Okay boys 'n girls, time for a little compare-contrast. Remember that from middle school? Good. If the first Unisol was an exercise in big budget Hollywood excess, Regeneration is its understated, existential cousin. What was overt (comedy, over-the-top action set pieces) in the first here is given a more realistic, naked treatment by 'Smashing Machine' director John Hyams.
Don't go into this thinking it's an all JCVD and Dolphmeister-fest, far from it. Andrei Arlovski is top billed, and does as fine a job as can be imagined playing a cold, emotionless war machine. Our boys Van Damme and Lundgren spend their time either existentially ruminating over life's complexity or trying to blend back in with society. I won't lie, this movie doesn't really start up until the last 25 minutes, but if you stick with it, it will be well worth it.
Unisol 1 epitomized all the grandiosity of that "ballerina" karate fight stuff so popular in the 90s; here, Hyams opts for his unisols to do the ol' ground and pound- I didn't count, but I seriously think every fight scene ends with someone going Mark Kerr on some unfortunate schmuck's ass. The action is brutal, gray, and close quartered. What really saved this movie was Dolph, who, despite being in only like three scenes, steals the show with his understated comedic performance as the cloned Sgt. Scott. If Scott was an over-the-top, quip spouting, ear necklace-wearing maniac in the original, here the humor remains, but is buried in a haze of existential crises. He has the best performance, and you can tell he really worked hard to make sure his scenes were well-crafted. The fight scene he has with Jean Claude is right on par with the first one, albeit a tad shorter.
While Dolph really pulls out the best fights we've seen from him in years, the same cannot be said of Van Damme's performance: he plays the same depressed, hopeless "French philosopher" character he's been doing since 'In Hell' here, and he really looks uncomfortable to be associated with this (he's third billed, and doesn't even do the commentary with Dolph and Hyams. In fact, when 'Unisol 3' played as a surprise entry in the annual fantasy movie fest the Alamo Draft House in Austin hosts, Dolph was the one who was actually there promoting the film).
What I liked here were the small references back to scenarios in the first movie, but that the filmmakers didn't insult our intelligence and throw it in our faces. Anyway, if you've seen one low budget action movie made in Eastern Europe, you've seen them all, but all involved took what could've turned into pretty standard Avi Lerner schlock and turned it into something somewhat redeemable.
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