Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning

Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning is a 2012 American science fiction action film directed by John Hyams, who co-edited with Andrew Drazek, and wrote the screenplay with Doug Magnuson and Jon Greenlagh. It stars Scott Adkins with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren, who both reprise their roles from the first film, alongside newcomer Andrei Arlovski. It is the sixth and final installment in the Universal Soldier film series.
The film acts as a sequel to 2009's Universal Soldier: Regeneration, unrelated to the two television sequels and ignoring the events of the 1999 theatrical sequel Universal Soldier: The Return. In the film, former military man John awakens from a coma and finds out his wife and daughter have been murdered in a home invasion. John goes on a personal vendetta against the man behind the killings, revealed to be Luc Deveraux, the eponymous Universal Soldier from the previous films who has now become a powerful terrorist military leader.
Though criticized for its "brutal" violence, others gave high praise for its direction, action, and "haunting" atmosphere, with some comparisons made to the works of Michael Haneke and David Lynch. Day of Reckoning was first released on VOD in the United States before receiving a theatrical release on November 30, 2012. The film grossed $1.4 million against a production budget of $8 million. A reboot of the series has been in development since 2018.
Plot
John awakens from a coma to learn that his wife and daughter were brutally murdered in a home invasion. Questioned by FBI Agent Gorman, the still amnesiac John identifies the perpetrator as former Universal Soldier (UniSol) Luc Deveraux, now a wanted man. Gorman activates sleeper agent Magnus, one of the cloned Next Generation UniSols. Magnus enters a brothel and slaughters both the female employees and most of the male patrons, who all display exceptional physical resistance but are no match for Magnus. His final adversary, a clone of UniSol Andrew Scott, overpowers Magnus and injects him with a serum that frees him from government control. Magnus is introduced to a separatist group led by Deveraux and Scott, who are taking in wayward UniSols to turn them against the U.S. government, with the ultimate goal of establishing a UniSol-led new order.
John receives a call from someone claiming to be his friend Isaac, asking to meet. At his house, he finds Isaac long dead and evidence of his involvement with the UniSol program. A matchbox leads John to a strip club, where he is recognized by a stripper named Sarah, whom he cannot remember. Magnus injects John with Scott's serum, whereupon John hallucinates about Deveraux but retains his will. John follows Sarah to her apartment, where they are attacked by Magnus again. Though in the confrontation John loses some phalanges, they escape. Sarah tells John she remembers him working as a truck driver, living in a riverside cabin, and that the two were romantically involved.
Calling his own memories into question, John meets with Agent Gorman. He learns Deveraux was often seen at the docks from where John used to take shipments. John goes to the docks, inspects the last unshipped cargo and meets with local manager Ron Castellano, who plays hidden camera footage that shows John brutally murdering Isaac.
As John and Sarah drive towards the cabin, they are once more intercepted by Magnus. In the ensuing fight, John realizes he possesses superior strength, resistance and fighting abilities, eventually killing Magnus by decapitating him with a metal bat. Later, he discovers his severed fingers have regrown. John and Sarah reach the cabin to find it inhabited by an exact duplicate of John, who claims to be the original; it is this John whom Sarah and Castellano recall, and who killed Isaac. The original John had been mind-controlled into hunting down Deveraux, but was turned and hired as a transporter and assassin for his organization, until he met Sarah and deserted Deveraux. He tries to kill Sarah but is shot dead by the other John, now suspecting himself to be another UniSol sleeper agent.
After sending Sarah away, John meets a rogue UniSol at the river and is taken to the separatists' underground headquarters. There, he is greeted by Dr. Su, a former scientist of the UniSol program, who reveals John had been synthetically created a few weeks earlier and as such his family is nothing more than an implanted memory. Dr. Su also says the missing shipment contains hardware that will enable Deveraux to create clones. John accepts Su's offer to surgically sever his emotional bond with the fake memories of his family, but the pain and attachment to those memories drive John insane. He kills every UniSol in his path, culminating with Andrew Scott in a one-on-one confrontation. John then reaches Deveraux himself; in the ensuing fight, Deveraux eventually gains the upper hand. Realizing the government will not stop sending John clones until he is dead, and seeing this John as a worthy successor, Deveraux allows John to kill him.
Later, John meets with Agent Gorman again. Gorman admits to his involvement with the UniSol program and that he had purposefully put an unaware John on Deveraux's trail. Gorman ascribes John's success to his familial attachment, as opposed to the patriotism implanted in his predecessors. John kills Gorman, before a clone of Gorman and three UniSols emerge from John's van. The clone leaves in Gorman's car, hinting that John has completed the cloning equipment and taken over the separatist group, now determined to infiltrate the government which he holds responsible for his pain.
Cast
Scott Adkins as John
Jean-Claude Van Damme as Private Luc Deveraux
Dolph Lundgren as Sergeant Andrew Scott
Andrei Arlovski as Magnus
Mariah Bonner as Sarah
Tony Jarreau as Bouncer
Craig Walker as Earl
Andrew Sikking as Larry
James Dumont as Dr. Brady
David Jensen as Dr. Su
Audrey P. Scott as Emma
Rus Blackwell as Agent Gorman
Dane Rhodes as Ron Castellano
Susan Mansur as Madame
Kristopher Van Varenberg as Miles
Sigal Diamant as Claudia
Juli Erickson as Woman
Michelle Jones as Kathryn
Roy Jones Jr. as Mess Hall Unisol
Dustin Taylor as Bystander
Production
Development and writing
Universal Soldier: A New Dimension (as it was initially titled) was to be the first in the series filmed in 3-D. John Hyams, who had directed Universal Soldier: Regeneration, returned as director along with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. Hyams cited films such as Apocalypse Now, The Manchurian Candidate, Chinatown, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers as inspirations.
When first submitted to the MPAA, the film received an NC-17 rating due to its violence. An edited R-rated version was released in theaters. The NC-17 director's cut has been released overseas.
Casting
Michael Jai White, who previously appeared in the first two Universal Soldier films, joined the cast along with Van Damme and Lundgren, but ultimately dropped out.
Release
Theatrical
Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning premiered on VOD on October 25, 2012 followed by a theatrical run starting on November 30. The film premiered on HDNet Movies on November 28 the same year.
Reception
Box office
The film was released in Russia and Malaysia on October 4 and grossed $624,724. The film opened a week later in Ukraine and ended up grossing $31,349. It was released on November 30, 2012 in the United States in three screens, grossing $3,181 in its opening weekend, and as of the December 6, the film has grossed $4,928. It also opened on the same day in Turkey, finishing 8th with $75,919 for the weekend, as of the December 9, the film has grossed $138,232 in Turkey. The film was also released in the United Arab Emirates and as of the December 9 it has grossed $193,274. The worldwide total as of the December 12 is $992,507.
Critical response
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports a 56% approval rating for Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning based on 50 reviews; the weighted average is 5.05/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "The mooted final installment in the long-running series is a hyper-violent, often grim throwback to action movies of yore – which will appeal to some audiences just as emphatically as it deters others".
Negative reviews tended to focus on the film's violence, which was considered excessive. Clark Collis of Entertainment Weekly stated that the film "is so gruelingly violent you half wonder if director John Hyams' goal is to make the audience get up and leave the theater rather than be party to the brutality". Scott Bowles of USA Today also criticized the film for being "so mean-spirited and joyfully violent" that it leans toward the torture porn genre. Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News wrote that unprepared viewers are "bound to leave shellshocked. Not just because of the movie's brutal violence, but from the stunning realization that this grim franchise will never stop regenerating itself".
Positive reviews suggested that Day of Reckoning successfully tweaked the series formula by introducing more horror and surreal elements. Nick Antosca of The Paris Review wrote that Day of Reckoning is "less an action film than a horror film", likening it to the films of David Lynch and early David Cronenberg and describing it as "strange, haunting, sometimes even beautiful odyssey that lingered with me more than any American movie in recent memory". He concluded that it is his "favorite movie of last year–the best movie of [2012], I would argue". Eric Kohn of IndieWire shared this sentiment, declaring it one of 2012's best action films: "Hyams delivers a remarkably satisfying action-thriller hybrid that constantly pushes ahead". Film critic Matt Zoller Seitz praised the film for its "elegant, committed action direction" and said that "it just radiates menace". He also went on to say that the Universal Soldier film series "is a rare series that takes more creative risks as it goes along". Bilge Ebiri, writing for the website Vulture, also gave praises to the film, writing that with the intro being reminiscent of a Michael Haneke film, "the entire thing has a mesmeric, unreal quality, where things can turn on a dime, and often do". Overall, he wrote that "if more action movies were like Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, the world would probably be a better place".
Reboot
A reboot was in development and Richard Wenk was set to write the film as of October 2018, which will focus on one resurrected soldier.
Notes
References
External links
2012 films
2012 science fiction action films
American films about revenge
American dystopian films
American rape and revenge films
American science fiction action films
American sequel films
Films about amnesia
Films about anarchism
Films about cloning
Films about death
Films about domestic violence
Films about the United States Army
Films shot in Louisiana
Mad scientist films
Universal Soldier (film series)
2010s English-language films
Films directed by John Hyams
2010s American films