Universal Soldier – 4K UHD Blu-ray Movie Review

Specifications

Runtime: 1 hr 42 min (102 min)
Rated R
Budget: $23,000,000
Cumulative Worldwide Gross: $36,299,898
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital | DTS-HDMA 5.1
Color
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 (Original), 2.35:1 (4K)
Camera: Panavision Camera and Lenses
Laboratory: Technicolor
Negative Format: 35 mm
Cinematographic Process: Anamorphic
Digital Intermediate: 4K (2019 Re-release)
Printed Film Format: Eastman 5384
Dolby Vision with HDR-10
Originally Released (USA): July 10, 1992
4K Release: November 5, 2019
Director: Roland Emmerich
Starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Ally Walker, Ed O’Ross, Jerry Orbach

Rating

Entertainment:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Violence: Brutal and Bloody
Sex: No (except for a few naked butts, so what’s new?)
Language: Bad, really bad
MSRP: $22.99 / Amazon – $17.99 (Includes 4K and Blu-ray discs)

After Private Luc Deveraux (Van Damme) and Sergeant Andrew Scott (Lundgren) are killed in Viet Nam, their bodies are re-animated in a top secret program that turns dead soldiers into live ones who are able to fight battles beyond what normal human beings can do.

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The only real issue is that their memories get in the way.

A news reporter, Veronica Roberts (Walker), uncovers the secret program and tries to help Deveraux discover who he really is.

It’s an old movie (1992), one of Van Damme’s early films, and it is surprisingly entertaining. Not much, if any, CGI, so the explosions are real, and the human bodies are really bouncing on the ground.

I had forgotten about waterbeds in motels and $1.99/pound for steak.

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The extras are not very good.

The 4K scan is razor-sharp because it is 4K all the way, including the Digital Intermediate. This appears to be routine for 4K versions of old movies because they don’t have to render much, if any CGI, which apparently is very difficult in 4K. So, many new movies which are shot with digital cameras and have a lot of CGI utilize 2K Digital Intermediates.

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Editor-in-Chief Emeritus. John E. Johnson, Jr. founded Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity in 1994, shortly after publishing a hardcopy book of the same title. He served as Editor-in-Chief of Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity until 2022. John has been involved in audio and video for more than 50 years, having built radio transmitters, amplifiers, turntables, and speakers from scratch. He was also one of the founders of the Northern California Audio Video Association, now The Bay Area Audio Society. John holds four university degrees, including a Ph.D. in Neuroscience, and has published numerous scientific books, along with dozens of scientific articles on biomedical research topics as well as imaging technology. He was the founder and Editor-in-Chief of two medical/scientific journals for 20 years. John holds several patents, including one on high resolution image analysis and one on a surgical instrument. He has been affiliated with NASA, The National Institutes of Health, The Johns Hopkins University, Stanford Research Institute, and The University of California at Berkeley. He is President of the consulting firm Scientific Design and Information, Inc., which is based in Redwood City, California. John resides in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife and multiple kitties! His daughter, Cynthia, who was an integral part of SECRETS for many years, resides in San Francisco.