Universal Soldier: The Return (1999) in my opinion is the most underrated, bashed, hated solid sequel flick that I absolutely Love and one of my favorite movies in the franchise! After the success of the first film Universal Soldier (1992) directed from Roland Emmerich, there were two TV movies directed who were suppose to be a mini series and they were all canceled. Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms (1998) and Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business (1999) Starring Matt Battaglia as Luc Devereaux / GR44 and Chandra West as Veronica Roberts. Jean-Claude Van Damme had a strict policy not to make any sequels, but after 7.years later, he decide to make the sequel to the Universal Soldier, which he did make this film and it was his last movie released in the movie theater until JCVD (2008). I know this movie has flaws, because Luc Devereaux (Van Damme) is human and he his a daughter. Universal Soldiers can't have a children wow. That it was a bad acting and so on. I disagree with all of the haters, Regeneration and Day of Reckoning are even worst than The Return. Because they ruined the beloved character Luc Deveraux. I like Regeneration but not so much as I love The Return. I hate Day of Reckoning, I am thinking, it is the worst film in the franchise for Van Damme, only him been in a 7 mins. in the film, that was lame. I don't know why so many people hate this movie with critics & box office failure? In my opinion this movie is one of my all time favorites and it deserved to be one of the best Van Damme movies ever. I've always had fun with this one. Very fast paced, lots of action, cool fights, good soundtrack, and Van Damme acting with a smile on his face. I don't think this movie is bad, I love the original move to death and I love this one too. In here you have Van Damme acting with his smile on his face and he does care and has a heart in it. I like the new generation of Unisols, I thought they were pretty good, the fights were weary fast paced. This movie had a Personality and kept you entertained all the time. This one has Michael Jai White in it, he did a solid perfect acting performance as S.E.T.H. He was the soldier in the opening scene in Universal Soldier, I am happy he returned to the sequel with a different character playing in here. This one has Bill Goldberg in it as another UniSol soldier, who becomes enemy of Luc Deveraux. This movie isn't the greatest flick ever made, nor is it as good as Universal Solider for me. But it is still a fun flick regardless, and much better than the horrible direct to video sequels, and it is without a doubt ten times better than the awful sequels that came before it that aired on Showtime starring Matt Bataglia who can't even act let alone fight. This film has a bad ass soundtrack, some bad ass fights, and it is a fast paced fun movie that was a lot of fun to watch. I like my Universal Soldier films to have Van Damme kicking ass, and smiling at the same time. Not falling asleep while watching stupid monkeys or acting like Col. Kurtz. This flick offers that kind of high-intensity sci-fi action you've come to expect from Van Damme in a story you won't soon forget. There are much worse Van Damme flicks than Universal Soldier: The Return and much worse action movies as well. Hell half the action films released in the past few years can't even hold this movie's jock. Abduction with Taylor Lautner from Twilight gets a 5.0 and there is no way in hell that is a better action movie than this. I would much rather watch this fun, fast paced sequel than Terminator: Genisys or any reboot movie of the week. If anything, this is underrated and not worth the overwhelming amount of pure crap the film has gotten over the years. It isn't a Shakespeare folks. Hell, the first film wasn't either. It was just as silly at points and as over the top as this was. Day Of Reckoning makes this film's tone and style look like Mary Poppins and that gets a higher rating and more praise from people. I wish more movies were like this one today, especially from Van Damme. Honestly in my opinion I do care a lot about Van Damme he is my idol and I am very happy he did made a sequel to the original movie. The rating I am giving to this underrated hateful sequel is a 7, I am probably the only one who likes this movie.

Universal Soldier: The Return (1999): Dir: Mic Rodger / Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Michael Jai White, Bill Goldberg, Xander Berkeley, Daniel von Bargen: Absolute garbage about soldiers that are half human and half robot but all moron. Their favorite past time seems to be to blast everything in sight. If they were really that desperate then perhaps they should have blasted the set preventing this sh*t from being made. Jean-Claude Van Damme hurls aimlessly in and out of near death situations. His daughter is injured and taken to hospital, which leaves plenty of opportunity for bad guys to invade and get their asses kicked. Mic Rodger does an uninspiring job directing this mess. I have seen children create better art out of their own snot than the special effects given here. Van Damme fights and that pretty much sums up his contribution. Michael Jai White plays what seems to be a human form of Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Unfortunately for him he is in this movie and not that one. Bill Goldberg plays a villain who proves that sticking to wrestling would be great advice for him. Xander Berkeley also appears as if the contribution would some how save the film. Not likely. Easily one of the very worst films of the year, with absolutely no redeeming value. Someone should drop a concrete block on this stupid action film so that we could honestly say that it served some sort of purpose. Score: 0 / 10

Regular follow-up in which Luc Deveraux and other "universal soldiers" must fight the whole army when then the military's supercomputer S.E.T.H gets out of control , as soldiers have been secretly reanimated , upgraded and leading a riot , threatening to unleash a world rebellion . Original ¨Universal soldier¨ was followed by this ¨Universal soldier : the return¨ with a good cast as Jean-Claude Van Damme , Michael Jai White , Heidi Schanz , Xander Berkeley and Justin Lazard ; however , subsequently Universal Soldier films ignore the events of The Return and outright contradict it in a number of ways ; while still an official entry, it is no longer considered part of the series canon . With top-secret technology, the SETH -2001's Hall 2000 alike- , has created a next-generation Universal Soldier , an elite fighter genetically altered into a programmable killing machine , forming a tough army of genetically enhanced warriors . SETH is preparing to government overthrow and build a new order ruled by Unisols without state control . Although former "UniSol" Luc Deveraux (Jean Claude Van Damm , also producer) and other staff members as Xander Berkeley playing Dr. Dylan Cotner and Daniel Von Bargen as General Radford , all of them attempt to prevent the revolt . The only one who can stop to UniSol 2500 (Bill Goldberg following his return from a six-month absence from wrestling , though this character was originally intended for WWF wrestler "Stone Cold" Steve Austin) and the same SETH personified into a bouncer UniSol (Michael Jai White who also appeared in the original ,1992, as a soldier) results to be Deveraux . SETH looks to take down Luc Deveraux after a hospital invasion claims his daughter . The fight pits Romeo/2500 and an army of genetically enhanced soldiers ; meanwhile, Deveraux must contend with several UniSols in relentless pursuits . He must make a full-out assault on the heavily armed headquarter . But inside, Deveraux'll discover these virtually indestructible warriors . Now, these elite fighters led by SETH are loaded and programmed to kill ; and the fate of millions hinges on this high-action showdown . This moving picture contains noisy action , chills , shootouts and fierce combats in brutal , life-and-death style . This exciting story being based on the characters created by Christopher Leitch and Dean Devlin . From start to finish the action is unstoppable and frenetic . Thrilling screenplay dispenses absurd excitement as well as violence and lots of fights . Breathtaking action movie full of struggles , crossfire and tension , this is a fast-paced, stylized action-suspense film , though mediocre . Thrilling screenplay by William Malone and John Fasano , they dispense absurd excitement as well as violence and lots of fights , creating some incredibly violent genre fare . Passable nail-biting movie full of struggles , crossfire and tension , this is a stylized action-suspense film , though there are some slow-moving scenes . The tension of this picture keeps snowballing as the clock ticks ever close for a groundbreaking as well as spectacular final . Jean-Claude Van Damme and Michael Jai White have some scenes together at an impressive fighting . Jean-Claude Van Damme and Billy Goldberg also have several action set-pieces together at some bloody confrontations . Acceptable production design , the strip club scene is filmed at The Clubhouse in Dallas, Texas , a legendary strip club , and certain subterranean scenes were filmed in Texas in the tunnels dug for the US' Superconducting Supercollider Project . It was released theatrically despite the previous sequels having been made-for-TV - a rarity for sequels . Atmospheric and fitted to action musical score by Don Davis . The picture was middlingly directed by an ordinary stunt , Mic Rodgers , his only film . This is the second of the series , the films are the followings : The best film of the series was the original ¨Universal soldier¨ by Roland Emmerich with Jean-Claude Van Damme , Dolph Lundgren , Ally Walker , Ed O'Ross . And many film series have gotten out of direct to video or made for TV through remakes, but few series get out of made-for-TV status otherwise . And ¨Universal Soldier: Regeneration¨ (2009) by John Hyams with Jean-Claude Van Damme , Dolph Lundgren , Andrei Arlovski and Mike Pyle . New sequel titled ¨Universal soldier : day of reckoning¨(2012) by John Hyams with Scott Adkins , Andrei 'The Pit Bull' Arlovski , Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme , but here they have not scenes together . And released theatrically in a few countries and Direct-To-Video (DVD & Blu-ray) in the rest of the world . And two TV films : ¨Universal soldier : Brothers in arms¨ (1998) by Jeff Woolnough with Matt Battaglia , Gary Busey , Burt Reynolds , Richard McMillan and Chandra West and ¨Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business¨ (1999) by Jeff Woolnough with Burt Reynolds Juan Chioran , Claudette Roche and Matt Battaglia .

This Movie just shows how far a crappy story line and acting take you...about maybe 10 minutes of what I thought was going to be OK but it was just down hill from there. Van Dame Just finds a way to always take off his shirt or finds a way to always flex in every position that he finds himself. That bald guy or should I call him Stone cold Steve all he needed was some beers after he beat the crud out of Van crap and sprayed his alcohol load all over each others steroid bodies. Waste of the precious time you have in this world.May god have mercy on Van crap for delivering this load of would be acting.Terrible