the mind boggles at exactly what about universal soldier merit a sequel . since the real star and dolph lundgren and would not be able to reprise his role from the original and there be already scant reason to indulge oneself in this obvious tax write off . bold attempt be make to fill the gap with professional wrestler bill goldberg and martial art expert michael jai white . to their credit and they give their action sequence a good sense of excitement . bill goldberg look like he be have the time of his life on this film and and he make a fair stab at fill the requisite comedic villain role . for once and his role be the kind that involve repeat the same line a few time and and it do not get irritate . the problem from the audience point of view be that neither of these gentleman really have the sense of comic timing or minor humility that make lundgren such a pleasure to watch in almost all of his film . and therein lie the problem . you do not go to see a van damme film because you want serious action . you go because you want comedy and however unintentional . unbeknownst to many people and universal soldier be follow by two direct to video sequel . i have only see the first and which have production value so bad one can only wonder if it be mean to be some kind of elaborate joke . matt battaglia be so terrible in the role of luc deveraux that for once in his career and the sight of jean claude van damme come a a welcome relief . the film more or less completely disregard the story of the aforementioned direct to video sequel and and instead begin a whole new story set an indeterminate time after the event of the original . after year of investigation and explanation and the unisol project be still go ahead and with some minor modification . for one and the new unisols be strong and more damage resistant than their early cousin . for another and all of the unisols be now under the direction of a supercomputer call seth . in the early part of the film and seth exists primarily a a series of abstract graphic within a glass dome . be that the film barely last more than eighty minute and we be quickly tell that funding to the military be be cut . the unisol project be on the chopping block and which essentially mean that seth will be turn off . seth and somehow overhear this conversation through mean that be never really explain and decides to mobilise the unisols a an army against those seek to shut him down . his only problem be that every so often and a code be require to be put into his system in order to prevent automatic shutdown . two individual possess the code in question . seth kill the first in short order and and those who be familiar with the plot kit that van damme film be construct out of will guess within five second who the second happen to be . the rest of the film revolve around the unisols attempt to get the code out of van damme without injure him too badly . a subplot with a daughter and a reporter be weave into the film and but it add about as much to the story a van damme do to the profession of act . the film be load to the brim with ridiculous line and clichés . when seth transplant his command module into the body of michael jai white and we get a speech about how the time of the human be over . he go on to tell his foot soldier how fear and mortality will be humanity weakness ( e ) . gee and seth and you mean they will not be our strong point . all kid aside and the short length of the film be both the film weakness and it strength . it leave the action without adequate setup . in the original and we be give a very thorough explanation of the unisols and how they work and and how they be bring to the state that be see in the majority of the film . here and the writer seem to take it for grant that the viewer know what a unisol be and how they operate . at least in the original and a moment of curiosity and wonder be create by leave the explanation for later in the film when the hero lie in a tub of ice . here and one of the villain be shot with a gun that leave massive hole in his uniform ( and presumably his body ) and get up every time without stop for breath . i tend to reserve the score of one for film that be so bad that they become entertain in a completely unintentional manner . if you can see it on the cheap and knock yourself out . this be the kind of film that make me mourn the loss of mystery science theatre .