Universal Soldier is a mindless action movie with a very simple premise. It has all the classic 90s action movie tropes including the cheesy dialogue and dumb entertainment. I would be lying if I said I did not chuckle a couple of times at some of the dialogue and scenes, especially the valet parking scene. The film is certainly made to be a pop corn film and it knows that, and some of the action is enjoyable.

JCVD was ok in this role, but I did find him quite boring at times. I get he is a sort of cyborg with no emotions but I did find myself not really caring about him too much and he was a little too wooden. Seeing him take out guys with his kicks never gets old however. I thought Ally Walker was quite good however, she was charming and quite likeable. Dolph was probably the best part of the film for me, despite also being a cyborg, as the film progressed he started becoming more like his old self from the opening scene, the psychotic soldier was coming back, and seeing him snap was fun. Dolph is a huge guy and very intimidating, he was quite a bad ass looking villain, but I wish he had more depth. For a popcorn movie though, I accept it for what it is.

A lot of people compare this to RoboCop or Terminator, and while it does have its similar traits, it is not on the level of those films, but I don't think it ever tried to be. I think what RoboCop did better than this was first introduce us to the main character before he was turned into a cyborg. We got to see Murphy being a human and it helped me understand and care for him that much more. We are just thrown right into the film of Luc trying to save some people and I didn't care much. You do not need your brain for this movie, as its very straightforward. I did think the some of the sound effects and score was a bit too loud, but I get it tried to get people pumped.

The ending was pretty cool, I liked the fight scene between Dolph and JCVD, it was quite graphic as well. This is a watchable movie that I recommend everyone to see at least once, but it is not really a memorable one.

5/10