SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.5/5
This release comes with a semi-glossy slip cover and inside a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. All of the features from previous releases, as best I could tell, have been ported over and are available on both the 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray discs.
Audio Commentaries:
Director Roland Emmerich, Writer Dean Devlin and Actors Jean-Claude Van Damme & Dolph Lundgrin
Director Roland Emmerich and Writer Dean Devlin
Presumably both of these were from the special edition DVD from years back (2004?) and while nothing special, do offer different viewpoints, though the first track the commentators were recorded separately (with Emmerich and Devlin talking together). The second one flows a bit better.
A Tale of Two Titans (14:12) looks at the first match-up between Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgrin, including interviews with the two actors talking about their careers.
Guns, Genes and Fighting Machines (18:53) — Retrospective featurette from 2004 on the making of the movie with cast and crew interviews about the over-the-top nature of the action and fights.
Alternate Ending (13:08) — Pretty dark alt ending where Luc’s mother is shot in the back and subsequently, the father, who wasn’t his father, shoots him before Jerry Orbach’s character comes in to make revelation that Luc was set up all along. So this was truly an alternate ending…
Behind the Scenes (15:28) is a fly-on-the-wall featurette from 1991.
Theatrical Trailer (2:19)
VIDEO – 4.5/5
Lionsgate releases Universal Soldier onto 4K Ultra HD where it’s shown in the original theatrical 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 2160p high-definition transfer. The picture is actually pretty impressive, detail is sharp and although this isn’t the most colorful movie, as a fair portion does take place at night, especially the finale in pouring rain, colors are decent though not entirely bright. The natural film noise and grain is present, however, giving it a nice theatrical-like experience 25+ years later. I noticed no apparent or obvious signs of aliasing, artifacting or other flaws.
AUDIO – 3.0/5
Where the video excelled, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track was surprisingly weak to the point where I had to make sure my right speaker was properly working (even though before I had watched another movie where it was working fine), and it was outputting audio but oh so barely, same with the rears so depth wasn’t all that impressive. The center channel is relegated for the on-screen action and dialogue, the latter of which was fine but the usage of ADR was rather evident.
OVERALL – 3.25/5
Universal Soldier is a flawed film, even a little amateurish in some respects especially with the direction by Emmerich (from what I can tell, this was his first big Hollywood picture), but still a fun enough flick pairing up Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren who did as well as one would expect given the material. This 4K Ultra HD release does offer great video but the audio was lackluster and the good bonus material ported over from the previous releases.