It boasts two major action stars. Our TV movie pick for tonight (Saturday, 25 May) is the cult sci-fi action flick Universal Soldier: Regeneration featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. A direct sequel to the hit 1992 film about dead soldiers brought back to life to be android fighting machines, Regeneration sees a terrorist sect use a destructive new model from the Universal Soldier line of humanlike robots (played by MMA fighter Andrei Arlovski) to seize the atomic reactor at Chernobyl.
“Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme), an older cyborg, is reactivated to save the planet from nuclear armageddon,” the plot synopsis. “Unfortunately, Deveraux will also have to contend with his nemesis, Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren), a fellow Universal Soldier who’s been recharged by the terrorists.” Ahead of its release, anticipation was not high for Universal Soldier: Regeneration – with it being released straight to video in many countries.
Helmed by John Hyams (who would go on to make the acclaimed horror thrillers Alone and Sick ), however, the movie’s hard-hitting action sequences, its more sombre tone than its predecessors and its surprisingly emotional performance by Van Damme has led to it attracting a cult following. Some have even argued that it, along with its more ambitious sequel Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, raised the bar for straight-to-DVD action films as a whole. Universal Soldier: Regeneration is airing on TV tonight on Legend at 10.
50pm.