Paul Brian McCoy" />
Psycho Drive-In logo
Search
  • PDI Press
    Featured
    • BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

      Paul Brian McCoy
      January 17, 2022
      Fiction, PDI Press, PDI Press Writers
    Recent
    • BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

      John E. Meredith
      January 17, 2022
    • Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Seven)

      John E. Meredith
      January 16, 2022
    • Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Six)

      John E. Meredith
      January 15, 2022
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    Featured
    • X (2022)

      Paul Brian McCoy
      April 22, 2022
      Movies, Reviews
    Recent
    • X (2022)

      Nate Zoebl
      April 22, 2022
    • Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

      Nate Zoebl
      April 15, 2022
    • The Adam Project (2022)

      Nate Zoebl
      March 16, 2022
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
    Featured
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      Paul Brian McCoy
      July 13, 2018
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      The Final Girl
      July 13, 2018
    • David Black: Carnies, Carnage, and the Creative Chaos of Darkness Visible

      Dan Lee
      March 7, 2017
    • Jaiden Kaine joins the Marvel Universe as new Luke Cage baddie, Zip

      Andre Lamar
      September 29, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Batman: The Killing Joke

      Jason Sacks
      July 28, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Syfy’s Van Helsing

      Dave Hearn, Paul Brian McCoy
      July 27, 2016
    • Wondercon Interview: The Cast of Damien

      Gary Richardson, Laura Akers
      April 16, 2016
  • News
    Featured
    • John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum arrives on Digital 8/23 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand 9/10

      Paul Brian McCoy
      July 30, 2019
      DVD/Blu-ray, News
    Recent
    • John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum arrives on Digital 8/23 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand 9/10

      psychodr
      July 30, 2019
    • X-Men: Dark Phoenix arrives on Digital 9/3 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD 9/17

      Paul Brian McCoy
      July 16, 2019
    • Avengers: Endgame arrives on Digital 7/30 and Blu-ray 8/13

      psychodr
      July 16, 2019
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Breaking
  • X (2022)
  • Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
  • The Adam Project (2022)
  • The Batman (2022)
  • Entropy (2022)
  • Killer Sofa (2019)
  • RSS
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Who We Be
  • Contact
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Home
Movies

Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012)

Paul Brian McCoy
November 30, 2012
Movies, Reviews
Director: John Hyams
Writers (Screenplay): John Hyams, Doug Magnuson, & Jon Greenhalgh
Writers (Story): John Hyams & Moshe Diamant

 

What if David Lynch directed a Philip K. Dick scripted Apocalypse Now with Jean-Claude Van Damme instead of Marlon Brando and Scott Adkins instead of Martin Sheen, with a dash of Chronicles of Riddick thrown in for good measure? Then you would have Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning. And it would be pretty much as awesome as it sounds.

If you don’t think that sounds amazing, then I just don’t know you at all anymore.

When Writer/Director John Hyams rebooted the languishing Universal Soldier franchise in 2009 with Universal Soldier: Regeneration, many people rolled their eyes. But when confronted with the brutally efficient and bone-jarringly violent movie, fans of action films found something to rally around. Hyams utilized his background making documentaries on UFC fighters, MMA fighters, and Bull Riders to ground the action in a physicality that had been missing from American action films for years. He also wisely chose to ignore any other Universal Soldier film beyond the 1992 original – which, while not being great, was directed by Roland Emmerich and helped to maintain Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren’s 80s Action Icon status into the 90s.

Regeneration brought Van Damme back as UniSol Luc Deveraux and pitted him against an upgraded clone of his original nemesis, Dolph Lundgren’s Andrew Scott, in a near-future terrorist scenario that, as one might expect, went horribly wrong. By the end of that film, Deveraux had escaped, free from government control, and Scott was dead after breaking with his programming – oh yeah, and nuclear devastation was averted.

Dolph

Day of Reckoning gives us a fresh take on both of Van Damme’s and Lundgren’s original characters with Deveraux apparently embracing the liberation theory of Scott and setting himself up as the semi-mystical leader of the Unisol Church of Eventualism with another clone of Scott serving as his right hand. Together, they are breaking the government programming of Sleeper UniSols and forming their own cult/army in a mysterious underground bunker complex somewhere “upriver”.

The film opens with a continuous first-person perspective shot as John (Scott Adkins) wakes up to a home invasion, suffers a vicious crowbar beating, and helplessly watches the head-shot murders of his wife and child by Deveraux. After a nine-month coma, he awakens and begins trying to track down the man who destroyed his life.

Meat

But was it his life?

In a series of strange experiences that weirdly brings to mind David Lynch’s classic mind-fuck film Lost Highway, John discovers an entirely unknown life that he has no memory of, all the while being hunted down by rogue plumber (and Sleeper UniSol) Magnus (Andrei Arlovski) in increasingly brutal confrontations. After a series of twists and turns, John finally confronts Deveraux in a final showdown that ostensibly ends Van Damme’s association with the franchise.

But we are dealing with virtually unstoppable, genetically-enhanced cloned killing machines, so never say never.

Face Kick

Cinematographer Yaron Levy crafts a beautiful little film here, utilizing Baton Rouge, Louisiana wonderfully to create a wide range of looks, from small town streets, to seedy dive bars, to gorgeous swamplands and forests, while the music of composer Michael Krassner serves to enhance the growing sense of unease that John feels as he gets further and further out of his depth.

Hyams’ direction is usually as efficient and clean as his editing style, but Day of Reckoning gives him the opportunity to experiment a little as John is drugged and begins having hallucinations of his murdered family and receiving mystical messages from Deveraux. Fair warning, though. There are a couple of strobe effect hallucinatory transitions that are so intense that it was actually painful to keep my eyes on the screen. If ever a film was going to trigger seizures, these scenes may do the trick.

Van Damme

While the mind-fuck storyline is especially appealing to me, I have to admit to a fascination with the way the camera explores the iconic landscapes of Van Damme and Lundgren. Both men are into their fifties and every year is etched onto their faces. Van Damme’s look is both entrancing and unnerving, with his shaved head and heavy lids appearing surreal and exhausted. His detached, almost emotionless delivery helps to create the sensation that the weight of the world is on Deveraux and provides a glimpse at a fatalism underlying the revolutionary rhetoric.

Lundgren, on the other hand, is massive and solid with a lunatic grin and an energy that almost glows from the crevices lining his face. He’s clearly relishing the role as mouthpiece for the Church, giving vigorous speeches and towering over everybody else in the film in his beret and spats. Yes, spats.

Lundgren

This film is unquestionably a celebration of thick, meaty masculinity, and there is hardly a single man on-screen who doesn’t exude an intimidating physical density that is simply impressive on the most fundamental of visual levels. Hyams takes that physical masculinity a step further as we get a look at what life is like for these super soldiers once they are cut loose from their government chains.

They are aggressively, preternaturally masculine; enthusiastically swigging whiskey straight from the bottle whenever they’re not fucking (ladies, of course) or fighting (anyone, of course) with abandon. Boxer, Roy Jones Jr. has a cameo as a UniSol who is beaten down by Magnus after trying to steal his whiskey. Once he shows weakness, the other UniSols jump in to beat and kick him nearly to death before Deveraux appears. The UniSols all stop what they’re doing and bow their heads in reverence as Deveraux calmly walks over and shoots Jones dead.

Jones

This is a bestial expression of masculinity unleashed from restraint, only reined in by unbending allegiance to the pack leader. There’s really no room for anything feminine in this world. There are only a few feminine presences in the film at all, all of whom remain on the periphery of the narrative. John’s murdered wife and daughter serve as motivational forces only, with the stripper Sarah, played by Mariah Bonner, having the only substantial role – a role that actually plays out in an ironic commentary on traditional action film clichés.

And when compared to the physicality of the male characters, her extremely thin frame is lacking almost any overt female sex traits – unlike the majority of background women at the strip club, who actually provide a wide range of body types. It’s almost as though there can be no visual distractions from the hyper-masculinized characters in the central narrative.

Girl

I suppose an argument could be made for this as a homoerotic work, but I think it falters in that respect, as sexuality is barely even a part of the narrative – even subtextually. There’s really no male bonding or substantive relationships outside of the wolfpack dynamic, which centers almost entirely on power. Even the visual approach of the director emphasizes family, loyalty, and violence. As such, it’s kind of surprising, given how easy it is to slip, even without realizing it, into subtle fetishizing of the male body.

If it does veer into homoeroticism it’s in the “lady doth protest too much” aspect of its presentation of masculinity and an arguable substitution of violence for sex, but that argument relies a bit too much on clichés and pop-psychology for my tastes. It’s violence that being fetishized here by Hyams, rather than the body.

Final Fight

The only real shortcoming of this film, to my mind, is that any right-thinking viewer will know from the start that John is also a UniSol and the memories of his family – and their murder – are implants, so some of the climactic reveals fall a little flat. But if you can come at this with fresh eyes, it’s still a very engaging story about a search for meaning and the establishing of identity in the classic Phil Dick style.

Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning has been available since 10/25 on VOD and there was a sneak preview of the film on HD Net Movies on 11/28 before opening in theaters today, 11/30/2012.

(Visited 306 times, 1 visits today)
Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012)
4.0Overall Score

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Dolph LundgrenJean-Claude Van DammeJohn HyamsScott AdkinsUniversal Soldier: Day of Reckoning

Once Upon a Time 2.08 “Into the Deep”
Boardwalk Empire 3.11 “Two Impostors”

About The Author

monsterid
Paul Brian McCoy
Co-Founder / Editor-in-Chief / Dreamweaver

Paul Brian McCoy is the Editor-in-Chief of Psycho Drive-In. His first novel, The Unraveling: Damaged Inc. Book One is available at Amazon US & UK, along with his collection of short stories, Coffee, Sex, & Creation (US & UK). He recently contributed the 1989 chapter to The American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1980s (US & UK). He also kicked off Comics Bulletin Books with Mondo Marvel Volumes One (US & UK) and Two (US & UK) and PDI Press with Marvel at the Movies: 1977-1998 (US & UK), Marvel at the Movies: Marvel Studios (US & UK), and Spoiler Warning: Hannibal Season 1 - An Unauthorized Critical Guide (US & UK). Paul is also unnaturally preoccupied with zombie films and sci-fi television. He can be found babbling on Twitter at @PBMcCoy.

Daily Top Ten

  • Lego DC Batman: Family Matters Blu-ray ReviewLego DC Batman: Family Matters Blu-ray Review by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Superman II (1980)Superman II (1980) by John Clark
  • Uzumaki (2000)Uzumaki (2000) by Matthew Fantaci
  • Battleship DVD ReviewBattleship DVD Review by Danny Djeljosevic
  • Adventure Time 6.06 “Breezy”Adventure Time 6.06 “Breezy” by Dave Hearn
  • Lost in Translation 138: Watership DownLost in Translation 138: Watership Down by Scott Delahunt
  • House of Wax (2005)House of Wax (2005) by The Final Girl
  • Advance Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Blu-rayAdvance Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Blu-ray by Paul Brian McCoy
  • The Beguiled (1971) vs The Beguiled (2017)The Beguiled (1971) vs The Beguiled (2017) by Peterson Hill
  • Maleficent (2014)Maleficent (2014) by Jeffrey Roth
400x400 GI Joe Funko Banner

Weekly Top Ten

  • Page to Screen: The Boys Season OnePage to Screen: The Boys Season One by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Adventure Time 6.06 “Breezy”Adventure Time 6.06 “Breezy” by Dave Hearn
  • Big Eyes Smart Mouth: Porco RossoBig Eyes Smart Mouth: Porco Rosso by Serdar Yegulalp
  • Advance Review: Russian Yeti – The Killer LivesAdvance Review: Russian Yeti – The Killer Lives by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Women in Horror: They Call Her One-Eye, or Thriller: A Cruel PictureWomen in Horror: They Call Her One-Eye, or Thriller:… by John E. Meredith
  • Advance Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Blu-rayAdvance Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Blu-ray by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Women in Horror: I Spit on Your Grave (2010)Women in Horror: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
  • Drive-In Saturday: Heavy Metal 2000 (2000)Drive-In Saturday: Heavy Metal 2000 (2000) by Alex Wolfe
  • The Watcher (2016)The Watcher (2016) by Jessica Sowards
  • House of Wax (2005)House of Wax (2005) by The Final Girl
400x400 UA Affiliate Banner

FACEBOOK

FACEBOOK

Latest Reviews

  • X (2022)

    Nate Zoebl
    April 22, 2022
  • Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

    Nate Zoebl
    April 15, 2022
  • The Adam Project (2022)

    Nate Zoebl
    March 16, 2022

psychodrivein

Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S01E38 - Greg And Joel's Favorite Modern Figures, Part 1

Greg & Joel (@OrderOfBattlePod) break down their favorite modern figures from the first half of the line. 
---
Listen to the guys at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #OrderOfBattle @AnythingJoesPod #GIJoe #Habro
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 415: Remaking Gilligan's Island

Gilligan’s Island was escapism comedy, with everyday and weird science devices made from bamboo and coconuts. 
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#GilligansIsland #LostInTranslation #BobDenver #AlanHaleJr #JimBackus #NatalieSchafer #TinaLouise #DawnWells #RussellJohnson
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: Unboxing Kotobukiya's Dawn Moreno (Snake Eyes II) & Mighty Jaxx's Off Werk Snake Eyes Vinyl!

Greg takes a quick look at two new releases in the world of GI Joe statues and collectibles!
---
Watch Greg at the link in our profile!

#GIJoe #AnythingJoes @AnythingJoesPod #DawnMorano #SnakeEyes2 #SnakeEyes #Kotobukiya #MightyJaxx #OffWerk
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 414: I Love You, Colonel Sanders! (2019)

The game has a heart, and that heart is Colonel Sanders.
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#ColonelSanders #KFC #LostInTranslation #ILoveYouColonelSanders
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 413: Cloak & Dagger (2018)

Cloak & Dagger is a coming-of-age story with superheroes, a teen drama with superheroes, and works as such.
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #MarvelComics #MarvelTelevision #CloakAndDagger #AubreyJoseph #OliviaHolt
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Popcorn Cinema Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Popcorn Cinema 48: THE MULTIVERSE IS MADNESS

POPCORN raises his hands, putting them together in front of his face. He then pushes his face slowly through them as if he's giving birth to himself. 
---
Read more of John's reviews at the link in our profile!

#DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness #EverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce #SamRaimi #Daniels #BenedictCumberbatch #MichelleYeoh #ElizabethOlsen #JamesHong #JamieLeeCurtis #KeHuyQuan #StephanieHsu
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S01E37 - G.I. Joe #12 / Three Strikes For Snake-Eyes!

It's the start of one of the most iconic Joe stories in it's entire history, and it includes the return of two pivotal characters from the past! Join Greg and Jaren as they venture into Rio Lindo to root out Cobra's next devious plot!
---
Watch Greg and Jaren at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes @anythingjoespod #GIJoe #MarvelComics #SnakeEyes
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 412: Good Omens (2014 BBC Radio Dramatisation)

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch was first published in 1990 and was a comedy about Revelations and Armageddon.
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #GoodOmens #NeilGaiman #TerryPratchett #BBC #MarkHeap #PeterSerafinowicz #JimNorton #AdamThomasWright #JosieLawrence #Charlotterichie #ColinMorgan #CliveRussell #JuliaDeakin #BBCRadio
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S01E36 - Lexington Comic & Toy Convention 2022

Greg & Jaren recount their experience meeting Larry Hama at the Lexington Comic & Toy Convention 2022. Plus, the latest news, recent acquisitions, and listener mail!
---
Listen to Greg and Jaren's podcast at the link in our profile!

@anythingjoespod #AnythingJoes #GIJoe #Mezco #LarryHama
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Latest Columns

  • Anything Joes: S01E38 – Greg And Joel’s Favorite Modern Figures, Part 1

    Greg Engle
    June 24, 2022
  • Lost in Translation 415: Remaking Gilligan’s Island

    Scott Delahunt
    June 24, 2022
  • Anything Joes: Unboxing Kotobukiya’s Dawn Moreno (Snake Eyes II) & Mighty Jaxx’s Off Werk Snake Eyes Vinyl!

    Greg Engle
    June 15, 2022

TWITTER

My Tweets

Look Who's Talking

Oliver Ghingold
Oliver Ghingold - 2/18/2022
Muppet Madness: You’re the Director
Do you still have these tapes? I've been looking everywhere for them! I loved the Interactive Vision...
white swan
white swan - 12/22/2021
The Hills Have Eyes (1977) vs The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
I enjoyed the article though I would never call brutality gorgeous.
Shawn EH
Shawn EH - 10/26/2021
13 Days of Halloween Day 12: Halloween Kills (2021)
Very disappointing, it's true. And very mean-spirited murders of nobodies. And I don't even see how...
RSSTwitterFacebookinstagramtumblr

Archives

Large_rectangle_336X280
All work on this site is Copyright © each individual writer.
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
%d bloggers like this: