Universal Soldier (1992)

35% (Metacritic)

## Summary

Two rival soldiers who were killed in Vietnam are brought back to life in a top secret military experiment that creates superhuman warriors.

## Cast

* Jean-Claude Van Damme - Luc Deveraux / GR44
* Dolph Lundgren - Andrew Scott / GR13
* Ally Walker - Veronica Roberts
* Ed O'Ross - Colonel Perry
* Jerry Orbach - Dr. Christopher Gregor
* Leon Rippy - Woodward
* Tico Wells - Garth
* Ralf Moeller - GR76 (as Ralph Moeller)
* Robert Trebor - Motel Owner
* Gene Davis - Lieutenant
* Drew Snyder - Charles
* Tom Lister Jr. - GR55 (as 'Tiny' Lister Jr.)
* Simon Rhee - GR61
* Eric Norris - GR86
* Michael Winther - Technician
* Joseph Malone - Huey Taylor
* Rance Howard - John Devreux
* Lilyan Chauvin - Mrs. John Devreux
* Monty Laird - Attendant
* Joanne Baron - Brenda the Waitress
* Lupe Ontiveros - Gregor's Maid
* Jack Moore - Witzy
* John Storey - Clark
* Bradford Bancroft - Powell
* Thomas Rosales Jr. - Wagner (as Thomas Rosales)
* Trini Tran - Vietnamese Girl
* Tai Thai - Vietnamese Boy
* Rachel Wagner - Girl in Motel
* Brandon Lambdin - Boy in Motel
* Ned Bellamy - FBI Agent
* Paul Raczkowski - Briefing Officer
* Daniel Demorest - Radio Operator
* Tanner Gill - Masked Gunman
* Eddie Braun - Sniper
* Walter Robles - Sniper (as Walter P. Robles)
* Jophery C. Brown - Thug (as Jophery Brown)
* Dona Hardy - Old Woman
* Leon Delaney - Patrolman
* George Fisher - Patrolman
* David Efron - Trucker (as Dave Efron)
* Myron L. Lapka - Trucker
* Dave Digregorio - Trucker (as David DiGregorio)
* Rhino Michaels - Trucker
* Ralph D. Carpenter - Policeman (as R.D. Carpenter)
* Duane Davis - Vietnam Army Officer
* Shane Dixon - Policeman
* Joel Kramer - Policeman
* Rodd Wolff - Policeman
* Leilani Jones - Reporter at Hoover Dam
* Mike Rauseo - Reporter at Hoover Dam
* Stephen Wolfe Smith - Reporter at Hoover Dam
* Tom Taglang - Soldier
* Michael Jai White - Soldier
* John Anthony D'Angelo - Sharpshooter
* Roger B. Ellsworth - Sharpshooter
* Matt Thomas - Sharpshooter
* Mirron E. Willis - Sharpshooter
* Al Wyatt Jr. - Local
* Allan Graf - Hank the Cook
* Kamel Krifa - H.T.
* John DeMita - TV News Crew
* Jill Jaress - TV News Crew
* Michael Burnett - Dead Soldier #1 (uncredited)
* Floyd Goodat - Guppy Commander (uncredited)
* Vojislav Govedarica - Thug in bar (uncredited)
* Mark Hanson - Soldier (uncredited)
* Billy D. Lucas - Henchman (uncredited)
* Richard Nixon - Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
* Matthew Pollino - Man (uncredited)
* Kris Van Damme - Young Luc Deveraux (uncredited)

## Trivia

* Both Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren attended the 1992 Cannes Film Festival in order to promote this film. Just outside the festival hall, Van Damme and Lundgren were shown having an argument, and then pushing and threatening each other before security guards intervened and stopped them. This brawl between the two became a talking point for the media and was reported on many news channels. However, years later, Lundgren revealed in an interview that it was all staged to garner publicity for this movie. Van Damme also confirmed this on a 2018 podcast.
* The Vietnam scenes were filmed at the Kingman, Arizona golf course with set dressings and fake foliage.
* Tom Lister Jr. had his eyepiece custom made because the regular eye piece's design was blocking his good eye.
* Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren got along with each other during production and became friends.
* The film's trailer re-uses music from Total Recall (1990) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
* Though they're all supposed to be American, the Universal Soldiers are played by a Belgian (Jean-Claude Van Damme), a Swede (Dolph Lundgren), and a German (Ralf Moeller).
* The last film to be recorded in CDS, an early digital sound format. In the following year of the film's release, sound technicians had developed DTS. This sound format was apparently of higher audio quality than CDS and has been used in most movie theaters ever since.
* Originally, Carolco hired Roland Emmerich, fresh from his low budget feature Moon 44 (1990), and screenwriter Dean Devlin to work on another project, an action sci-fi horror Isobar which would star Sylvester Stallone and Kim Basinger, and it would take place in future on high speed runaway train where genetically created monster gets loose and attacks the passengers. Emmerich was second director involved in the project, after Ridley Scott gave up from it due to disagreements he had with Carolco and producer Joel Silver. And Emmerich and Devlin also ended up having same problems with them, like lack of freedom on the project and Silver rejecting Devlin's re-write of original script by Jim Uhls and insisting on using one his screenwriter Steven De Souza wrote. The movie, which would have had $90 million budget, was then cancelled by Carolco, and instead they hired Emmerich and Devlin to re-write the script for Universal Soldier and direct the film after Andrew Davis walked away from that project due to high budget and creative differences they had with him.
* The Grand Canyon bus chase was re-edited years later as library footage into Fred Olen Ray's Critical Mass (2001) produced by Andrew Stevens' Phoenician Entertainment (a company that specialized in shooting low budget action films around stock footage).
* Dolph Lundgren and Ralf Moeller co-starred together in this film. Years later, both actors auditioned for the role of Hagen in Gladiator (2000). Lundgren lost the role due to director Ridley Scott being unimpressed by his acting and Moeller ended up winning the role.
* The Kingman Police Department supplied officers as extras for the scene where Luc and Veronica are surrounded by the police.
* Nearly all of the ice required for filming (an estimated 400kg) came from a local 7-Eleven in Arizona. Manager of that store Joaquim Alvarez was even invited on a tour of the Nugget Ice Corporation factory as his sales figures were so impressively high.
* The small patch worn on the left breast of many of the UniSols is a U.S. Army Air Assault Badge, signifying that the wearer is a graduate of the Air Assault School.
* The highly specialized load bearing equipment worn by the UniSols was custom made by Eagle Industries for the film, including the thigh holster for the Desert Eagle .357 magnum (which also held 2 extra magazines and a Cold Steel Magnum Tanto), the shoulder holster harness for the H&K MP5K sub-machine guns and the H&K P9S pistol, extra magazines and grenades. On the opposite thigh, the UniSols are carrying collapsible PR-24 batons.
* Michael Jai White was briefly shown as one of the soldiers in Vietnam near the beginning of the film. White would go on to be featured in a larger role in the first theatrical sequel to this film, Universal Soldier: The Return (1999).