Versus Cinema - Black Eagle (1988)

Director: Eric Karson

Cast: Sho Kosugi, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Doran Clark, Bruce French, Kane Kosugi

Country: United States

Rating: R

Run Time: 90 min

Versus Cinema is a series dedicated to analyzing films that pit separate actors, icons, and/or franchise properties against one another. Whether they directly sell themselves as versus films within their titles, prominently feature two opposing actors in a versus plot, or are somehow secretively a versus feature, this series will cover them all.

I absolutely love "versus" films. I'm not talking about franchise versus films like Alien vs. Predator or Freddy vs. Jason, although those can be fun every now and than. No, I'm talking about versus films that pit two separate action stars against one another. Examples of this sub-genre include 1992's Universal Soldier, which pit Jean-Claude Van Damme against Dolph Lundgren, 1995's Assassins, which pit Sylvester Stallone against Antonio Banderas, and 2007's War, which pit Jason Statham against Jet Li. These films are typically made in order to capitalize on the success or marquee name of the dual stars within the film. Producers were smart to realize that audiences would shell out more dough if they were guaranteed not only one, but two action stars for the price of one. Stallone eventually took this ideal to the extreme with his Expendables series when he realized that he could capitalize on the names of ten or more action stars, but that's getting off topic.

Anyways, I wanted to highlight a very unique versus film, one that is most likely forgotten amongst the halls of action cinema. Black Eagle, released in 1988, is quite possibly the only accidental versus film in cinematic history, a fascinating anomaly if there ever was one. Produced by Rotecon B.V. and Magnus Productions, the film starred Japanese martial artist Sho Kosugi (Pray for Death, Rage of Honor) and Belgian actor Jean-Claude Van Damme (Hard Target, The Expendables 2). At the time of the film's release, Kosugi had experienced mild success with Cannon's Ninja Trilogy while Van Damme had yet to taste success with the release of Cannon's Bloodsport around the corner. When Black Eagle was produced, there was no way that the producers could have predicted that Van Damme was going to blow up within the next couple of years. By pitting Kosugi, a fairly well established action star at the time, against Van Damme, a no-name actor at the time who eventually went on to A-list success, the film's producers created the world's first accidental versus movie. 

The "Muscles From Brussels" shines in one of his earliest roles.

After a United States (U.S.) airplane is shot down over the Mediterranean Sea by the island of Malta, the CIA and the KGB send their best operatives to the island in order to retrieve the valued cargo upon the plane, a laser guidance system. The CIA calls in Ken Tani (Sho Kosugi), also known as the titular Black Eagle, their greatest operative who had originally planned to go on a two week vacation with his kids. Therefore, the CIA goads him into going on the mission by sending his kids to Malta as well. As Tani makes his best effort to retrieve the downed laser guidance system for the U.S. government, he repeatedly clashes with the CIA's greatest agent, Andrei (Jean-Claude Van Damme), an equally skilled martial artist who makes things personal when he kidnaps Tani's kids. It's the "Muscles from Brussels" against the "Black Eagle" in an all out brawl for dominance in one of the best low budget action films not produced by Roger Corman.

Black Eagle is ostensibly a spy thriller, as well as a wannabe James Bond film, as are many of Kosugi's other films. If the film's plot sounds somewhat familiar, that is because it is a blatant rip-off of the plot for the 1965 Bond film, Thunderball. The film even operates like a Bond picture in that the characters on both sides of the film play mind games with one another even though each knows what the other wants. Take the scene at a poker table for instance. The scene, which looks directly lifted from a Bond picture, features Kosugi and the CIA on one side of the table and Van Damme and the KGB on the other, both playing poker against one another, thereby symbolizing their political indifference and struggle with each other. Also, both Kosugi and Van Damme wear tuxedos in this scene. Bond much? There's no denying that Black Eagle is a Bond rip-off, but at least the film features enough distinct elements to make it more than simply a Bond rip-off.

While viewers expecting an action fest will find Black Eagle dull and slow, those with mild expectations may find it to be surprisingly engaging and fun to watch, especially for action fans with an appreciation for Kosugi and Van Damme. Even though the film lifts its plot from a superior spy thriller, Black Eagle shakes the formula up with its unique family dynamic and martial arts centric action. Although Tani must go on a dangerous mission, he is forced to bring his children along as well, thereby placing them into harm's way. The addition of Kosugi's family, who are played by his real life children Shane and Kane, is a distinct theme of Kosugi's filmography. Tani, as well as Kosugi himself, is a proud family man who will do anything for his children, as seen through his actions in the film and Kosugi's repeated usage of his sons in his films. The film's stakes are especially raised when Tani's children are taken from him, thereby shaking up the predictable spy plot a tad bit. Throw in the fact that the entire picture is also designed around pitting two separate martial arts stars against one another, and you have a film that is more than just a shameless Bond rip-off.

The name's, Kosugi, Sho Kosugi.

Produced on a mere $3 million, Black Eagle is far from lavish or action packed. One could easily compare the film to the types of low budget productions that famed producer Roger Corman is so well known for, as it features many of the staples of Corman's cinema: low budget, lots of dialog, minimal action, and heavy usage of the same locations. Shot on the island of Malta, Black Eagle is at least bright and aquatic, although visually dull at the same time. As with most low budget productions, several scenes or instances within the film are either heard or not seen.

For example, the inciting incident of a downed U.S. plane is heard over a radio. If Black Eagle were a big budget production, especially one made today, the entire incident would probably be depicted with computer generated graphics and kick off the film. Another example of the low budget can be seen within the film's action, especially during scenes of violence. Although some characters are shot or stabbed, there is nary a squib or blood pack in sight. All things bloody occur slightly off screen, or at least tamed down to a manageable point for a $3 million budget. There is also barely any gunfire in the entire film, despite the heavy presence of guns and rifles. Therefore, set your action sights low before going into Black Eagle. 

However, I would argue that Black Eagle uses its low budget to its advantage, or at least the proper way that a low budget action film should. The film takes its time to establish both of its lead characters on both sides. Tani is shown to be a family man while Van Damme is even given a love interest, which thereby humanizes both of them. After all, that is more than you can say about some characters in low budget action cinema, so give Black Eagle credit where credit is due. The film also shows a surprising level of maturity concerning Cold War ethics, especially in a scene where Tani's son asks him, "Are they bad guys?" to which Tani replies, "They probably think that we are bad guys too." This dialog exchange implies the honest truth about war and that neither side is villainous, and only acting in the best interests of their own country. Maybe I'm giving Black Eagle more credit than it deserves, as it more or less craps on this statement by ultimately demonizing the Russians at the end in a finale where, you guessed it, the U.S. wins. Either way, Black Eagle shows a notable attention to character and the plight at hand for a low budget action film that easily could have been all plot from beginning to end with no character to boot (i.e. Steven Seagal's entire DTV library).

The fight of the century! Kosugi vs Van Damme!

The true meat and potatoes of Black Eagle is its accidental versus pairing of Kosugi and Van Damme. Although most DVD's (such as the one I have) for the film advertise Van Damme as the lead, Kosugi is the true protagonist, with Van Damme playing the supporting villain of the picture. Let's be honest, Kosugi is not particularly charismatic or an ideal lead for a spy film of any kind. He's never been a great actor, and you can definitely tell this whenever he attempts to be witty a-la James Bond's witticisms. Still, Kosugi's cheese factor and occasional intensity is what makes him so entertaining and watchable, sort of like similar C-grade martial arts performers Gary Daniels (Riot) and Michael Dudikoff (American Ninja). 

Van Damme on the other hand is extremely charismatic, bad ass, and handsome. He completely steals the show here, and rightfully so. Although it is a shame that he disappears for long stretches of the film, and has minimal dialog, he still poses a formidable threat to Kosugi's protagonist. It's worth mentioning that my DVD of the film from EVE Digital Entertainment not only advertises Van Damme as the lead, but uses a picture of him from Lionheart for the cover and photoshops a literal black eagle tattoo onto his chest! Kosugi is the titular Black Eagle, not Van Damme! 

As I stated before, the aspect of the film that takes the biggest hit due to the low budget is unfortunately the action. Thankfully, you don't need a sizable budget to perform martial arts, just great martial arts performers, and Black Eagle has two of the best. For an accidental versus film, Black Eagle features not one, not two, but three fights between its action stars! Talk about accidental bang for your buck. Any of Black Eagle's flaws are more than made up for by the fact that it features a whopping three fights between Kosugi and Van Damme. 

Their first fight is fairly underwhelming, as it comes out nowhere in the middle of a chase scene. Their second fight on the other hand is fantastic and well built up too. The two's day time struggle atop a fort on the island of Malta is the stuff of accidental legend. Both Van Damme and Kosugi show incredible skill here and equally match one another in a very well choreographed and photographed fight. Their third fight, while decent, is ruined by a lousy ending in which the loser, who shall remain nameless, is killed off in an unfair manner unrelated to the fight itself. Regardless, Black Eagle delivers the versus goods, and in the perfect kind of plot designed around pitting two separate characters against one another for said reasons.

Round Three: Van Damme's jazz hands against Kosugi's black tarred body.

While a majority of action fans will probably decry Black Eagle as a dull spy thriller, I personally believe that it is an undiscovered and underrated gem in which two action stars were paired up against one another. The plot is fairly slow, and the locations redundant, but the accidental versus casting more than makes up for any of the film's low budget flaws. In all honesty, I prefer Black Eagle to a few of Kosugi's films, and, get ready for this, almost every single one of Van Damme's mainstream blockbusters, including Nowhere to Run, Timecop, and Sudden Death. I'm most likely an audience of one on this picture, but I enjoy it greatly and recommend the film to all action fans with an appreciation for its stars and a patience for low budget action cinema. If you have worked your way through most of Van Damme's films and Kosugi's very few ninja features, give it a watch. You may find yourself surprised at how well it holds up, at least in retrospect and when stacked up against other purposeful versus features.

Rating: 6.5/10 - Black Eagle may be a cheap Bond rip-off, but it is also a fascinating accidental versus movie with some solid fights, a fairly engaging plot, and a show stealing performance by a young Jean-Claude Van Damme. 

The Top Five Best (And Worst) Action Films of 2015

2015, much like 2014, was a fairly disappointing year for action in terms of quantity. However, about two or three action films were near bonafide action masterpieces, with one immediately cementing itself as one of the greatest action films ever made. Therefore, this year was more about quality than it was quantity. 

I also missed out on several action films this year, so I may have simply been watching the wrong films altogether. I wanted to see Skin Trade, Ant-Man, The Man From UNCLE, Hitman: Agent 47, SPL II, Wild City, Wolf Warrior, and The Gunman, but simply never got around too them. And while I will get to those films eventually and probably review them sometime within 2016, I now present my five favorite and least favorite action films of 2015.

The Five Worst

5) Blackhat (Michael Mann, 2015) - Michael Mann used to be one of the premiere directors of dramatic crime cinema with such masterpieces as Heat and Collateral. However, the mighty have most certainly fallen, with Mann's previous three films being complete bores. His latest, Blackhat, is arguably his most boring film to date. Every character is written especially flat and performed so robotic, which is a surprise given the pedigree of A-list actors Chris Hemsworth and Viola Davis. Much like Mann's previous failures, Miami Vice and Public Enemies, Blackhat features some particularly astounding action sequences that unfortunately don't have a great film to go with. This is yet another example of a boring film with forgetful characters that slightly redeems itself due to some great action. However, that simply isn't enough, and Mann needs to learn better in order to deliver a greater product next time.

4) Taken 3 (Olivier Megaton, 2015) - Neeson's action dominance seems to have been on a steady decline as of recently. Ever since Neeson broke out onto the action scene with Taken, few of his action films have been particularly great. Taken 2 is a mediocre sequel, Non-Stop is an entertaining yet lukewarm action thriller, and A Walk Among the Tombstones is an immensely boring noir. Which brings us to Taken 3, easily the worst action film of Neeson's career and proof that the actor should stick to dramas. Megaton's latest entry in the series is an utter joke of a studio actioner, featuring nausea inducing editing and horrendous photography. While the poster clearly states that this is the end, I hope so for our and Neeson's sakes. Check out my review here. 

3) Pound of Flesh (Ernie Barbarash, 2015) - I am embarrassed to admit this, but I was extremely excited for Jean Claude Van Damme's latest direct to video actioner, Pound of Flesh, at the beginning of 2015. Imagine if Liam Neeson's kidney was taken from him instead of his daughter, and you have Pound of Flesh, more or less Van Damme's attempt at a Taken-esque thriller. Unfortunately, the film is exactly everything that is terrible about direct to video cinema. Not only does the film feature some hilariously bad editing, but it also utilizes some horrendous green screen in scenes that clearly weren't finished. One especially bad scene involves Van Damme fighting in front of a computer generated background that reduced me to tears of laughter. I admire Van Damme's attempt at an old fashioned actioner reliant upon fists and gun fights, but Pound of Flesh is a complete joke of an action film. It's worth checking out for a good laugh, but also for an honest watch as to see one of Darren Shahlavi's last performances, may he rest in peace.

2) Zero Tolerance (Wych Kaosayananda, 2015) - Zero Tolerance was a career first for me because it was the first advanced screener that I ever got to watch and review for cityonfire.com. And while I will always remember it as a career first, I will most likely never watch this atrocious film again as long as I live. Poor Kaosayananda was forced to reshoot and re-edit his dramatic film, Angels, into more of a streamlined actioner in order to market it better, especially with the inclusion of Scott Adkins. However, all that did was further confound an already immensely confounding action drama that sucked in the first place. Not only is the plot overly complicated, but all of the characters are practically emotionless. The few action scenes there are, while mildly entertaining and particularly brutal, are edited quite bizarrely too. The film is utterly fascinating to watch though for those who want to try and figure out which scenes were reshoots and which weren't. Far from being "so bad it's good," but worth recommending for those who are willing to do some research in order to fully understand the mess that is Zero Tolerance. Check out my review here.

1) Terminator: Genisys (Alan Taylor, 2015) - To be honest, Zero Tolerance and Pound of Flesh are honestly worse films. However, no other film that came out this year was as insulting as Terminator: Genisys, and for that, it takes the number one spot. This terrible reboot-quel is everything that is wrong with contemporary blockbuster cinema. It doesn't know whether or not it wants to be a reboot or a sequel, contains laughably bad computer graphics, features an overly complicated plot, and rips all of the tension out its video game-esque action sequences. Talk about how to waste a great cast and a once great franchise. This film is proof that studios and Arnold Schwarzenegger don't know good content from bad, and will simply participate in anything as long as it has the Terminator franchise name on it. Congratulations Alan Taylor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Paramount, you made the worst action film of 2015! There's a special realm in Hell for where you guys will be residing. Check out my review here.

The Five Best

5) Close Range (Isaac Florentine, 2015) - This was another career first for me, as I not only got to review an advance screener of the film but also star Scott Adkins himself. It was an awesome opportunity and the only way that I was able to check out the film far before its VOD release. While plagued with more DTV trappings than I'd like to admit, Close Range features some hard hitting action courtesy of Florentine's graceful eye for action. Both he and performer Adkins give their A-game in one of the better direct to video films in recent years. While far from a great action film, Close Range gives you exactly what you want, brutal and memorable showdowns coupled with shootouts to boot. Check out my review here.

4) No Tears for the Dead (Lee Jeong-beom, 2015) - Lee Jeong-beom came onto my radar when I discovered his 2010 masterpiece, The Man From Nowhere. It's easily one of the best action films in recent years thanks to both its tragic story and immensely bloody action. Therefore, I had to check out his latest, No Tears for the Dead, with the hope that the man would bring the goods once again. While far away from being nearly as masterful his previous effort, No Tears for the Dead continues Lee Jeong-beom's streak of exploring morally ambiguous assassins. The film is extremely reminiscent of other South Korean actioners such as A Company Man and, in my opinion, the all time greatest South Korean actioner, A Bittersweet Life, for its exploration of the assassin mindset and his diversion from his bosses and previously ingrained morals. Unlike The Man From Nowhere, No Tears for the Dead's resolution is more about emotion and theme than it is entertainment or audience satisfaction. Thankfully, Jeong delivers the action goods once again, with an unforgettable 10 minute long melee fight/shootout in an apartment complex that makes for one hell of a set piece.

3) Kingsman: The Secret Service (Matthew Vaughn, 2015) - Vaughn's hard R pastique of the spy genre was one of the year's best films purely for its high octane energy and mean spirited violence. Previous Vaughn joins like Kick-Ass left a sour taste in my mouth because it put a child front and center to the violence. However, Kingsman blends the over the top violence of comic book writer Mark Millar with Vaughn's stylistic tendencies for their best collaboration yet. The film also features an excellent cast, with Colin Firth giving one of the year's most bad ass performances. Newcomer Taron Egerton gives a star making performance as the spy in training, while the rest of the supporting cast does great work as well. It's wild, funny, and excessively violent, but fun from start to finish and one of the year's biggest surprises. Check out my review here.

2) Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (Christopher McQuarrie, 2015) - The latest M:I entry was an absolute blast and one of the best big budget sequels to come along in awhile. Badass auteur Chris McQuarrie knocked it out of the park, delivering a sequel that both fans of the series and newcomers could enjoy alike. With the recent announcement that McQuarrie will be returning for the sixth installment, M:I fans should be happier than ever before, as the franchise seems tailor made for McQuarrie. 

1) Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller) - It's rare that a film comes out and immediately registers on your radar as a bonafide masterpiece. Miller's reboot of his iconic Mad Max series was exactly that, a cinematic masterpiece in every sense of the word. It's a brutal, epic, violent, and extremely emotional film that both thrilled and choked me up during my first viewing. This will be one that action fans find themselves constantly returning to year after year. Regardless of whether a sequel is ever made, Fury Road will always stand as one of the greats. Check out my review here.

Honorable Mentions

And that's that! Here's to 2016, hopefully a much superior year for action!

The Expendables 2 (2012) - Retrospective Review

Director: Simon West

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jean Claude Van Damme, Scott Adkins, Chuck Norris

Country: United States

Rating: R

Run Time: 103 min

The Expendables 2 is a fun but albeit flawed sequel to the equally flawed but noticeably more serious The Expendables. Stripped of the previous film's bleak tone and character driven nature, The Expendables is an all out action and cameo fest with little attention to character or common sense. The sequel does exactly what one expects from a sequel to such a franchise: amp up the stakes, deliver bigger set pieces, and introduce more action icons. However, the film's quality takes a hit due to such things. Even though the film's action scenes and stars are bigger and more plentiful, that doesn't necessarily mean that the sequel is a better film. 

With Stallone no longer at the helm of the director's chair, The Expendables 2 is a noticeably lighter affair that aims purely for action and nothing more. If the first film was made mostly for die hard action fans, than the sequel is made exclusively for action fans, as non-action fans and esteemed critics alike will find nothing to enjoy here. If Stallone, Statham, and Schwarzenegger aren't your buddies, than this is not the film for you. Action fans will be pleased to discover that the sequel features a stronger duo of villains and nearly triple the body count in exactly the same run time. 

The boys are back and ready to kick more ass.

The Expendables 2 opens with an insanely long and ridiculous action scene that trumps the finale of first film within minutes. One can immediately sense the difference between this film and its predecessor as characters crack jokes as they gun down nameless henchmen. After the Expendables survive said mission and head home, Barney is confronted by a very pissed Church (Bruce Willis) who is upset over the events of the first film. Church is frustrated that Barney and friends destroyed half of Vilena in the process of eliminating James Munroe. Therefore, Church tells Barney that he must retrieve a computer device from a downed plane in Albania or else he and the entire team are going to jail. Church also appoints an advisor, Maggie Chan (Yu Nan), to the team. After successfully retrieving the computer device, the mission goes from sour to worse when the mysterious Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme) murders one of the Expendables and steals the device. Barney's simple retrieval mission quickly turns into a full blown quest for revenge as the Expendables team up with several old and new faces to take down Vilain.

The cracks in the Expendables franchise appear within minutes of sequel's start as the jokes and cameos come quicker than ever before. It's clear that with Stallone no longer directing, the Expendables franchise has more or less turned into a pure action fest, plain and simple. The bleak tone and mournful nature of Stallone's somewhat mature original is completely absent in this picture. Viewers are instead treated to a ridiculous amount of self referential comedy and lame humor that will only get a kick out of the dads in the audience. Here are some lines from The Expendables 2 that make me cringe in my seat:

"Fine, but if I don't get this back, your ass is terminated!" - Crews to Schwarzenegger

"Now that's what I call Chinese takeout!" - Statham to Jet Li parachuting out of plane

"I could really go for some Chinese food." - Lundgren to Nan

"After five hours of excruciating pain, the cobra died." - Norris literally making a Chuck Norris joke

"I now pronounce you, man and knife." - Statham as he throws a knife into a guy

"You've been back enough, I'll be back." - Willis to Schwarzenegger

"Yippe Ki-Yay." - Schwarzenegger to Willis

"Who's next, Rambo?" - Schwarzenegger to Norris

These are truly some of the worst lines of dialog that I have ever heard in a feature film. The biggest problem with cracking jokes like these during action sequences is that it deflates all of the tension out of the film's otherwise violent and gory proceedings. In the original Expendables, Stallone and friends only cracked jokes during down time or when they were away from their missions. This made sense, as trained mercenaries are nothing more than human. In the sequel however, no moment or action scene is sacred. A character can crack a joke or laugh about killing someone at a moment's notice and ruin what was otherwise a fun and awesome action scene. It is for reasons like these that The Expendables 2 is a noticeably weaker film than the original.

The action Gods smile upon us by reuniting both Van Damme and Adkins!

However, The Expendables 2 makes up for its flaws in certain areas that ultimately makes the film as watchable as Stallone's original. The sequel introduces a plethora of new characters and action icons that puts the original film's cast completely to shame. However, the screen time for each character seems more unbalanced this time around than ever before. After all, only so much screen time can be given to the same characters from before, along with the new ones, within a 103 minute film.

Sylvester Stallone completely phones in his performance this time around with a lazy and emotionless turn as the once bleak and human Barney Ross. Stallone barely conveys an honest human emotion throughout the film. He seems fit to maintain the same mildly tense attitude throughout the entire film. It's clear that Stallone's heart was not in the sequel as much as it was in the original.

Besides Mickey Rourke, all of the surviving members of the original film return with worse material to work with than before. One odd element of the sequel is that Jet Li is downgraded from being a significant supporting player to that of a mere cameo. It's a damn shame too, as Li is one of the few members of the franchise who can actually carry an action scene on his own. The Expendables 2 also introduces the first female ass kicker of the franchise, played by Yu Nan. Nan is given very little to do throughout the film and barely leaves an impression. Newcomer Liam Hemsworth, formerly Miley Cyrus' fiance, gives a surprisingly great performance as the teams' newest member. It's a shame that his character is killed off so soon, as Billy the Kid showcases more humanity and likability than any other Expendable in the entire sequel. Therefore, the sequel introduces very few new members to the core Expendables team.

"I now pronounce you, man and knife."

However, the sequel does step up both its cameo and villain game even more than the original film. Chuck Norris (Invasion U.S.A.) of all action stars makes a cameo appearance during the middle and end of the film as a lone mercenary who joins in on the action because...why not? His cameo is pretty ridiculous, but at least it gives Norris one last chance to up his total career kill count if anything else. Both Arnold and Bruce get in on the action this time around too. After merely standing still in the original film and cracking awful jokes, the two get to mow down bad guys this time while also cracking awful jokes. Upgraded from merely cameos, the two sort of become honorary members of the Expendables team. I am particularly embarrassed to admit it, but I kind of love the smart car bit where the two cram into a car and drive around shooting bad guys. It's incredibly silly but also bad ass at the same time. I especially love the shots of Arnie and Bruce leaning out of the car to pick up more guns to fire. However, The Expendables 2 drops the mic when it comes to its villain duo played by none other than Jean-Claude Van Damme (Hard Target) and Scott Adkins (Ninja, El Gringo). 

Van Damme and Adkins had already appeared in action films such as The Shepherd: Border Patrol, The Assassination Games, and Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning together. Adkins is more or less the new Jean-Claude Van Damme too. Therefore, their pairing in The Expendables 2 was a stroke of genius. Van Damme plays a villain literally named 'Vilain." You can't get more silly and on the nose than that. Van Damme steals the show and gives one of the best performances of his career as a psychotic and sadistic criminal who takes pleasure in killing people and admires the symbol of the goat. Adkins plays Van Damme's right hand man and makes for a nice foil to Statham's Lee Christmas. The two have an especially intense moment early on in the film where Statham disrepects Adkins, only to be forced to respect him back right afterwords. Van Damme and Adkins, two of my favorite action stars working today, are the main reason that I find myself returning to The Expendables 2 every now and than, not Stallone and Statham. 

And yet, for all of The Expendables 2 silliness, there is still an underlying story about redemption amongst its revenge plot. Barney sees Billy the Kid as himself, only younger and smarter. Billy admits early on in the film that the Expendables life is not for him, and that he is going to leave the team in order to be with his girlfriend. Barney admires this because he wish he had done the same early on in his life instead of wasting the years away killing people. Therefore, when Vilain kills Billy, Barney feels responsible and saddened because Billy had a chance to live a good life. Barney's quest to avenge Billy's death is more than just simple revenge, but a personal journey about redemption for himself and Billy's lost life.

Willis and Arnie get in on the fun.

From an action stand point, The Expendables 2 is pretty solid. The film is jam packed with more action than even the first film. In fact, the final hour of the film is more or less one action scene after another until the credits roll. Unfortunately, the sequel lacks the small scale and personal nature of the first film. The sequel's massive set pieces lack a considerable amount of direction or purpose and tend to come off as montages of violence at points. The final air port battle, while entertaining and jam packed with as much fan service as possible, is honestly a mess of an action scene. Characters simply pop up out of nowhere and gun down nameless henchmen even though they rarely take cover and leave themselves open to gun fire. What kind of trained mercenary would make such an error?

The sequel also opens with an insane action scene where every character must kill 10 to 100 people each. Statham alone kills more people here than most other actors get too in their entire careers. The film's action tends to be at its strongest when the attention is shifted towards a small scaled fight that takes place during a larger battle. For example, Jet Li's fight against a number of guards in a kitchen during the opening mission is infinitely more satisfying and awesome than the entire mission itself. The same can also be said for Statham's fight against the Sangs inside of a church while the rest of the Expendables gun down the various intruders in a village. Small scaled fights like steal the show every time.

One of my problems with the first Expendables is that the film didn't feature any great one on one fights. Nobody wanted to see Dolph go up against Jet Li or Stallone go up against Steve Austin. These fights are fine, but they in no way take advantage of the previous history or skills attached to said fighters. Dolph is too tall to fight a skilled martial artists like Jet Li and Stallone is the last person who should be taking on a professional wrestler. This is why I think that the three way fight between Jet Li, Statham, and Gary Daniels is the best fight in the original film because all three of those actors are middle aged martial arts centric actors who should be fighting one another. Fortunately, The Expendables 2 gets this aspect right and features two awesome fights that pit four separate icons of action against one another.

The first notable fight that takes place during the finale pits Statham against Adkins. Both Statham and Adkins are young action stars who perform martial arts in many of their films. Therefore, it makes sense for the two to duke it out at the end of the sequel. While it is unfortunate that their fight is exceptionally short, I'll take a short fight between the two any day over no fight. The Expendables 2 also pits two of action cinema's greatest titans, Stallone and Van Damme, against one another in the final fight of the film. Both Stallone and Van Damme are particularly elder actors who have been working in the genre for several decades now. Therefore, the two more or less brawl it out with one another and resort to lots of gut punches and takedowns in a fight that benefits from some excellent build up. This is exactly what the first Expendables film was lacking, a significant and long awaited one on one fight between two of action cinema's greatest titans. Fortunately, The Expendables 2 understands this and delivers.

"Do you wanna fight me like a man or like a sheep?"

Simon West's sequel to Stallone's ode to action packs in more action and cameos than previously thought imaginable. The face offs are better, the body count is higher, and the villains are even more memorable. Even Brian Tyler's excellent score from the first film is back too. Unfortunately, the film falls hard in other areas of the picture, thereby making The Expendables 2 a weaker but still satisfying sequel. The horrendous digital effects are back and even worse this time. Computerized helicopters have never looked so terrible. The sequel also features an added helping of comedy, but at the expense of the film's tension. 

The Expendables 2 aims purely for action and comedy, but nothing more than that. If the sequel had kept its focus on the characters and scaled down the action, than its testosterone infused proceedings might have been more enjoyable and gripping. How many times are viewers expected to join these guys on these adventures if no attention is given to the characters and no filmmaker takes the material seriously? Let that be a warning to all future filmmakers of this franchise. Otherwise, The Expendables 2 is a flawed but highly enjoyable sequel that all action fans have probably already seen two or three times already.

Rating: 6/10 - A noticeably weaker albeit more fun and action packed sequel to the most testosterone infused franchise around.

Franchise:

The Expendables (dir. Sylvester Stallone, 2010)

The Expendables 2 (dir. Simon West, 2012)

The Expendables 3 (dir. Patrick Hughes, 2014)

DTV Cinema - Dragon Eyes (2012)

Director: John Hyams

Cast: Cung Le, Jean Claude Van Damme, Peter Weller, Crystal Mantecon

Country: United States

Rating: R

Run Time: 91 minutes

After checking out both of John Hyams' awesome Universal Soldier sequels (Universal Soldier: Regeneration and Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning), I figured that I would check out his only other feature film. The guy only has three films, why not just check them all out?

Unfortunately, Dragon Eyes can't stack up to Hyams' other masterful DTV features. Sure, there is some decent action, Jean Claude Van Damme, Peter Weller, and the typical John Hyams' tracking shot. But that's about it. Everything else present in the feature is either bad, forgetful, or bland. Even Warner Bros., the studio who put out the film on DVD (not even on Blu Ray? geesh), knew the film wasn't that good. They didn't even attempt to put together a comprehensive release of the film. You pop in the DVD, go straight to the menu, and are met with two options: Play or Languages. Not only are there no making of bonus features or trailers, but there isn't even a scene selection option! Talk about lazy.

The drifter arrives in town.

A drifter named Hong (Cung Le) drives into the town of St. Jude, a crime ridden town run by gangs and drugs. A local gang takes a disliking to Hong and immediately picks a fight with him. After Hong dispatches a few members of the gang with ease, he earns the attention of all of the gangsters in town, including head honcho Mister V (Peter Weller). Much like Yojimbo, A Fistful of Dollars, and Last Man Standing, Hong is in town to play both sides of the gang war and the police as well. Much like the secrecy found in Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, Hyams keeps Hong's reasons for being in town a secret until the very end of the film.

The film also has numerous flashbacks of Hong in prison that explains his backstory and how he learned to fight. After getting roughed up in the yard one day, a man named Tiano (Jean Claude Van Damme) comes to Hong's rescue. He teaches Hong how to fight and befriends him during their time in prison. However, Tiano also has his reasons for teaching Hong how to fight and reveals his interest in the young man near the film's end.

Dragon Eyes balances that fine line between straight forward DTV action flick and confusing as hell DTV action flick (much like Day of Reckoning). When you look back on the film after having completed it, there is a very basic and simple plot. However, your first time through the flick can be quite confounding. Hyams reveals characters' true motives and reasons at his own leisure. For example, a flashback early on makes it appear that a woman was shot early on in Hong's life. Hyams wants you to believe that Hong has arrived in St. Jude in order to take revenge on this woman's death. However, Hyams twists this assumption towards the film's end when it is revealed that Hong himself actually shot the woman on accident and that is how he ended up in prison in the first place. In all honest, my favorite scene in the whole film is the scene where Tiano finally reveals his reasons for training Hong for so long. It's a fantastic reveal that helps put a twist to an otherwise formulaic DTV flick.

The dual gangs go to war.

Dragon Eyes is an action film that is surprisingly low on quality action but also low on dialog. The film has a sort of Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai vibe at times with its quiet characters and slow pace. However, I don't think that the film is quiet and artful enough to be effective. Ghost Dog is a fantastic action-esque arthouse film with a unique sense of humor and an incredible sense of pacing. Dragon Eyes on the other hand feels like a mish-mash of filmmaking styles. There's little dialog, quiet characters, obnoxiously long stoner scenes, stylized action, tracking shots, lots of training scenes, and Peter Weller hamming it up beyond belief. It's all an interesting blend but it never amounts to something special like Hyams' other two films. Dragon Eyes lands somewhere in between all of the excellent DTV masterpieces and all of the dreadful pieces of DTV garbage.

The action on display is fairly decent. My largest gripe with the film is how stylized the action can be at some points. Hyams' Universal Soldier films had a good grip on when to flaunt its fancy slow motion editing and when to let an action scene play out in real time. Unfortunately, every single one of Dragon Eye's fight sequences (minus Van Damme's sole fight), are either slowed down or sped up. I found most of the highly stylized editing to be monotonous and exhausting. The problem is that most of the fights aren't visually interesting. When the action slows down or speeds up, the painfully simplistic fight choreography is revealed. Slowing down or speeding up the fight sequences 300-style causes them to lose all of their momentum.

There are some pretty awesome action beats though. I'd be a liar if I told you that the film failed to get an, "Ohhh!" reaction out of me. During the opening fight, Hong picks up a gangster and shoves him into two of his friends. The gangster at the back of the bunch falls backwards and shatters the car window behind him. Hong than round house kicks the remaining gangster through a bus stop. I also loved the action scene where Hong and a local girl named Rosanna talk in Hong's kitchen. Hong's front door blasts open and a gangster rushes in guns blazing. Hong grabs a pot and chucks it at the gangster, knocking his silenced Desert Eagle out of his hand. Hong than tackles the guy right into the wall and breaks through it. These action highlights prove that Hyams' eye for action is never completely dormant, although Dragon Eyes is his weakest action picture to date.

Jean Claude deals some Van Dammage on Cung Le.

Surprisingly, I thought that the best action scene in the whole movie was the flashback that reveals how Van Damme ends up in prison. The scene is captured with grace thanks to Hyams' dedication and adoration to showcase first class tracking shots. It's also a cool scene because it's the only scene in the movie that shows Van Damme in an action scene outside of prison.

Cung Le is a decent action lead. He has a pretty good action resume having appeared in such martial arts films as Bodyguards and Assassins, Tekken, The Grandmaster, True Legend, and The Man With the Iron Fists. Having not seen any of these films or his other performances, I only have this one to go off of. I think that Le's action prowress and abilities are definitely there. He just needs better fight scenes and possibly more dialog to show off his charisma and star power. I won't judge the guy until I see him in something else though.

Hyams regular Van Damme is also pretty good. Much like his role in Day of Reckoning, Van Damme is reduced to a very small supporting role that probably took two days to shoot (one for his prison training scenes and one for his flashback action scene). Van Damme has a lot of great words of wisdom like, "Don't think about the gun, think about the man," and "Fall like a boy, get hit like a boy. Fight like a man, get hit like a man."

Gangsta style firing almost guarantees you'll miss you shot.

However, the absolute best actor in the whole film is Peter Weller (Robocop, Leviathan) as the main villain Mister V. Weller chews up the scenery like a piece of beef jerky as he hams it up beyond belief. He turns dreadful dialog and a lousy character into something fun, silly, and entertaining to watch. I'm sure Weller knows the material isn't all that great. So he probably decided to have fun with it. You can say what you want about Weller's current career choices but at least he isn't phoning it in like so many other actors out there.

Unfortunately, every other actor in Dragon Eyes is pure garbage. I especially hated the two cops that worked for Peter Weller and the two stoners that Hong attacks. These annoying characters are given far too much screen time and have scenes that run for far too long. The scene where the two stoners yell at one another must go on for nearly a minute and a half before Hong shows up to beat their asses into the ground. Why was I forced to go through a minute and a half of two stoners yelling, "I'm high bro!" and "I've got the gun, I back you up nigga!" before the scene got to its point? Oh well. There is also a really bizarre scene where one of the cops has sex with a naked prostitute. Peter Weller walks in and interrogates the man by beating him in the face and playing Russian Roulette with a revolver aimed at his crotch. When Weller leaves, the woman gets back on top of the cop and punches him in the face for no reason with a smile on her face. Why?

But the worst offense in the entire film are the awful freeze frames that reveal characters' names on them. Whenever a significant character is introduced for the first time, the screen freezes and says the character's name and gang affiliation. But it isn't just a simple freeze frame. The image has a fuzzy filter over it, the character's head is tilted diagonally, and the name is written in the ugliest font I have ever seen. This freeze frame technique is lazy because the film doesn't even try to introduce the characters' names in a natural way. It looks amateurish and feels like something out of a student film.

Cung Le goes toe to toe with the film's final baddie.

Dragon Eyes is mostly forgetful material. I normally avoid most DTV material because a lot of it is just trash. I usually read up on what are the good ones and check those outs (Universal Soldier: Regeneration, Ninja II: Shadow of a Tear, The Keeper, Undisputed III, Dead in Tombstone, Command Performance, etc) and sometimes give a random one a whirl simply because of who is starring in it (Jean Claude Van Damme, Scott Adkins, Danny Trejo, maybe Steven Seagal, etc). However, I don't regret watching this film. There's some decent martial arts, a very charismatic performance by Peter Weller, and a very solid John Hyams tracking shot. However, everything else is white noise in comparison to the rest of the genre. I also give the film props for taking elements from action classics like Yojimbo and Ghost Dog. Plus, I can now say that I have seen all of John Hyams' films and look forward to whatever he makes next.

Rating: 5/10 - A forgetful DTV entry in an otherwise crowded action genre. It's not bad, just forgetful. Recommended only for fans of martial arts, DTV, and John Hyams. Van Damme and Peter Weller completists will also find something to love as well.

Universal Soldier Triple Feature - Universal Soldier (1992), Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009), Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012)

The faces of the franchise.

The Universal Soldier series is a surprisingly large franchise. It heavily resembles the Highlander series in that it contains numerous films that change up the continuity and canon of the series with each release. Franchises like this are extremely frustrating to watch and can make one wonder why the filmmakers couldn't just stick to one timeline in the first place.

Anyways, the Universal Soldier series is comprised of six films...

Universal Soldier (1992) - Theatrical
Universal Soldier II: Brothers In Arms (1998) - DTV
Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business (1998) - DTV
Universal Soldier: The Return (1999) - Theatrical
Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009) - DTV
Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012) - Limited Theatrical + DTV

Of these six films, the first film and the two newest DTV releases are considered official canon. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th films don't count at all (even though The Return stars Van Damme). The 1st, 5th, and 6th films form a trilogy of their own. They are also the only three films in the series to include both Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren.

As a die hard action fan, I always believe in watching every single installment in an action franchise. However, I don't have that much of an interest in diving into every single Universal Soldier film when I know that three of them don't even count and aren't considered great films either. Therefore, I have noted that fans online and the filmmakers themselves note that the only ones really worth watching are the three official canon releases. I may review the other films another day but don't have that much of a pressing interest in them at all. Therefore, let's get to it.

Director: Roland Emmerich

Cast: Jean Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Norris, Leon Rippy, Ally Walker

Country: United States

Rating: R

Run Time: 103 minutes

Universal Soldier starts off with an excellent prolouge that sets the stage for the rest of the film and the series in general. The year is 1969 and the Vietnam War is in full bloom. Private Luc Deveraux (Van Damme) has been ordered to protect a small village. Unfortunately, Luc's superior Sergeant Andrew Scott (Lundgren) has snapped and gone on a killing spree. He's slaughtered everyone in the village and severed their ears to create a makeshift ear necklace. When Luc finds Andrew about to kill two villagers, he attacks Andrew and tells the villagers to run. The villagers aren't fast enough though and Andrew shoots them down. Distraught, Luc stabs Andrew with the bayonet attached to his rifle. In his dying moments, Andrew pulls out his hand gun and shoots Luc to death as well. The two plummet backwards and splash dead into the wet ground. 

When American soldiers arrive upon the scene, they bag up the two deceased soldiers and sign them up for the Universal Soldier program. The program takes once deceased men and turns them into UniSols, invincible cyborgs that serve the government however they please. They can't think or speak for themselves. They simply take orders and go on dangerous missions taking out terrorists whenever they are needed. When a reporter named Veronica (Ally Walker) sneaks onto the UniSol training ground, she accidentally triggers old memories in both Luc and Andrew. Andrew immediately resorts back to being an unstoppable killing machine while Luc resorts back to being a good natured and protective soldier. It's essentially one big chase across the country as Andrew wants his revenge against Luc for killing him so many years ago.

Universal Soldier is an action film with a great set up that sounds like a sure fire hit. However, I found myself to be quite disappointed with this film the same way that I found myself disappointed with the original Highlander film. There is great potential here but it is all completely wasted. For starters, nothing in the film really engaged me. I was never once sucked into the exciting chase concept of the film. Second, the female lead is extremely annoying. She spends the entire movie with her jaw open whenever Van Damme does something silly like walk around naked to cool off or throw people out of a window.  And third, why is there so much unnecessary humor and silly antics in this film? It kept reminding me of the issues with Die Hard 2.

Writer/director team Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin seem to have a habit of taking science fiction/action films and injecting them with lots of unnecessary humor and annoying characters. Their habit to ruin great stories with dumb logic and annoying humor continued into blockbuster hits like Independence Day (1996) and Godzilla (1998). I think the two created a great mythology and set up for an action movie with Universal Soldier, I really do. However, the two didn't even attempt to explore interesting themes with their film and ended up wasting two great action icons in the process.

Universal Soldier isn't all bad though. You could say that the film is also what Devlin/Emmerich do well: dumb action packed fun. Like I said before, the opening prolouge and the first 20 minutes are extremely entertaining. I love that the UniSols get sent on a mission to take down some terrorists at what looked like Hoover Dam. What terrorists would have the balls to take over Hoover Dam?

Lundgren and Van Damme also get to show off their action prowress with numerous car chases, fist fights, and shootouts. Even though I didn't find any of the action scenes in this film to be especially impressive, I did appreciate the variety of action on display. The film almost plays out as a versus film between Van Damme and Lundgren. They continue to chase one another across the country and duke it out numerous times. Their final fight is pretty solid too.

I don't have much to say about this film because not a whole lot happens in it. I think there was great potential to explore something interesting with in this kind of film. Maybe an exploration of the loss of humanity that the UniSols suffer from? Instead, Devlin and Emmerich just wanted to make a dumb action film and that is exactly what they made. I recommend this film only to Van Damme and Lundgren fans because there isn't much else here besides the two of them duking it out. It's also worth checking out if you want to see what a low budget Emmerich film looks like.

Rating: 5/10 - A flawed but dumb and decent sci-fi actioner featuring two of action cinema's greatest stars.

Director: John Hyams

Cast: Andrei Arlovski, Dolph Lundgren, Jean Claude Van Damme, Mike Pyle

Country: United States

Rating: R

Run Time: 97 minutes

After two DTV (direct to video) sequels and a failed theatrical sequel, the reception and continuity of the Universal Soldier series was all over the place. If a theatrical sequel couldn't save it than nothing could. Therefore, the series remained dormant for 10 years. In 2009, John Hyams revived the franchise and miraculously brought Universal Soldier back to life. The film erased the continuity of the previous films and acted as a sequel to the original Roland Emmerich film.

Universal Soldier: Regeneration is a breath of fresh air in the direct to video landscape. It avoids all of the pitfalls of so many other DTV action flicks by doing almost everything right. The film's plot is extremely simple to follow, the action scenes are incredibly well shot and choreographed, and the acting is pretty solid too. Nothing looks cheap and nothing screams "direct to video budget." The film also ditches the humor of the previous installments and plays things deadly seriously. Universal Soldier: Regeneration is a gritty, violent, and realistic sci-fi actioner that all action fans must check out.

The film starts with a literal bang as terrorists kidnap the Ukrainian prime minister's children in broad day light. Theses terrorists will only let the children go if hundreds of political prisoners are let go from prison. In addition, the terrorists take over the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and threaten to detonate the entire site if their demands are not met in 72 hours. These terrorists have a key element to their plan. They own an NGU, a Next Generation UniSol). NGU's are stronger and more powerful Universal Soldiers that were decommissioned long ago. However, one of the scientists who worked on the original NGU's long ago has joined forces with the terrorists. He and his remaining NGU (Andrei Arlovski) work for the terrorists in exchange for money.

The military sends in human soldiers and even four old UniSols to rescue the children in the power plant. Unfortunately for them, the NGU is extremely powerful and quickly destroys all UniSols and human soldiers with ease. When all seems lost, the military try to use the last remaining UniSol they know of, Luc Deveraux (Van Damme). Deveraux is being conditioned back into society with the help of a female doctor. However, the military want Deveraux to give up all of his human conditioning and turn him into a killing machine once again. If they can't get Deveraux to turn into a mindless UniSol again, than no one can stop the terrorists and their NGU.

What's interesting about Universal Soldier: Regeneration is that Luc Deveraux doesn't even get in on any action until the last 30 minutes of the film. The entire first hour of the film consists of the military trying to get into the plant and failing numerous times. The film jumps back and forth between the military's efforts, the villain's plot, and Deveraux's therapy sessions. If any one character has the most screen time, it might be the NGU played by former UFC fighter Andrei Arlovski. I was surprised that the filmmakers went this route because Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren don't get in on any of the action until the big finale. Even though everyone gets a chance to shine, Arlovski really steals the show in this.

The action in this film is far better than the action found in the original film. It's brutal, bloody, and well shot too. All of the blood and gun effects are physical as well. This means the filmmakers really put their time and effort into creating a realistic action film and didn't opt out to be lazy with digital flare shots or digital blood. Director Peter Hyams (Outland, Timecop, Sudden Death, End of Days) acts as the director of photography and brings an excellent sense of camera work to the film. Having an experienced filmmaker like Peter act as the D.P. to his own son's film turns this DTV material into quality theatrical material. This impressive camera work really shows during an excellent tracking shot when Van Damme mows down numerous terrorists.

Dolph Lundgren is the second billed name on this film. But in all honesty, his screen time must come out to at least 7 minutes. He's essentially a cameo and a great one too. Dolph and Van Damme have a rematch at the end of this film that is much better than the final fight that the two shared in Universal Soldier. The choreography is better, the fight lasts longer, and it ends with one of the best kill shots I have ever seen. There is also a throwback to the opening scene of Universal Soldier right before Dolph and Van Damme duke it out. It was both excellent fan service and my favorite scene in the whole film.

Regeneration is a basic and hard as nails action film that proves that overly complicated plots and poor editing aren't present in every DTV film. The action in this film is far better than many of the fight scenes and shootouts one will find in theatrically produced material. I recommend reading up on what occurs in the original Universal Soldier film and skipping right ahead to this one.

Rating: 7/10 - If well produced action is your thing, than Regeneration is the action movie for you. It revives a dead franchise and proves that DTV material is not to be scoffed at.

Director: John Hyams
Cast: Scott Adkins, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Andrei Arlovski
Country: United States
Rating: R
Run Time: 114 minutes

Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning is nothing like I expected it to be. It is completely different in almost every way from the previous film. There is now a central protagonist to relate to, the violence and nudity is far more graphic, the plot is very complicated and unpredictable, and Luc Deveraux is now a psychotic villain controlling an army of UniSols. While Regeneration was a safe DTV sequel, Day of Reckoning is a daring and challenging arthouse sequel that transcends both its formulaic genre and DTV trappings.

Day of Reckoning follows one central protagonist, a man named John (Scott Adkins). John wakes up one night and finds masked men in his kitchen. They beat him up and murder his wife and child in front of his eyes. One of the masked men takes off his mask and reveals himself to be a bald Luc Deveraux (Van Damme). John wakes up out of a coma months later and begins to investigate into what happened to him. He quickly discovers that he may not be who he thinks he is and that everything he knows may just be programmed memories.

Luc Deveraux has apparently snapped and cloned an entire army of UniSols to attack the government who created him in the first place. He's even brought back his old pal Andrew (Dolph Lundgren) and found a way to control all UniSols with a simple injection. Deveraux even gets ahold of the clone of the NGU (Andrei Arlovski) from Regeneration and sends it after John to stop him from investigating further. It's a race against the F.B.I., the NGU, and his own sanity as John has to quickly discover what is the truth and stop the UniSol army.

Day of Reckoning feels like an action film directed by foreign filmmakers like Gaspar Noe (Irreversible, Enter the Void) or Nicholas Winding Refn (Valhalla Rising, Drive). Unlike Regeneration, the film has an extreme visual style the consists of near headache inducing blinking lights, sound drop outs, numerous tracking shots, slowed down and sped up footage, hazy lighting, POV camera shots with blinking eye effects, and insanely gory violence. This is not your grandpa's DTV sequel. This is a crazy and unique arthouse-esque film that draws from the influences of many other filmmakers and applies that to the action genre.

The plot of the film is quite confusing. I may need to watch this film a second time because I still don't quite understand everything. Unlike so many other films, Day of Reckoning hardly explains much of the film's proceedings. Many things are left unsaid or unexplained and left to the viewer to understand or decipher. The film never treats the audience like a child and expects us all to be actively viewing the film instead of just passively viewing mindless action. Day of Reckoning also reminded me a lot of Paul Veerhoven's masterpiece Total Recall because it dealt with the themes of questioning one's identity and reality.

Day of Reckoning really pulled a switcheroo on me. I never thought that the hero of the previous film would become the villain of this film. The film even introduces a completely new character as the central protagonist. I have always loved Scott Adkins (The Assassination Games, Ninja) and think this is his best work to date. He finally gets an opportunity to really act in this film and not just shoot people's heads off. Adkins is like a DTV Jason Statham but far more athletic and violent in his action scenes. If you ask me, I think that Adkins is the hardest working and most impressive action star currently working in the United States besides Liam Neeson, Jason Statham, Jean Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, and Daniel Craig.

Dolph Lundgren and Van Damme are reduced to surprisingly very small supporting performances. They only get a few scenes each and earn most of their screen time during the film's final action scene. Van Damme actually out-crazies Lundgren (a real surprise considering Dolph's insane antics over the last few films) by the end of this film when he paints the top half of his head white and the bottom half black. I enjoyed their small roles simply as cameos. Adkins is the true star of this picture and his head deserves to be bigger than theirs on the poster.

Unlike the previous two installments, I am discovering that I could write a whole helluva lot about this film. The action scenes in this film are so brutal and violent that they rival the on screen gore found in Rambo, Punisher: War Zone, and both of Gareth Evans' Raid films. Characters' fingers are literally chopped off of their hands, heads are blown in half from shotguns, and faces are stabbed with machetes. Adkins also has three extremely impressive fight scenes in the film that show off the film's high octane choreography. He has an incredible one on one fight with Arlovski in a sporting goods store that makes great use of baseball bats, medicine balls, coolers, and even clothes racks. Adkins even has a one on one fight with Lundgren and Van Damme in the film's finale. I preferred the Lundgren fight because it incorporated close quarter gun fighting instead of just fists and melee weapons.

John Hyams continues to show his admiration for tracking shots with the film's epic run and gun finale. Adkins runs around an underground cave and continually takes out UniSol after UniSol. The scene is shot entirely with a steadicam and fades to black each time Adkins enters a new room. The filmmakers were clearly cutting in between each room but the fights inside of each new room are completely single takes. If you are a fan of action scenes where characters run around and rack up a body count, than this is one of the best action scenes I have seen in recent memory.

Universal Soldier: Regeneration is what you expect from a Universal Soldier sequel. However, this film is completely different from what anyone could have seen coming. It's so unique, stylistic, and different from the previous film that I could definitely see some people hating it. I am not sure whether I prefer this film or Regeneration but it is a really tough call. I might lean towards this because the action scenes are far more brutal and the film begs repeat viewings. Day or Reckoning is a rare DTV film that really feels like a theatrically produced arthouse film. Even though the film was released on VOD and in very few limited theaters in 3D, I still consider it to be DTV material.

Rating: 8/10 - One of the most unique and far out action sequels I have ever seen. Day of Reckoning sets the bar for how to do a sequel to a once deceased franchise. I highly anticipate the next entry and pray that both Adkins and Hyams return.