Star: Michael Jai White

Universal Soldier: The Return (1999) – Van Damme, Goldberg and Michael Jai White

This movie offers a novel twist on the already creative concept established in the original, while also featuring strong new co-stars in Bill Goldberg and Michael Jai White. This is actually the fourth movie in the Universal Soldier franchise, but the second & third did not feature Jean-Claude Van Damme or anyone else of note (the main protagonist in both was Matt Battaglia) so you’ll be forgiven for watching the first movie then jumping straight to this one – the fourth.

We don’t see enough of wrestling superstar Goldberg in this kind fast action movie – he makes a very convincing tough guy. Plus, this is easily one of Michael Jai White’s better performances – the robotic superiority-complex role matches his real life demeanour.

Overall I rate this a Decent movie – it’s a bit less of a revelation than the original but still quite creative with a fresh new concept, and features multiple action superstars, but on the downside the plot is a bit one dimensional – the script could have easily been developed more to make it an even better movie. There are multiple females in this movie, including a reporter and a fellow UNISOL, but none of them are particularly worth mentioning – they all deliver bland performances.

Fun fact: this was actually Van Damme’s last widely-released-in-cinemas English-language movie until 2 and a half decades later, when he released Darkness Of Man in 2024 (excluding movies where he wasn’t the main star, such as The Expendables 2 in 2012). Maybe he wasn’t totally playing ball with Hollywood’s sickest shenanigans, but they eventually rewarded him for keeping quiet during the deceptions of the 2020 era? Or maybe his movies had only a small niche audience? The fact that Inferno (1999) had only a limited cinematic released is odd, and the fact that The Order (2001) went direct to video is outrageous.

Further Sequels

If you enjoyed the original Universal Soldier movie from 1992, as well as this one – Universal Soldier: The Return – from 1999, which is the second one starring Van Damme; then you’ll be pleased to know there are a couple more decent Universal Soldier movies to enjoy after this one.

Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009) rekindles the rivalry between Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren, then they both come back again for Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012) with the addition of Scott Adkins as the main protagonist in the final movie. Both of these movies from 2009 & 2012 also make a significant role for Andrei Arlovski, the former UFC heavyweight champion who still holds the record for the most wins in UFC heavyweight history to this day.

Exit Wounds (2001) – Steven Seagal

Barely 10 minutes in and it’s clear this is a high level of Steven Seagal movie compared to his usual standard. Instead of diving straight in as a mysteriously highly qualified operative working in a comparatively humble law enforcement role, this time we kick off with an action-packed yet concise backstory showing Seagal working for one police force and performing outstandingly but irritating someone and getting sent away to work for a different force, all within the first 10 minutes. Then we get a nice dose of humour to introduce his new role, and it’s clear this movie has mostly all departments covered and is well set to be comfortably one of his best movies if not the very best of them. Unfortunately, the energy dies off a bit, and it turns into a bit of a muddled action comedy mashup with some high level action scenes here & there still.

While it may be an upgrade from Under Siege in terms of giving the exact style Seagal prefers, and may be an upgrade in plot, cast and music from The Glimmer Man, there is a downside in how it’s a bit too “matter of fact” – less of a delicate atmosphere being built like we had with The Glimmer Man. The grace of execution is lacking somewhat – kind of like what happens when you ask a bunch of kids to produce a show, they all want to act cool but they entirely overlook the fine art aspect that high calibre mature actors tend to aspire for. For this reason, with its unique set of pros & cons putting it better in some ways than Seagal’s best movies, and worse in other ways, overall I rate Exit Wounds (2001) as a high OK, just a tad shy of Under Siege and The Glimmer Man, about equal to Under Siege 2 in terms of general entertainment value. I rate this movie as belonging in his top 5 of all time, just about.

Due to its light-hearted vibe and comedy value, it may be his best movie for people who are looking for a genre like this, a bit like Romeo Must Die (2000) starring Jet Li which also features some of the same supporting cast members as we see here (DMX and Anthony Anderson), or Cradle 2 The Grave which is another Jet Li movie featuring DMX and Anthony Anderson but also features Tom Arnold – all three of these supporting actors are also in Exit Wounds. But for people who’re looking for a slick action hero vibe, everyone seems to be a bit too jovial and Seagal appears to be having a bit too much fun – he smiles a lot in this movie – it’s like he’s not the boss this time round, he’s just being paid well and is enjoying the ride, making a break from producing his own flops like his last movie (The Patriot, 1998) which caused him to take a few years off before coming back with this one where he’s working better with others now.

As expected, Steven Seagal is by far the main character in this movie. DMX and Anthony Anderson play major supporting roles. Tom Arnold and Michael Jai White also play significant roles, but not so ever-present. Eva Mendes also plays a minor role in this movie. They all do a decent job, so far as lighthearted action movies go with a bit of humour.

Undisputed II: Last Man Standing (2006) – Scott Adkins and Michael Jai White

With Undisputed II, the plot has improved a bit since the last one (although to be fair, any plot at all would have been an improvement).

Scott Adkins does alright here as Yuri Boyka – we don’t see much of his character come out until half way through the movie, since he’s meant to be a cold character, but when he realises his opponent was drugged so his victory was not legitimate, we see a bit more of what he’s about and can begin to sympathise with his character. For what script he’s been given, he does very well with it. He makes a convincing character, and his high spinning kicks & tricks are quite incredible in this movie.

This may also be one of Michael Jai White’s best performances, as the world heavyweight champion George Chambers who’s had drugs planted on him just to get him inside a mafia-controlled prison in Kiev so that Yuri Boyka can have a challenge in someone decent to fight. I’m not the biggest fan of MJW as an action hero, but he holds down this role very well.

Supporting cast range from mediocre to decent – not quite the circle of legends from the original Undisputed (2002) who were twiddling their thumbs trying to make a movie without a script; but still there’s some credible supporting actors here, especially Mark Ivanir who performs impressively in the role of the mafia boss called Gaga, and Eli Danker who does a decent job as Nikolai aka Crot the old man who helps George Chambers a bit.

It would have been nice to have another strong character in this movie, since Scott Adkins has such a cold role here, and there’s no women involved, making it a bit of a dull movie but still not as bad as the first in the Undisputed saga. It’s actually got a surprisingly good ending considering how slow it can be at other times. Don’t miss the further sequels as some of these issues may be rectified a bit.