Universal Soldier Reviews
Film4
It may be little more than an expensive arcade game for overgrown kids, but it moves too fast for critical flak to stick.
New Times
Roland Emmerich's best film, and Lundgren's best acting job. Admittedly that ain't saying much in either case, but a fun flick all in all.
| Original Score: 4/5
Top CriticPerhaps Van Damme and Lundgren trade blows more easily than lines, but the whole affair is enjoyable in a mindless way.
The action and the campiness barrel along in entertaining counterpoint. You can laugh when you're not absorbed with truck chases.
BrianOrndorf.com
There's a decent bit of escapism in here somewhere, but Emmerich doesn't possess the finesse to make the material rampage as it should.
Full Review
| Original Score: C-
TV Guide's Movie Guide
With no real plot tying them together, the impressively staged big scenes become empty exercises in logistics, while the smaller scenes never develop any momentum.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
Leaves behind almost as many derisive laughs as dead bodies.
Mostly this is an amalgam of ideas, images and whole scenes lifted from other movies.
Mr. Lundgren, who glowers his way all too convincingly through the role of a rabid bully, may well be the only man in the universe who can make Mr. Van Damme look like an actor.
Laramie Movie Scope
In the end, the main drawback is the brainlessness of the story and the lack of a believable emotional payoff.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
Though the idea is dumb enough to be fun, director Roland Emmerich does the Terminator thing without much style, and the two stars bash into each other but never connect.
