MovieChat Forums > Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012) Discussion > Ranking of the UniSol series

Ranking of the UniSol series

posted 10 years ago by Mr_Hamster
9 replies | jump to latest

Hey guys,

just finished my UniSol marathon this weekend, here's my final ranking of the series (excluding the crappy made-for-TV flicks without JCVD):

1. Universal Soldier (7.5 / 10) - Unsurprisingly, this one still takes the crown. JCVD and Dolph (basically all of his lines are gold) have never been better. Good performances all around, awesome opening and epic final fight. An action classic for sure and probably my favorite JCVD film right next to 'Hard Target'.

2. Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (7 / 10) - Wow, just wow. When everybody expected just another generic straight-to-DVD actioner, Hyams manages to surprise with this intense mix of UniSol, 'Apocalypse Now' and a little bit of 'Blade Runner'. The lack of JCVD and Dolph is a little disappointing (even though Dolph's scenes are quite memorable), but Scott Adkins' powerful performance as well as the best fights of the entire series are more than enough to make up for that.
I also liked the ending with John replacing Luc as the leader of the Unisols gone rogue, no need to go continue the series imo.

3. Universal Solider: Regeneration (5.5 / 10) - Some good hand-to-hand fights are to be found here, but it still feels like a straight-to-DVD flick made in Eastern Europe on a small budget. JCVD does a solid job, but Dolph, save for the cool fight against JCVD, is almost completely wasted. A solid entry in the series after the disappointment that 'The Return' was.

4. Universal Soldier: The Return (2 / 10) - A complete dud which felt like it was made for TV. The story sucks, same with some of the performances (any scene including Bill Goldberg made me cringe). Horrible special fx, an annoying love angle between Luc & the female lead plus an anticlimactic finale make this film a strain to watch for any fan of the first film.

So, anyone else who'd like to share their $0.02? ☺

Who are they? And what do they want?
😎

[–] Snusmumrikken 10 years ago

Mine is is a bit different 😃

Ranked from best to worst:

Universal Soldier
Universal Soldier: Regeneration
Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning
Universal Soldier: The Return

[–] Mr_Hamster 10 years ago

Thnaks for your reply!

I guess most UniSol fans would agree with your ranking, Regerneration has received quite a lot of love as far as I can tell.

Who are they? And what do they want?
😎

[–] Littlebitsofgaming 9 years ago

Universal Soldier...and that's it.
It's a crap series of films with only the first one being any good.

And so, God came forth and proclaimed widescreen is the best.
Sony 16:9

[–] samuraigamer 9 years ago

1) Universal Soldier (1992) 8/10
2) Universal Soldier: The Return (1999) 5/10
3) Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009) 5/10 the quality seriously started to drop a lot with this one but i never expected what was coming
4) Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012) -42/10 i dont know what this is but it's certainly not universal soldier nor is it coherent story telling. It's in my hall of fame of worst movies ever

[–] crom-dubh 7 years ago

I might actually rank Regeneration higher than the original, although it certainly requires the original to make any sense. I have never seen Return, which I hear is pretty bad. Day of Reckoning has some cool things going for it, and I like Adkins, but there is not enough happening and some things not making any sense. The action scenes are well done, but I wish they had not done all the damn strobe effects. Overall not a great movie but worth watching I suppose.

[–] FridayOnElmStreet 7 years ago

1.Universal Soldier (7/10)
2.Universal Soldier: The Return (5/10)
3.Universal Solider: Regeneration (2/10)
4.Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (1/10)

[–] TroliusMaximus 7 years ago

Universal Soldier, 1992: 8/10.

The rest, 1998~2012: turd / 10.

[–] makkhan 7 years ago

In my opinion, Universal Soldier 1 is GOOD! Loved it.

The rest can be classified as crap overall.
Although all 3 have some good moments. The last one is extremely..... disturbing. I like the scenes with Andrew Scott though.

But Bloodsport, kickboxer, Timecop, Lionheart, Nowhere to run, double impact are some of the amazing JCVD movies. I am a big fan. (That is the only reason for watching Unisol 2,3 and 4).

[–] bozo_500 (12162) 7 months ago

Regeneration
Universal Soldier
Day of Reckoning

The Return