| Universal Soldier II:Brothers In Arms (1998) Cast:Gary Busey, Jeff Wincott, Matt Battaglia, Chandra West,Burt Reynolds Luc Deveraux (Battaglia) has just defeated GR13 and seemingly can get back to life, unfortunately the government has hired Gary Busey to take Deveraux out and the only one who can protect him is Deveraux's older brother Jeff Wincott in this painful sequel which wastes the talents of Busey, Reynolds and Wincott. You know they might've had something here, if they would've just upped the villain role of Busey and made Wincott the hero, oh and had they dropped the original plot (Which was the problem of the far superior Universal Soldier 1) and made it into a new movie about a different universal soldier this could've been fun, unfortunately it's basicly about a chase-movie involving the government and Matt Battaglia, unfortunately where the original was made with real craftsmanship this one just seems ultimately like the poor man's version of Universal Soldier. Also with the cast they could've had even a decent star pairing, Jeff Wincott may not be the world's greatest actionstar but he does have great martial artistry and had they matched him against Busey this one could've had almost the same star pairing appeal of the original. As Van Damme's replacement Battaglia is woeful to say the least, he's not even qualified to replace Daniel Bernhardt. All in all though Universal Soldier II can be seen as nothing but a cheap carbon copy without the excitement. Some people say that it's still better than the sequel with Van Damme, I say they both stink. D.Jeff Woolnough* |