Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release on Blu-ray director John Hyams' action thriller Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012), starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Andrei Arlovski, and Scott Adkins. The release will be available for purchase on January 22.
Official synopsis: John (Adkins, The Expendables 2) wakes up from a coma to discover his wife and daughter were slaughtered in a brutal home invasion. Haunted by images of the attack, he vows to kill the man responsible, Luc Deveraux (Van Damme, Cyborg). While John tries to piece his reality back together, things get more complicated when he is pursued by a relentless UniSol (Arlovski). As John gets closer to Deveraux and the rogue army of genetically enhanced warriors led by back-from-the-dead leader Andrew Scott (Lundgren, Red Scorpion), John discovers more about himself and begins to call into question everything he believed to be true.
Special Features:
Audio Commentary by director John Hyams and Dolph Lundgren
Featurettes:
Coming Into Focus' : looks at the characters in the film, the making-of several sequences, and the challenges of shooting those scenes.
'There Is No End' : Chronicles the final scene along with the weapons and stunts used to create it.
'Production Wrap' : Cast and crew discus the production of the film, along with an in-depth look at some of the last days on set, fight rehearsals and stunt choreography.
Caught this movie on HDNet Movies. It is so not worth watching. To say that it stars JCVD or Dolph Lundren in a complete lie. They appear in a handful of brief scenes. The first hour is completely drawn out and boring with some stomach churning scenes of strobe lighting and sound effects so intense it is gauranteed to give epileptics a grand mal sezuire. There are a handful of really good fight scenese towards the end, but the story makes next to no sense and handled so poorly that it isn't worth watching. It's a shame too cause that Atkins guy has an action star quality to him that is wasted in this movie.
Cancelled my pre-order a while back. Will rent but all the comments I've heard about strobe lights and slow pacing made me doubt it would worth it to own. I want to see it though, but no blind-buy for me...
This movie was incredibly bold and unexpected. Enter the Void meets Apocalypse Now meets David Lynch, all bound together by a layer of metaphorical probing and some of the best damn fight scenes I've ever seen. John Hyams has got some serious balls to make this movie this out there.
I would've liked the movie better if they had cut 20 minutes from the first hour and not used the strobe light effect the time that they did. If you're idea of great filmmaking is a guy staring silently, almost never speaking, and speaking very softly without making eye contact to the person he's speaking to when he does speak, then you'll love this movie. Does this look like it was shot on HD video? Yes. Does it look like all of the money was spent on convincing JCVD and Dolph Lundren to show up for a day of shooting? Yes. Also long drawn out shots of people eating cereal and pulling out of driveways slowly when out of breath people call them urgently. Also, the men in this movie have larger breasts than most of the nude women in the movie and the women who do have large breasts are not the type of women you want to see naked. There are absolutely no moments of humor or anything non depressing.
If you enjoyed this movie, awesome. But this is not a blind buy. Buyer beware.
This is truly a remarkable film. @ brainofj72 is spot on with the comparisons to Apocalypse Now and David Lynch. I would also mention the fact that Jean Claude Van Damme basically plays Dr. Mabuse [via Fritz Lang's DAS TESTAMENT DES DR. MABUSE (1933)], and yes, the results are every bit as awesome as that hopefully sounds to you. Definitely one of the best films of 2012. John Hyams is a director to keep an eye on, and I will be interested to hear his commentary track. Also, a big bravo to JCVD. What a bold characterization he has brought to Hyams' Universal Soldier films. It's a great dramatic performance, and he does most of it with simply his face and physical presence.
Saw it in 2D, so can't make any evaluation on the 3D.
I thought this movie was absolutely amazing. I would never in a million years have seen the series taking the turn it has after the fun but overall repulsive official sequel to the original. Regeneration took it to a while new level, making the series shockingly relevant again, and Reckoning, although vastly different, has taken on an apocalyptic, unsettling tone that works so well. One of my favorite films of 2012 by far. Lynchian, Apocalypse Now, absolutely. And it works. I absolutely can't wait for another entry.
I will not bother with this censored version. I will buy the uncensored version from Germany. Oh well, Sony Pictures doesn't get my money, Studio Canal get's it instead. That's what happens you release it censored. The US version should also have been the uncensored version.
