Well, oddly enough then I have actually never ever seen parts 2 and 3 of the "Universal Soldier" movies, but I have seen part 1 and all subsequent movies after the 3rd one. So as I had the opportunity to sit down and watch the 1998 movie "Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms" here in 2021, of course I did so.
Now, of course I wasn't actually harboring much of any high hopes or expectations for writer Peter M. Lenkov and director Jeff Woolnough prequel, which I assume was a straight to video release as well. And why? Well, you take Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren out of the equation and add in unknown actors, the chances are not all that greatly in favor of the movie.
Sure, there were some established actors in the movie, but they were hardly suitable to substitute the likes of Van Damme and Lundgren, but then again, they weren't playing the parts of the universal soldiers. Now, I have no idea who Matt Battaglia (playing Luc Devreaux), nor am I familiar with Jeff Wincott (playing Eric Devreaux). The movie does have some familiar faces, with the likes of Gary Busey, Burt Reynolds, Barbara Gordon and Julian Richings on the cast list.
The storyline told in "Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms" was pretty straight forward. Now, it wasn't the most innovative of stories, nor was it the most well-thought through of stories, but it made for some passable, albeit mindless, action-packed entertainment.
Needless to say that "Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms", as a sequel, does have that usual sequel thing going on. Where it doesn't really live up to the things delivered by its predecessor. And that was the case for this 1998 movie as well. Of course it was. Sure, "Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms" was a watchable movie but it was hardly an outstanding or particularly memorable movie.
My rating of "Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms" lands on a less than mediocre four out of ten stars. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. And while it is a watchable movie, this is hardly a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time.
