to realize what's actually happening, but even then, he's just being driven by those fake memories of murder and a need for revenge. Even during the "lobotomy" phase where those memories take over and he loses control again, he's just stuck in this loop of needing to get revenge and kill anyone in his way. To me, there's zero depth here, just a bunch of pretentious nonsense.

Not really. At the start, he has no clue why any of this happened or who did it to him. He has those memory gaps and is trying to connect the dots, and yeah, like we already said, revenge is his main driver. But as the movie moves along, he starts uncovering things through conversations with other characters—like a stripper telling him she was at his cabin (which he never even had), or how he beat someone up in a parking lot without remembering it (especially since he's supposed to be a family man... or maybe just some jerk who sees footage of himself killing his own friend). Through these interactions and his own weird abilities, he realizes something is seriously wrong. I agree he's still driven by revenge, but that's when the bigger picture starts to emerge and he realizes he's part of something much larger...

feralorca82 said:besides, right at the end before that guy gets his brains splattered on the van, he tells him straight up, "you were designed with selfish motivations, loyalty to the family, not country," unlike the previous clone.
so, they basically made him with the goal of finding whoever killed his family (Luke Deveraux) and taking them out, which he does. Then he realizes he didn't actually kill the right person because the memories weren't even real. Whoever planted those memories also wiped them, which was essentially everything he had.

Yeah, I'm with you on that too... but the way I see it, by the end he realizes he's just been played by the Government. Those promises of "freedom" are just smoke and mirrors to get him back under their thumb. So he decides to stop letting himself be "tied" to those memories, because those memories are the only thing he has left that makes him feel like a human being instead of just some tool for the government...

Anyway, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on a few things. 😁

I'm just glad they tried to make something different, and honestly, they pulled it off since most audiences and critics seem to love it.

@Dragonrage I have to hand it to you, taking the extra time to break things down like that was a smart move; you really hit the nail on the head regarding certain points, and now even the last remaining stubborn idiot should finally grasp why this movie actually works—or at least, that's what I'm hoping for.