Reviews

[Le-Martin]

I have seen the movie. I just finished watching it moments ago so I cannot yet go into a full length review.

SOME SPOILERS!!!!

(THE PARTS IN BLACK ARE QUICK IDEAS AND ARE NOT SPOILERS)

THE GOOD:

1) Van Damme does indeed kick and jump and etc. But it's not all Van Damme in his fights or scenes. You can't phisically tell, but from a logical point of view you can figure it out that they used body and stunt doubles. (why wouldn't they show Luc's face when he goes through a wall)

2) Lundgren. This is his movie. He is the star, he steals not just every scene, but the entire movie. He is fantastic. He gets back to being Andrew Scott just like that. It's as if the first UniSol movie was made yesterday.

3) The explosions/guns/etc. They are bigger than all of Van Damme's recent movies.


THE BAD

1) There 2 people who gave terrible perfomances in this movie from an acting point of view. One of them is Arlovsky. The other (with the notable exception of a few moments of sheer acting quality) is Van Damme. Van Damme is indeed sad and bored to be making this movie and it shows.

2) NOT ENOUGH DOLPH LUNDGREN!

3) The script. It's bad. Very bad. Basically, the first 60 minutes of the movie have no structure, no backbone, no direction. It's not the story, it's the script (big difference).

4) Van Damme has so few words to say he basically shuts up for the entire movie, Lundgren has a lot more dialogue in a lot less screen time.

5) The choreography. A movie fight scene needs to be planned very carefully. WHERE, WHO, HOW, WHEN and WHERE'S THE CAMERA. This movie was made too fast, there was definetly not enough time to improve the fights. The fights are good, some close to great. But I don't like how they were filmed.

6) The soundtrack. With perhaps only 1 minute of a good soundtrack, this movie has a terrible soundtrack. AWFUL. It's not how it sounds, it does not work with the movie AT ALL for most of the time. Also, why is there no soundtrack for some of the key action scenes? The person who made that decision needs to go back and watch some more action movies. A good soundtrack can pump up the audience making the more willing to ignore the flaws in your movie.

7) The budget. If The Shepherd had a budget of 20$, this had a budget of 30$. Yeah, it's more, but it is nowhere near enough. This is still very much a low budget DTV movie made in Bulgaria.

8) For most of its duration, the movie is BORING!. It has action, explosions, fights, etc. BUT, it is NOT FUN!. Even UniSol 2 (which is a movie I can barely stand to watch) was more FUN that this. This movie, I didn't care about any of the characters, any of the people, about the story, about what's going on, about what's going to happen. There's no suspense, no structure, NOTHING. It bored me. The only fun thing in the entire movie is Dolph Lundgren. He steals the show. Mike Pyle is the second best thing in the movie and they should have made him the star instead of Arlovsky.


9) Cinematography. It's much better than expected.BUT it is nowhere near the capabilities of the RED Camera system.



Overall, this is an OK movie, nothing more, nothing special. Definetly NOT Van Damme's best DTV movie. I liked Wake of Death, Until Death a lot more than this one.

Van Damme does SOME action, but that's it. Lundgren is AMAZING, Pyle is good, would have liked A LOT more of him, Arlovsky...is a walking tree, sountrack is AWFUL (just imagine something like the track Skorpinok by Steve Jablonsky from Transformers 1 on this movie), the script is awful, the story is boring, the editing is off, the cinematography is below expectations (I know what the RED camera system can do, this is not even close to the best quality).

The action is ok, nothing special.


BUT HERE ARE SOME OVERALL CONCLUSIONS:

1) Van Damme was right to do a limited amount of days on this. This project NEVER had the budget nor the talent to be a worthy successor to the first UniSol movie. It's a quick cash and grab on the basis of a famous name.

2) Van Damme is done as a movie martial artist. OVER, FINITO.There are moments when Van Damme's moves are sped on a computer to make him look like he kicks faster. NOT FOR ARTISTIC REASONS. Van Damme with artificial speed is still not as fast as Pyle or Arlovksy.

3) Van Damme and Lundgren still have AMAZING chemistry on screen. Too bad it's wasted in this low budget crap movie.

4) Don't kid yourselves, the first UniSol was and still is the best UniSol movie.

5) I will watch this movie again just to get a better opinion on it. BUT, I DON'T WANT TO WATCH IT AGAIN!!!

6) Van Damme needs talent around him. His career is almost dead. Not kidding. He is clearly wasted in this movie. It's BELOW his capabilities as an action star and as an actor.




IF YOU WANT A REALLY QUICK CONCLUSION:

The movie is only good after the first 60 minutes are over. Basically after the first 60 minutes is when Van Damme goes into action and Lundgren joins the movie.

Van Damme's action perfomance? Just like the opening scene of J.C.V.D. but with more blood.


I will post more if I have the time.

[Well Dressed Killer]

I always tought this movie was a bad idea, and it looked boring in the trailer, so this review does not suprice me.

[Bolo]

Originally Posted by Le-Martin

I have seen the movie. I just finished watching it moments ago so I cannot yet go into a full length review.

SOME SPOILERS!!!!

THE GOOD:

1) Van Damme does indeed kick and jump and etc. But it's not all Van Damme in his fights or scenes. You can't phisically tell, but from a logical point of view you can figure it out that they used body and stunt doubles. (why wouldn't they show Luc's face when he goes through a wall)

You can see dolph hair changing black and JC hair is shorter sometimes

2) Lundgren. This is his movie. He is the star, he steals not just every scene, but the entire movie. He is fantastic. He gets back to being Andrew Scott just like that. It's as if the first UniSol movie was made yesterday.


he is totally miscast and his dialoque is weird

3) The explosions/guns/etc. They are bigger than all of Van Damme's recent movies.


THE BAD

1) There 2 people who gave terrible perfomances in this movie from an acting point of view. One of them is Arlovsky. The other (with the notable exception of a few moments of sheer acting quality) is Van Damme. Van Damme is indeed sad and bored to be making this movie and it shows.

Arlovski is a undead soldier and that roles is very well done... Van damme plays he undead soldier who has been experimented to death.. the try to rehabilitate him but it doesn't work.. so he is playing his role good in my opinion

2) NOT ENOUGH DOLPH LUNDGREN!


3) The script. It's bad. Very bad. Basically, the first 60 minutes of the movie have no structure, no backbone, no direction. It's not the story, it's the script (big difference).

hmmmm it has mayor plotholes indeed..

4) Van Damme has so few words to say he basically shuts up for the entire movie, Lundgren has a lot more dialogue in a lot less screen time.

That is the whole Unisol thing it was the same in the first one.. Dolph babbling rubbish and Van Damme being the silent one.. so nothing to be upset about.

5) The choreography. A movie fight scene needs to be planned very carefully. WHERE, WHO, HOW, WHEN and WHERE'S THE CAMERA. This movie was made too fast, there was definetly not enough time to improve the fights. The fights are good, some close to great. But I don't like how they were filmed.


I think they were well done.. not liking it doesn't make it bad.. i think the john foo fight was rubbish and so was the grabbling mike pyle fight...

6) The soundtrack. With perhaps only 1 minute of a good soundtrack, this movie has a terrible soundtrack. AWFUL. It's not how it sounds, it does not work with the movie AT ALL for most of the time. Also, why is there no soundtrack for some of the key action scenes? The person who made that decision needs to go back and watch some more action movies. A good soundtrack can pump up the audience making the more willing to ignore the flaws in your movie.

I loved the carpenter sounds it suited the movie..

7) The budget. If The Shepherd had a budget of 20$, this had a budget of 30$. Yeah, it's more, but it is nowhere near enough. This is still very much a low budget DTV movie made in Bulgaria.

You knew this before you watched this right?? i think they did a good job with the limited sets they have...

8) For most of its duration, the movie is BORING!. It has action, explosions, fights, etc. BUT, it is NOT FUN!. Even UniSol 2 (which is a movie I can barely stand to watch) was more FUN that this. This movie, I didn't care about any of the characters, any of the people, about the story, about what's going on, about what's going to happen. There's no suspense, no structure, NOTHING. It bored me. The only fun thing in the entire movie is Dolph Lundgren. He steals the show. Mike Pyle is the second best thing in the movie and they should have made him the star instead of Arlovsky.

You are clearly a Dolph Lundgren fan and it shows threw out oyur whole review.. he doesn't steal the show at all.. he is totally irrilevant for the story.. Like Cory says in the movie " Luc got hold up"

9) Cinematography. It's much better than expected.BUT it is nowhere near the capabilities of the RED Camera system.

No comment, it could have done better

Overall, this is an OK movie, nothing more, nothing special. Definetly NOT Van Damme's best DTV movie. I liked Wake of Death, Until Death a lot more than this one.

WOD is better... But this one has more rewatch value then his last 6 movies..

Van Damme does SOME action, but that's it. Lundgren is AMAZING, Pyle is good, would have liked A LOT more of him, Arlovsky...is a walking tree, sountrack is AWFUL (just imagine something like the track Skorpinok by Steve Jablonsky from Transformers 1 on this movie), the script is awful, the story is boring, the editing is off, the cinematography is below expectations (I know what the RED camera system can do, this is not even close to the best quality).

The action is ok, nothing special.

They have great jumps, Van damme shows some great fighting skills. Arlovski's fight against does 4 Unisols is simple great... and the build up for bringing LUC back is well done..
It is a DTV movie.. you are expecting and judging this like it was a 100 mil dollar movie..


BUT HERE ARE SOME OVERALL CONCLUSIONS:

1) Van Damme was right to do a limited amount of days on this. This project NEVER had the budget nor the talent to be a worthy successor to the first UniSol movie. It's a quick cash and grab on the basis of a famous name.

2) Van Damme is done as a movie martial artist. OVER, FINITO.There are moments when Van Damme's moves are sped on a computer to make him look like he kicks faster. NOT FOR ARTISTIC REASONS. Van Damme with artificial speed is still not as fast as Pyle or Arlovksy.

But that is Hollywood.. it still think looks damme good..

3) Van Damme and Lundgren still have AMAZING chemistry on screen. Too bad it's wasted in this low budget crap movie.

4) Don't kid yourselves, the first UniSol was and still is the best UniSol movie.

No doubt..

5) I will watch this movie again just to get a better opinion on it. BUT, I DON'T WANT TO WATCH IT AGAIN!!!

Then you shouldn't

6) Van Damme needs talent around him. His career is almost dead. Not kidding. He is clearly wasted in this movie. It's BELOW his capabilities as an action star and as an actor.

This can be a step up the ladder for him..if the movies sells

IF YOU WANT A REALLY QUICK CONCLUSION:

The movie is only good after the first 60 minutes are over. Basically after the first 60 minutes is when Van Damme goes into action and Lundgren joins the movie.

Van Damme's action perfomance? Just like the opening scene of J.C.V.D. but with more blood.

And way better.. and better shot.. no denying that


I will post more if I have the time.

Post more... Dude you make to long post

[MacGyver]

Do you agree Dickbreed?

[vanberch]

guys, it´s time for vanberch to make a US3 review. i have not even read le-martin´s review through the half. he probably have seen a different movie than i.

van damme is the fucking terminator is the one! give me some minutes!

[vanberch]

fuck, i typed 20 minutes my review and then my computer broke up.

guys, i loved it. it´s an ass kicker with the most realistic and most brutal fight scenes ever involved with a van damme movie. more later....i am too lazy now to write the same review again.

my favourite van damme dtv movie with WOD for sure is now US3. JC plays a killing machine. he goes to the battle field like the terminator. you will love it. the intro car chase action looked really like a scene from a BOURNE movie. finally modern action and fight in a van damme movie.

[Bolo]

Originally Posted by vanberch

fuck, i typed 20 minutes my review and then my computer broke up.

guys, i loved it. it´s a ass kicker with the most realistic and most brutal fight scenes ever involved with a van damme movie. more later....i am too lazy now to write the same review again.

my favourite van damme dtv movie with WOD for sure is now US3.

[Le-Martin]

Let me kick things up a notch and point out a few things I hated in detail:

1) The cinematography. There are moments when the the same set\location has different ligthing from different angles despite it being the same scene. Very amateurish

2) Yup, I am a fan of Lundgren, but I am a bigger fan of Van Damme.

3) 30 minutes of action DO NOT A GOOD MOVIE MAKE. They are just that, 30 minutes of action. I am and will always review the movie as an entire package.

4) Fight scenes. Hyams does some cool things, but not all of them work. Sometimes even the light sources from the set get in the way of the camera making the fight scene kind of blurry and out of focus. Hyams (both Peter and John) need to learn a lot more about working with digital.

5) The soundtrack. Yeah, SOMETIMES it sounds nice. But there's no theme, no composition, it seems random and as such jumbled.

6) How can you tell if Van Damme is bored? Watch the way he says his lines. NO PASSION WHATSOEVER! Is he playing his character like a machine? I don't think so. Hid can do a lot better with nuances and inflections. To, he was more bored doing this movie that he was doing The Shepherd.

7) Opening titles. THERE ARE NONE! And there was a perfect moment when the titles should have come on screen. Right after the car chase when the whole action moment is over, fade to black cue title. So many editors, directors and producers have forgotten how to use an opening title sequence to improve a movie. Check this out: http://www.artofthetitle.com/ . Oh, and by the way, doing an opening title like the one from the original UniSol movie is NOT THAT expensive. It's not the money that stopped them, it's not giving a damn.

8) STRUCTURE, STRUCTURE, STRUCTURE. This movie needed a whole new re-structuring. A better script with better outlined acts, main characters, storyline and motivations. Better and tighter editing. There is whole lot of stuff in the movie that can be cut out. That shows me that the script was not polished enough and that editing was done in a hurry.

9) Why use Van Damme and Lundgren in the way they were used? I can come up with a better story right now, for free. Who came up with Dolph's entry and exit from the movie needs to go back to writing school, he's stuck on the wrong side of the 80's, very much like the guy who wrote Ninja.

10) There a lot more action sequences that could have been included in the movie that were simple, cheap, used the same resources they had and which would have improved the movie. Other ACTION movies with TINY budgets have come up with great stuff. Even the actions scenes that are in the movie could have easily been improved upon with a little more effort,

11) This movie's script makes very little connection from a character, motivation, structure and continuity point of view with the rest of the series. There were a different number of ways in which this could have been connected with BOTH previous movies in under 5 minutes of screen time. The producers/makers did not care to do so. LAZY.

12) John Hyams and Peter Hyams and some other crew members are clearly talented. Van Damme, we all know he's talented. Even Mike Pyle is impressive. BUT THEY ALL KNEW THEY WERE MAKING A LOW BUDGET BULGARIAN DTV MOVIE! That is why what you see on screen is not their best effort, not their 100%. The only two people that seemed to be 100% are Lundgren and Pyle, that's why I keep mentioning their names.


GUYS, for me it's very simple. Watching Van Damme kick a little and jump a little, then seeing him sped up artificially because he looked a lot slower than Arlovsky and then seeing him doubled for the cooler moments (without the proper close up/close angle coverage to hide the double) is not enough. A few OK explosions and a few kicks DO NOT A MOVIE MAKE.

A movie has a storyline, characters, structure, narrative, soundtrack, cinematography, surprises, twists, suspense, drama/humor, etc. A movie a sum of elements. And I found the elements which made up this movie to be average at best.

A movie is supposed to be ENTERTAINING. I was bored while watching this.

Just action/fights are not enough to make a complete movie. If they would be, then this movie still has only 30 minutes REALLY worth watching.

To me, this movie will join Derailed, The Shepherd, Street Fighter, and others in the pile of Van Dammes movies I don't really want to watch.

[vanberch]

Originally Posted by vanberch

fuck, i typed 20 minutes my review and then my computer broke up.

guys, i loved it. it´s an ass kicker with the most realistic and most brutal fight scenes ever involved with a van damme movie. more later....i am too lazy now to write the same review again.

my favourite van damme dtv movie with WOD for sure is now US3. JC plays a killing machine. he goes to the battle field like the terminator. you will love it. the intro car chase action looked really like a scene from a BOURNE movie. finally modern action and fights in a van damme movie.

i edited my post bolo...a bit more now.

[vanberch]

Originally Posted by Le-Martin

Let me kick things up a notch and point out a few things I hated in detail:

1) The cinematography. There are moments when the the same set\location has different ligthing from different angles despite it being the same scene. Very amateurish

2) Yup, I am a fan of Lundgren, but I am a bigger fan of Van Damme.

3) 30 minutes of action DO NOT A GOOD MOVIE MAKE. They are just that, 30 minutes of action. I am and will always review the movie as an entire package.

4) Fight scenes. Hyams does some cool things, but not all of them work. Sometimes even the light sources from the set get in the way of the camera making the fight scene kind of blurry and out of focus. Hyams (both Peter and John) need to learn a lot more about working with digital.

5) The soundtrack. Yeah, SOMETIMES it sounds nice. But there's no theme, no composition, it seems random and as such jumbled.

6) How can you tell if Van Damme is bored? Watch the way he says his lines. NO PASSION WHATSOEVER! Is he playing his character like a machine? I don't think so. Hid can do a lot better with nuances and inflections. To, he was more bored doing this movie that he was doing The Shepherd.

7) Opening titles. THERE ARE NONE! And there was a perfect moment when the titles should have come on screen. Right after the car chase when the whole action moment is over, fade to black cue title. So many editors, directors and producers have forgotten how to use an opening title sequence to improve a movie. Check this out: http://www.artofthetitle.com/ . Oh, and by the way, doing an opening title like the one from the original UniSol movie is NOT THAT expensive. It's not the money that stopped them, it's not giving a damn.

8) STRUCTURE, STRUCTURE, STRUCTURE. This movie needed a whole new re-structuring. A better script with better outlined acts, main characters, storyline and motivations. Better and tighter editing. There is whole lot of stuff in the movie that can be cut out. That shows me that the script was not polished enough and that editing was done in a hurry.

9) Why use Van Damme and Lundgren in the way they were used? I can come up with a better story right now, for free. Who came up with Dolph's entry and exit from the movie needs to go back to writing school, he's stuck on the wrong side of the 80's, very much like the guy who wrote Ninja.

10) There a lot more action sequences that could have been included in the movie that were simple, cheap, used the same resources they had and which would have improved the movie. Other ACTION movies with TINY budgets have come up with great stuff.

11) This movie's script makes very little connection from a character, motivation, structure and continuity point of view with the rest of the series. There were a different number of ways in which this could have been connected with BOTH previous movies in under 5 minutes of screen time. The producers/makes did not care to do so. LAZY.




GUYS, for me it's very simple. Watching Van Damme kick a little and jump a little, then seeing him sped up artificially because he looked a lot slower than Arlovsky and then seeing him doubled for the cooler moments (without the proper close up/close angle coverage to hide the double) is not enough. A few OK explosions and a few kicks DO NOT A MOVIE MAKE.

A movie has a storyline, characters, structure, narrative, soundtrack, cinematography, surprises, twists, suspense, drama/humor, etc. A movie a sum of elements. And I found the elements which made up this movie to be average at best.

A movie is supposed to be ENTERTAINING. I was bored while watching this.

Just action/fights are not enough to make a complete movie. If they would be, then this movie still has only 30 minutes REALLY worth watching.

To me, this movie will join Derailed, The Shepherd, Street Fighter, and others in the pile of Van Dammes movies I don't really want to watch.

it´s like your 1st review...