Universal Soldier Saturday: The Return & Regeneration

After revisiting 1992's fantastic Universal Soldier a couple of weeks ago to prepare for Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin's Independence Day: Resurgence, I had the hankering to check out the further adventures of Luc Deveraux and Andrew Scott in what is one of the most unlikely franchises in film. Jean-Claude Van Damme has probably spawned the most number of sequels that he does not appear in of any star in history. Bloodsport, Kickboxer, Universal Soldier and Timecop have produced 11 further chapters not featuring the Belgian. Of course the original Unisol is a classic example of it's time and studio as the 90's were the golden age of big screen muscles, machine guns, martial arts and one liners. Carolco, the studio behind action blockbusters Rambo: First Blood, Part II and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, gave Jean-Claude Van Damme his first studio push with his biggest budget to date and a prime summer release date. Emmerich and Devlin crafted a handsomely produced chase flick with big stunts, guys, action and explosions. Both JCVD and Dolph get to shine as Van Damme's innocent yet wounded inner strength shines and Dolph's crazed Sgt. Scott is arguably his best performance to date. Released in July of 1992, Unisol would give Van Damme his largest opening up to that time and gross over $100 million worldwide.

In August of 1999, the high school version of myself went to see Universal Soldier: The Return, contributing to a weak $4.6 million opening weekend on it's way to a tepid $10.6 million total, about what the first film opened with 7 years earlier. It would ultimately be Van Damme's final headlining theatrical release. Upon re-watching, The Return comes off cheap, low brow, hokey and near chauvinistic with women being tied up, their boobs leered at, strip club fight scenes and the like. Bad heavy metal music accompanies every action scene and there's just not much class throughout. Story wise not a lot makes total sense as Luc is now a human after being an original Unisol, training a new army of them that are bigger, faster and stronger but not quite under control. Oh and he has a daughter. But for everything that doesn't compare to the original film, The Return manages to be an exciting flick with top notch action. Legendary stuntman Mic Rodgers directs for the first time and fills the 83 minute running time with flying jet skis, exploding trucks, huge guns, lots of scraps and plenty of Van Damme kicking. The Muscles From Brussels looks good and healthy here, brawny and muscular while still athletic as he jump kicks villains Bill Goldberg and Michael Jai White. His performance isn't quite as emotional or nuanced as the first film with a lot more flailing and mugging. While the original Unisol had a tacked on guitar heavy yet lyrics challenged credits song by Ice T's led Body Count complete with a video featuring Van Damme and Dolph, The Return sees Van Damme hanging out with Megadeth for their track Crush'Em.

Ten years later, Sony released Universal Soldier: Regeneration, an anomaly of the Direct To Video factory that stood out as a hands down excellent film. Rising from the ashes of jettisoned project The Smashing Machine, Van Damme returns in a reduced role as rehabilitated Universal Solider Luc. The main story involves the Unisol program going rogue with New Generation Units being used to kidnap the kids of local politicians and threatening to blow up Chernobyl. Whereas The Return lined up entertaining athletes like Goldberg and fitness model Kiana Tom along with martial arts expert Michael Jai White, Regeneration recruits MMA fighters Andrei Arlovski and Mike Pyle. John Hyams directs the unnerving affair filled with havoc, great action, stunts, explosions and a level of brutality that still shocks years later. Shot digitally, it's a bit muted and kind of blurry at times but using an abandoned steel mill in Bulgaria, Regeneration oozes a gritty real world authenticity. The flick ain't as fun or goofy as the first two films but instead is a dark and haunting affair. Van Damme, his face haggard and eyes tired, continues to show he can act with his expressions and emotional availability. Dolph turns up late in the film as a clone and gets some very heavy scenes that call back to his excellent and dramatic work in the first film. There's an eerie, John Carpenter-esque vibe to everything down to a low key, synth based score. I'd be interested to see what Hyams could do with a decent budget and strong script.

Next up, the most recent chapter in the series, 2012's Day of Reckoning. I wonder if the Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren-less Showtime TV films are on YouTube...

Summer Cinema: Independence Day Resurgence

Last Friday night we checked out Cinemark's Reserve Seating, where you sit in the top of the theater with reclining seats along with food and drink service. Or their version of AMC Dine-In or say Alamo Drafthouse. Unlike those other brands, at Cinemark, they want your orders in and done by the time the film starts which means no in-film refreshment refills. While the idea of eating and dranking during a flick seems like a solid notion, the execution across the board at any establishment has not been perfected. AMC's is awkward as you're paying the check during the film and there's no easy way to have your Stubs membership updated in the dark. But their menu is pretty big and food tasty enough with decent lighting so you can see what you're doing and still be in a movie. Alamo is a little more low tech in the sense of you write down what you want and a person runs by and picks it up. Cinemark was probably the worst of these dine-in experiences because it was so freaking dark it was difficult to eat/drink.

Anyways, 20 years later, Independence Day: Resurgence comes to us from original creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. After making their Hollywood splash with Carolco's Universal Soldier starring our guys Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren, the duo would go on to bigger budgets and successes with 1994's Stargate and 96's mammoth hit Independence Day where Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman and crew defeated an alien invasion. Two decades on the film drops us into the new world of alien fused technology where man works on the moon and there's flying vehicles galore. With Will Smith not returning we get a trio of new young characters played by the likes of Liam Hemsworth, Jessie T. Usher and Maika Monroe are faced with a new invasion threat, bigger and badder than the last. Alas the writing and their improv skills are no match for Will Smith's original charm or chemistry with Jeff Goldblum.

Visually interesting and a little too fast paced for it's own good, Emmerich and Devlin blend the light disaster flick ensemble with all out sci-fi warfare. While the first relished in practical f/x composited with computer images, Resurgence looks great when it's on set and indoors but horrible when the action moves outside and everything is CGI. I also can't stand the fact that films no longer shoot outside. Whether it's ID4:R or Captain America: Civil War, it's glaringly obvious outdoor scenes are shot on greenscreen. It's nice to see Pullman back in the mix as the scarred former President but Brent Spiner's Dr. Okun, a kooky highlight of the first film, is near annoying comic relief this time out. The end is pretty open and indicates intergalactic war, so hey, sign me up for third. Resurgence isn't a great film but it has it's moments. Less fun than this summer's X-Men: Apocalypse but way more enjoyable and less frustrating than Warcraft. After a ho-hum $41 million opening weekend, the $165 million flick made up ground overseas and is nearing $200 million globally so only time will tell if we get that part 3.

Craption! Showdown In Little Tokyo

Robert Rodriguez's El Rey Network strikes again with an evening that included Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee classic Showdown in Little Tokyo and the Swedish made ode to the 80's, Kung Fury. Cleaned up, El Rey's presentation looked way better than my full screen DVD from Warner Brothers that had a cardboard case with a plastic snap mouth. It was also uncut so titties and baddies getting slashed, stabbed, shot, kicked and exploded in hardcore 80's yet released in 90's style along with cursing galore glory. I remember buying the flick from a video game store and my non-action movie friend not understanding why Dolph was wearing a kimono style outfit with headband and machine gun.  In college, a neighbor was a huge Dolph fan and we quoted SILT constantly, he even had a similar leather jacket to Dolph's shoulder padded, kind of short, 90's style outerwear. At the time, the film was dumped by studio Warner Brothers and written off as a by the numbers rip off of Lethal Weapon. But in true Craption! fashion, Showdown In Little Tokyo has become a cult favorite and remains one of Dolph's most enjoyable films.

Set in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo, Dolph plays Sergeant Chris Kenner, a raised in Japan by missionaries who get killed by a Yakuza assassin now living like a Samurai in Southern California guy. A violent group of Japanese mafia dudes in zoot suits and driving convertibles show up, harassing local businesses for protection money, running clubs, dealing drugs and chopping off the heads of hot chicks who like to get high. After Kenner takes out a group of thugs who interrupt his breakfast, we're introduced to his new partner on the Asian task force Johnny Murata (Brandon Lee, View In Peace), a smart ass Eurasian kid who grew up in the valley with a dentist dad and only took up martial arts to appease his mother. The two mismatched cops bicker about upper body strength, fighting form and being polite. Shit gets serious when Kenner finds out the leader of the invading Yakuza is Funekei Yoshida (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), the man who killed his parents! Now on a blind mission of revenge, Kenner forgets all of his calm, cool and collected Samurai wisdom and just wants to shove a red hot poker up Yoshida's bum. Murata joins the crusade on the condition they do it right as they fuck up Yoshida's drug network while picking up disgraced club singer turned Kenner love interest Minako Okeya (Tia Carrere).

Directed by Commando's Mark L. Lester with a script by Stephen Glantz and Caliope Brattlestreet, Showdown is pure 80's and 90's over the top, cliche ridden action/martial arts cheese that makes little sense but is also extremely entertaining. David Michael Frank's awesome synth meets guitar soundtrack is also a nice touch of the era. Lundgren and Lee have great chemistry with Kenner being the stoic muscleman who knows about the ancient ways of Bushido, is honorable to a near fault, builds log cabins and can flip cars while Murata is a sheltered, easygoing guy who likes to fight, can do back flips off cocktail tables, wouldn't mind a Porsche and just wants to work in Malibu. There's a terrific cast involved with just about every Asian actor/stuntman you could want. Joining Tagawa you get Toshishiro Obata (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Phillip Tan (Tango & Cash), Simon Rhee (Best of the Best), Roger Yuan (The Perfect Weapon), Gerald Okamura (Big Trouble In Little China) and Steve Park (In Living Color).  The great Terry Leonard (Raiders of the Lost Ark) handles stunts with a crew that includes Jeff Imada (Big Trouble), James Lew (Best of the Best) and Al Leong (Die Hard) while Chuck Norris disciple Pat E. Johnson (The Karate Kid) helped choreograph the fights.

There's plenty of action and muscle on display as we get Dolph showing off his most jacked and defined physique in tank tops and plenty of shirtless scenes while kicking and throwing perps across rooms, flipping a classic car, jump kicking over a moving one and pressing his way out of a crushed other. Lee shows off his nimble martial arts acumen with a style reminiscent of his famous father's bouncing fluidity but still all his own. Lots of gunfights throughout with bad guys shooting a million times and missing while Dolph fires once and finds his mark. A traditional kendo style sword fight in the streets of Little Tokyo wraps things up, after Kenner gets shot through the chest and then the bad guy inexplicably blows up...and there's even a training montage with an oiled up Dolph practicing his sword play and jump kicks. There's plenty of one liners, bad jokes and awkward dialog delivery throughout about dick size, hearing someone coming and having the right to be dead but luckily the script doesn't veer into any super cheap Asian cracks. While the villains might be typical movie gangsters, the near genetically perfect blonde hero wants to be Japanese and is assisted by a half Chinese sidekick and a Hawaiian love interest.

Studio Warner Brothers was reportedly very high on the reported $8 million dollar film, hoping to capitalize on Dolph's Rocky IV heat and being Brandon Lee's first American film. Lester had already directed the Arnold Schwarzenegger hit Commando and action movies featuring larger than life heroes/physical specimens who used guns and martial arts to beat the bad guys were in demand thanks to Stallone, Arnold, Seagal and Van Damme. However early test screenings sucked the support from the film and smelling a loser, WB recut the film down to 79 minutes and only released the film theatrically in the United States, Mexico, Italy, Israel and Hungary. Reviews were mixed with the action, violence, sex and buddy theatrics praised or looked down upon. Opening in only 140 theaters, Showdown would gross $2.3 million bucks in America while it ranked #9 on Hungary's Top 10 of the year. In an interesting bit of Dammaged Goods coincidence, Showdown opened on August 23rd of 1991, the same weekend as fellow Craption! study Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man.

Showdown would be the end of Dolph's career as a theatrical leading man after post Rocky IV roles in Masters of the Universe, Red Scorpion, The Punisher and I Come In Peace failed to ignite the box office. Lundgren would bounce back as the villainous Sgt. Andrew Scott in Carolco's mini-Terminator sci-fi/action/karate effort Universal Soldier opposite the up and coming Jean-Claude Van Damme. At only 26 years old, Brandon Lee was on his way after co-starring with David Carradine in a Kung Fu TV movie and low budget films from Hong Kong and South Africa. Deals with Fox and Carolco were signed and post Showdown starring vehicle Rapid Fire would be a solid showcase for him while grossing a respectable $14 million at the box office. Lee's next film, The Crow, would be a dramatic change of pace for the martial arts actor playing a murdered musician who comes back from the dead to make things right. Lee was sadly killed in an on set accident involving a dummy bullet stuck in the barrel of a prop gun.The film was finished using stunt men and digital effects and grossed a sturdy $50 million bucks upon release, spurring several sequels and a TV show.

As years pass, Dolph has always been complimentary of Lee's work and Showdown experienced a rise in popularity following his death. The film has lived on with action aficionados to become a bit of a cult classic with the scene of Japanese businessmen eating sushi off of naked women being particularly remembered.  A Showdown or Lee question always seems to pop up during Q&A while  Lundgren's cameo on Comedy Central's Workaholics hinged on one of the character's asking about the sushi scene.

Dolph Days: Keeping Up

"Like none of this shit ever happened? It happened! And it doesn't just go away. 

You just can't walk away, do you hear me?! 

Do you hear me? (holds up necklace made of human ears)"

That's our boy Dolph Lundgren as Sgt. Andrew Scott in the 1992 classic action karate flick from Carolco, Universal Soldier. If you'll recall, Dolph Night at the Egyptian screened two of Mr. Lundgren's most well known works, Unisol and Rocky IV. Come April and Dolph is hitting Australia for a double feature tour featuring the same line up. Fans in Sydney, Melbourne and on the Gold Coast can meet the big Swede and see him on the bigger screen on his week long tour that also includes appearances at the Supanova Pop Culture Expo alongside other genre favorite actors, artists and writers.

For the stateside fans, Dolph popped up on Comedy Central's 90's loving Workaholics as himself looking oh so suave in a blazer, deep v-neck shirt and white pants. Dolph appeared throughout the episode in the forms of a life size standup doing karate and various photos in an obsessed fans computer slideshow. A burning question about Showdown in Little Tokyo ended the episode which also included references to Jean-Claude Van Damme and Unisol. TV viewers may also catch the Iron Man in a new Fox event series based on film series for older cinematic tough guys The Expendables. Details are scarce at the moment besides star Sylvester Stallone producing and hoping to reel in some TV icons of action. I'm not sure why they don't just use Dolph, Terry Crews and Randy Couture's characters as a base then add a guest star or five each episode.

On the film front, a new trailer and a poster for Dolph's passion project Skin Trade hit the web recently showcasing an awesome cast that includes Tony Jaa, Michael Jai White, Peter Weller and Ron Perlman. So that's He-Man, Ong-Bak, Spawn, Robocop and Hellboy all in the same 90 minutes! Inspired by real life human trafficking, Skin follows Dolph's detective as he interferes with a gangster's business then teams up with a Thai cop to exact bloody, high kicking, explosive and bullet riddled revenge. The trailer looks solid with lots of practical stunts, martial arts and a terrific cast. Magnolia releases the film on VOD in late April followed by a theatrical release Friday, May 8th. Horror flick Shark Lake just finished shooting, World War II men on a mission flick with Luke Goss and Mickey Rourke War Pigs is in post-production and a small role in action thriller 4GOT10 alongside Michael Pare, Johnny Messner and Danny Trejo recently wrapped.

If that still weren't enough, Dolph was interviewed for the upcoming The Art of Masters of the Universe coffee table book from Dark Horse hitting shelves on April 15th that will take a deep look at the phenomenon of cartoons, comic books, toys and the live action movie.

View In Peace: Tombstone

The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power hit home video and streaming recently starring a plethora of mixed martial artists along with genre staples Barry Bostwick, Rutger Hauer, Lou Ferrigno and Michael Biehn.  2002's The Scorpion King was of course a spin off from 1999's blockbuster update of The Mummy starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz that was produced by Sean Daniel and James "Jim" Jacks. It's been over a year since former Wall Street analyst turned screenwriter and producer Jacks passed away. Biehn had worked with Jacks years previously on 1993's Tombstone, the latest retelling of the Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday myth starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer. Like Hard Target before it, Tombstone's production was rife with issues but in this case nearly fell apart. Many in the cast and crew credit Jacks and especially Russell for holding the film together which became a Christmas box office hit and has lived on to become a fan and genre favorite.

Rambo: First Blood Part II and Glory screenwriter Kevin Jarre produced a well researched, epic scale script based on the trials and tribulations of the Earp family coming to Tombstone seeking riches in silver and gambling, butting heads with cowboys and the infamous gunfight at the OK Corral. At first attaching Kevin Costner to the project, the Dances With Wolves star walked and went to set up his own version with Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves director Kevin Reynolds and The Bodyguard writer Lawrence Kasdan. Andrew Vajna, formerly of Carolco, picked up Jarre's script and attached Russell after rumored Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp fell out. So strong was Costner's pull at the time, no studio wanted to release Tombstone except Disney's Hollywood Pictures. Permutations of casting saw the likes of Richard Gere and Willem Dafoe up for the Wyatt and Doc roles before Russell and Kilmer settled in. Jarre's script attracted a who's who of familiar faces with Michael Biehn wanting the already claimed Holliday role and choosing "villain" Johnny Ringo instead. Bill Paxton and Sam Elliott came on as Wyatt's brothers Morgan and Virgil while Powers Boothe sided with Biehn to lead the Cowboys, a vicious gang of gunfighters and rustlers. Screen legends Charlton Heston and Robert Mitchum gave the cast gravitas while up and comers Stephen Lang, Jason Priestley, Jon Tenny, Thomas Haden Church, Dana Delaney, Michael Rooker, Joanna Pacula, Billy's Zane and Bob Thornton filled the ranks of lawmen, ranchers, entertainers and hooligans.

Jarre was handed directing reins and the large ensemble cast headed to Arizona in May of 1993 where the skilled writer but novice director quickly fell behind. Meticulous in his research and approach, Jarre would get hung up on every detail from facial hair to costumes to saddles and saw the actors as figures only there to say his dialog his way. Shooting Heston's scenes as Earp ally Henry Hooker first, Jarre was warned by cast and crew that he would soon be fired for his lack of progress, overlong script and dailies that failed to showcase the famous cast. Disposing of close ups and instead opting to shoot everything in wide master shots. Just weeks into the shoot, Jarre was fired. John McTiernan was interested in replacing Jarre but wanted two weeks to review already shot footage to which producers could not oblige. Russell kept the picture together and with the help of friend Sylvester Stallone, brought in Cobra and Rambo II director George P. Cosmatos to finish the film. Along with Cosmatos came young writer John Fasano (Another 48 Hours) who was also working for Vajna's Cinergi Pictures at the time. Hopping on a private jet to Arizona, the new director and writer were introduced to the disgruntled cast and crew just hours after Jarre had been taken off the picture. Russell immediately backed Cosmatos and began working with Fasano to cut down the epic script. Retreating to the cast hotel, Fasano would work with Russell and Kilmer every night, shaping and rewriting scenes to fit the new schedule.

Jarre's original script depicted the Earp clan moving to Tombstone, setting up homes and being introduced to the bustling town. Robert Mitchum's character Old Man Clanton is more involved and we see the Cowboys battling local law enforcement from the states and Mexico. Characters are more fleshed out, especially Michael Rooker's Cowboy turned Earp supporter McMasters and Biehn's Johnny Ringo who in the film is seen a quiet, cold blooded killer but in the script comes off as more weird and anxious who turns to violence without warning. Truer to history, Wyatt forms an uneasy alliance with Curly Bill that is broken when tensions between the lawmen Earps and some of the Cowboys. Now it was Fasano's job to cut 20-30 pages that Jarre would not.

Russell bit the bullet first and volunteered to have scenes and lines cut, thus not making it solely about him and setting the precedent. Mitchum was rumored to have been injured in a riding accident and had his scenes removed, instead narrating the start and finish of the film. Fasano then had the unenviable task of approaching each actor and asking what handful of scenes made them take the part then jettisoning others. In real life the Earp's weren't as squeaky clean as Hollywood had depicted while the Cowboys weren't quite as evil but those tones of gray were removed in favor of clear cut good guys and bad guys at the behest of Disney and finishing on time. Russell and Jacks worked with Cosmatos, giving him a shot list every night and "ghost directing" the picture to a degree. While some actors were troubled and angered by their reduced roles, Val Kilmer simply said he'd sit back with his cough and little cup and steal every scene he was in. Tensions mounted on set with the new director, altered schedule and stifling heat. A reported 100 cast and crew members quit or were fired from the production.

After originally being scheduled to film for 62 days, delays stretched the production to 80 and into August with post production needing to come quickly as their December release date loomed. A two hour popcorn western came from the editing room that held together remarkably well. But Disney put little promotion behind the picture and it opened at # 3 on Christmas Eve of 1993 with a $6.4 million weekend behind repeat champs The Pelican Brief and Mrs. Doubtfire. The seemingly soft opening would put it at #51 for the year but the film garnered decent reviews and word of mouth quickly spread as grosses went up in it's 2nd weekend. Tombstone would go on to gross $56 million on a $25 million dollar budget and rank #20 for the year. Kilmer's performance was particularly singled out and has since become one of his signature roles.

Russell would follow up with successful big budget action films Stargate and Executive Decision then earn a reported $10 million to reprise his role as Snake Plissken in Escape From L.A. which grossed half it's $50 million budget. Kilmer replaced Michael Keaton as Batman in 1995 and cast opposite Robert DeNiro in Michael Mann's Heat immediately after. Starring vehicles The Ghost and the Darkness and The Saint would do little to prop up his leading man status. Powers Boothe showed up as the villain in Jean-Claude Van Damme's 1995 Die Hard in a hockey arena effort Sudden Death before re-teaming with Bill Paxton directorial effort Frailty. Michael Biehn reunited with director William Friedkin on the big budget bust Jade before being cast as a Navy Seal commander in Michael Bay's $300 million grossing The Rock.

Sadly, director George P. Cosmatos died in 2005 and shortly after stories of the troubled production on Tombstone began to emerge from among others, star Kurt Russell. Russell openly discussed the difficulties of production and bringing in Cosmatos as a ghost director. He sees the finished film as fine but feels it could have been a western Godfather if he had been able to edit it and Disney actually believed in the picture. Five time Academy Award nominated cinematographer William A. Fraker died in 2010 after a battle with cancer. History buff Kevin Jarre would work with Jacks on The Jackal and The Mummy but never recovered from the Tombstone experience and died of a heroin overdose in 2011. Jacks passed away in January of 2014, still upset that much of the film's fantastic original script ended up being cut out or left on the editing room floor. Writer/artist John Fasano died in his sleep in July after a 25 year career. Fasano would go on to work with Tombstone veterans Rooker, Biehn, Boothe and Zane among others stating that the difficult experience bonded them forever.

Enjoyable and epic in it's own right, Kevin Costner's 1994 Wyatt Earp would eventually cost more than twice as much but gross less than half than Tombstone with it's bloated 3 hour run time missing the mark with audiences to end up in DVD bargain bins. While Tombstone may not the be film it's makers originally intended, it still holds up as an entertaining, star studded and action packed affair for casual and dedicated western fans alike. It's a title that has jumped generations via cable, video and special edition DVD for Russell, Kilmer, Paxton, Boothe, Biehn and Elliott. Here's hoping we get to see the extra footage Kurt Russell has in his garage someday.

Van Dammage: C'est la Steve McQueen

"He told me you should spend less time training in the gym and more time training your mouth...He believes I have a shot at being not just an action star but a French Steve McQueen!"

     Jean-Claude Van Damme's career advice from director Peter Hyams

After bursting onto the scene with 1988's low budget martial arts cult classic Bloodsport, Jean-Claude Van Damme's starred in a string of cheap, money making beat'em ups like Cyborg, Kickboxer and Death Warrant.  After being paid $25,000 for Bloodsport, 4 years and 6 movies later, he'd land a cool $1 million for 1992's explosive sci-fi tinged thriller Universal Soldier, nearly the budget of of his breakout film.  The sub-$20 million dollar Carolco flick co-starring fellow muscular and kickboxing European Dolph Lundgren was hoped to be Van Damme's breakthrough into the mainstream.  By the early 90's Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were firmly ensconced as Hollywood's kings of the action film; with the mysterious Aikido master and supposedly former C.I.A. operative Steven Seagal coming up fast behind them after impressing Hollywood super-agent Michael Ovitz and being backed by Warner Brothers from the get go in handsome hits like Above the Law and Marked for Death.  1992's "Die Hard on a battleship" Under Siege would gross a huge $83 million.  Universal Soldier would open up # 2 with Van Damme's first $10 million dollar weekend on it's way to a respectable $36 million in the states and over $100 million worldwide. 

Long wanting to leave his pure kickboxing image behind, Van Damme followed Unisol with romantic action western Nowhere to Run showcasing a softer, more sensitive side.  Instead of flashy kicks and splits, we got rough and tumble fisticuffs, a motorcycle chase and JCVD hanging out with a widow and her two kids.   Nowhere To Run's $22 million dollar gross would reverse Van Damme's 5 movie upswing.  The Bulging Belgian would make up for Nowhere's lack of expected excitement with Hard Target, an $18 million dollar hardcore action movie from Universal Studios that marked the stateside debut of legendary Hong Kong maestro John Woo.  Armed with a silver shotgun, duel pistols and a horse while rocking a greasy mullet, Hard Target mustered up another $10 million opening en route to $32 million total.  Universal became confident that with a decent budget and promotional push, Van Damme could break the $50 million dollar mark and into the upper echelon of cinematic tough guys.

Timecop, a script by Mark Verheidan and Mike Richardson based on their Dark Horse Comic, became the vehicle meant to push Van Damme into the A-List.  Largo Entertainment funded while Universal handled distribution.  Having long worked with novice directors, JCVD sought out the experienced hand of Peter Hyams, responsible for well received flicks like 2010, Outland and Running Scared but after a few misfires needed a hit.  At first reluctant to meet with Wham Bam Van Damme, knowing him only as a "karate guy", Hyams was won over by the star's personality, charm, sense of humor and vulnerability.  Armed with a $28 million dollar budget, $3.5 going to the star, the Timecop production headed to Vancouver with known and talented co-stars like Mia Sara, Ron Silver and Bruce McGill in tow.  The film opens in a 1994 where time travel is possible.  Cut to 2004 and former Washington D.C. street cop Max Walker (Van Damme) is now a Time Enforcement Commission officer who travels to the past to bring back illegal time jumpers.  After his wife Melissa (Mia Sara) is mysteriously killed in 1994, grizzled, hardened and slightly mulleted 2004 Max faces off with diabolical Presidential candidate Aaron McComb (Ron Silver) who is traveling back in time to raise $50 million bucks for his election campaign.

Like Arnold, the man Van Damme was most compared to early in his career, sci-fi tinged action seemed to work for our guy.  Cyborg, Universal Soldier and Timecop were all notable entries in his career while guys like Stallone hit and missed (Demolition Man was great, Judge Dredd was enjoyable but an expensive dud) and Seagal never even tried.  Timecop would be Van Damme's classiest and most ambitious film to date as we go from the Civil War to 1994 to 1929 and end up in 2004 without missing a beat.  Striving to be accepted by the mainstream as an intelligent action movie, TC kept trademarks like high kicks, splits and a butt shot while mixing in big sets, special FX, explosions and onscreen scuffles involving future guns, knives, wrenches and axes.  Never the hyper physical specimen or oddity Arnold was deemed, Van Damme is a slim yet pumped up 180 pounds in the picture having kept in shape visiting a crowded, downtown Fitness World on a daily basis.  Van Damme's unmistakable French-Belgian accent is commented on but not explained, a possible first as he was born in Los Angeles but raised in Belgium in Kickboxer, from French Canada in Death Warrant, a New Orleans native in Unisol and Hard Target, etc.  With a dead wife as motivation, Van Damme's acting hits new heights along with the budget and his mix of determined duty mixed with sensitive sorrow was a surprise to Hyams.  Some of the science and time travel elements don't quite add up; a painful and harrowing rocket pod ride racing towards a brick wall sends you to the past yet a simple click of a button brings you back to the present.  The end climax kind of slumps as 1994 and 2004 versions of Max battle thugs in and around the house during a rain storm, much of it in the dark as per Hyam's usual under lit D.P. style.

Before the release of the film, Van Damme was confident Timecop would be a hit; believing in the story, dialogue, acting, cast, FX and director.  The once hesitant Hyams described Timecop as a joyous experience and looked forward to working with Jean-Claude again.  Premiering on September 16th, 1994, Timecop would be Van Damme's first # 1 opening, grossing $12 million movie bucks then claiming the top spot in it's 2nd week on the way to a $44 million total and over $100 million worldwide.  Van Damme looked to broaden his image again with the PG-13 rated Street Fighter based on the worldwide video game phenomenon.  While the Christmas of '94 release saw Van Damme collect a career high $7 million dollar salary, the film was destroyed by fans and critics alike and it's box office take was $10 million less than Timecop even without the restricted rating.  Follow up pairing with Hyams, 1995's "Die Hard at the Stanley Cup" action thriller Sudden Death looked once again to put Van Damme into a mainstream affair and while critics were kind, grosses were half of Timecop's.  The Real JC...VD would further take the reigns of his career for his 1996 goodbye to the martial arts genre, The Quest; writing/directing/starring in the 1920's set mini-epic but dwindling grosses saw him going straight to video a few years later. Hyams would hammer out decent if unspectacular thrillers The Relic, End of Days and The Musketeer before crashing with 2005's tumultuous production and big budget flop, A Sound of Thunder.  The duo reteamed for 2013's low budget actioner Enemies Closer with Van Damme playing a violent, over the top, clown haired vegan villain.

Timecop would return as a short lived television series on ABC in 1997 but failed in the ratings resulting in only 9 of the 13 ordered episodes airing.  Van Damme would later call the producers idiots for selling the rights to TV instead of giving him a film franchise.  A direct to video sequel did follow in 2003, The Berlin Decision, starring Jason Scott Lee.  In 2013, it was announced that Timecop would join Kickboxer and Bloodsport as Van Damme less reboots.  The film remains his biggest hit and among his most enjoyable efforts with it's mix of scope, inventive action, story and a surprisingly hot (to 12 year old me) sex scene.

Ask Me (Another) Question: Universal Soldier w/DOLPH LUNDGREN

I gotta tell you, it's a bit of a trip and I hope someone has video of it but to be standing in front of a crowded theater and be joking with one of your child to adulthood idols, I can't even describe it.  I've got a big mouth but every time I'm on a microphone people can't hear me.  So I had Dolph himself shoving the mic in my face and telling me to speak up, good times.  While introducing the flick we learned that Andrew Davis was fresh off directing Gene Hackman in The Package and wanted to turn Universal Soldier into an elaborate, political, European set revolution story that saw Unisols Luc Deveraux and Andrew Scott in bit parts.  Baumgarten balked and Davis said the young producer was about to get fired.  The next day, Davis was gone.  Roland Emmerich and writer Dean Devlin produced 30 pages of treatment in 2 days and the movie was back on track.  Dolph talked about making his character a bit off the wall and discussing with Emmerich his ideas like throwing grenades and squawking like an Indian or celebrating like a baseball pitcher.  His impression of Emmerich chain smoking then saying "very interesting, I like it" in a German accent was hilarious.  Dolph did an English accent next when telling a story about the first day shooting with Jean-Claude Van Damme.  The scene called for The Bulging Belgian to kick a gun out of Dolph's hand and on the first take, JCVD kicked hard and the gun went flying.  Dolph was a little shocked at the full bore take but shook it off.  Next take, same thing.  That's when Dolph's English karate instructor simply said, "knock him out" if it happened again.  That message was relayed to stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong whose eyes got wide as did Van Damme's when he was told.  Next take?  JC delivered a pillow tap of a kick.  The rest of the shoot went great and the two have co-starred in an additional 3 films.

We had a section of seats reserved for Dolph and Craig's party while Dammaged Goods had an entire row behind them.  Sitting behind Dolph while watching the opening of Universal Soldier?  There's only a few things left I need to accomplish in my cinema fan life.  You could tell he enjoyed the movie, the warped sense of humor and brutal 90's violence as he laughed and whispered to his friends as the memories came back.  The print was a bit soft at the start but got better throughout.  The story of two soldiers in Vietnam who kill each other but are brought back to life by "hyper accelerating dead flesh" 25 years later as super soldiers part of the Universal "Unisol" Soldier program then face off once again when their memories return, Unisol is a prime example of what made the 90's action era so great.  The film looks big with great production value from the rain soaked jungles of Vietnam (a converted golf course in Arizona), the Unisol introduction scene at the Hoover Dam with high falls and rappelling face down the huge dam to the giant, mean looking, expanding Unisol truck to the destruction of just about every location via machine gun fire, explosions or bar fights, Universal Soldier packs a punch but still has room for laughs and even a quiet dramatic beat or two.

Universal Soldier is definitely one of Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph's best films.  It's a real movie with a decent budget and a talented crew.  Germany's Roland Emmerich was hungry to show what he could do in America and really pushes it as the film is more or less an exciting, prolonged chase scene.  Beyond that, the film contains one of JC's best performances and maybe Dolph's greatest in his career.  Van Damme is youthful, innocent and funny while Dolph is just plain crazy and sickly hilarious.  From the necklace made from human ears to the sudden bursts of violence balanced with evil yet comedic brooding, Dolph delivers a fantastic performance.  The supermarket scene where Sgt. Andrew Scott talks about "kicking or kissing ass and busting heads" has always been one of my all time favorite moments in this or any film.  I had to jump out and catch the D-train so I missed their epic rain and fire filled clash but escorted Dolph back into the theater and got to watch him watch Van Damme kick him into a combine and throw the switch.  Again, hilarity.

Geoff and I had discussed some talking points since we really wanted to make the night and Q&A a tribute to Dolph's inspirational life and awesome career.  They took the stage and were recorded for the Humans From Earth podcast and Dolph was simply wonderful.  Funny, smart, animated and gracious.

- Stallone was so famous around Rocky IV that he needed a police escort.
- When Dolph's boxing boots were the wrong color scheme, Stallone flipped out, called the Adidas factory in Germany, had them open over the weekend, make new boots and ship them to Vancouver for Monday's shooting.
- On way into Rocky IV, was on the arm of Grace Jones, after the film people are looking at him and now she's on his arm.  Life changed completely in 90 minutes.
- Back in the day directors didn't have video village of monitors and just had to know what they were doing and Emmerich was a great director.
- John Woo sat behind 8 monitors chain smoking and direction consisted of walking up to Dolph, getting really close, then walking away.
- Back in his day, you had to do more yourself and could only have a stunt double for long shots.  Today, a good actor with a good stunt coordinator and 4 doubles can be an action hero.
- Cites Stallone, Chuck Norris, Arnold, Clint Eastwood and Robert Mitchum all had real life experience and played characters closer to their personalities and skills as "tough guys".
- Sly had made Drago a sympathetic villain and the call to play All-American hero He-Man was difficult and a lot of pressure.  Almost froze wearing costume that was the size of a stamp and couldn't go out in public because of his mullet hair extension.
- Has liked working out since a teen and it's part of the business, also keeps him young.
- Likes producing, on it from day one and get to shape the project unlike a director or actor who sometimes just get the call and show up.
- Skin Trade came from reading an article years ago about a van full of women being brought to America from Mexico, abandoned and suffocated to death.  Wrote the script never thinking it would be made but just finished in Thailand and in post production.
- Sex Trafficking is 3rd biggest criminal enterprise in the world behind drugs and guns.
- Craig Baumgarten came up to discuss more about Skin Trade and the great cast: Tony Ja's first English speaking film, Michael Jai White, Ron Perlman and Peter Weller.
- Weller had a comical fit on last day of shooting as all of the stars were on set and Weller came late and got the smallest trailer.

Dolph said he would do some signing so we didn't need to whisk him away.  As soon as the Q&A ended, wow, a rumbling herd rushed Dolph so we moved to the lobby where things could be a little more orderly.  Dolph was great as he signed and took photos for quite a while.  Getting him out of there was a bit nuts as there was still a mob after him and I was one of those guys who walks in front of celebs clearing the way and saying stuff like "get back" or "we're done" and "don't get hit by a car".  All in it was a crazy, fun, memorable and educational night that I still haven't quite processed yet as I had to be back at work the next morning at 8:30AM.

Thanks Dolph, Craig, Lori, Grant, Christian, Tammi and Geoff.  Victory!  We'll do it again soon.

Ask Me a (Hero Complex) Question: The Terminator w/ James Cameron

This weekend marks the Los Angeles Times' 5th annual Hero Complex Film Festival, 3 days of genre films and special guests.  In years past I've seen Robocop w/ Peter Weller, Serenity w/ Nathan Fillion, Dick Tracy w/ Warren Beatty and The Mist w/ Frank Darabont and Thomas Jane among others.  I must have missed Year One...Taking place again at the Hollywood Chinese Theatre, this year is James Cameron centric with a double bill of The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day tonight followed by Ridley Scott's Alien and Cameron's Aliens tomorrow with star Sigourney Weaver in attendance.  Tonight's Terminator double bill with Cameron appearing for Q&A sold out quick in spite of the ticket price increase to accommodate two double features.  For the fan willing to shell out extra, two rows of couches were added to the front of the theater for an up close look at special guests.

Like last years genre festivities at Cape Town and Hero Complex, TNT's Falling Skies sponsored the event with posters, patches and promos on display.  After a quick introduction, it was time for 1984's The Terminator.  If you're keeping track, this is the 5th time I've seen it on the big screen and arguably the most pristine showcase, no doubt at Cameron's request.  I'm guessing this is a cleaned up Digital Print as the image was gorgeous and the sound was terrific letting me notice things I never had in a theater or at home (blue and red police like lights on the Hunter-Killers, Henriksen's cop with leaked ink on his shirt pocket?!).  If you've never seen The Terminator but still read this then stop what you're doing and get yourself a copy, watch it, lock it in a box for a week then watch it again and repeat until you bow down to the gritty, B-Movie, Tech-Noir masterpiece that is James Cameron's first full directing effort.  Real quick: The Terminator is the story of a seemingly unstoppable cyborg sent back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, a young woman whose son will have tremendous future influence against computer defense network Skynet.  Lone soldier Kyle Reese is sent back to protect Sarah from the machine and hopefully save humanity in the process.  It was a bit of a subdued crowed with no applause for Arnold's title card but we got it going for Biehn, reminding the audience that we're all here to watch a 30 year old movie we love, so let's have some fun and make a great atmosphere full of energy and nostalgia, shall we?

Watching it again, the film's unrelenting pace was in full effect with the mystery of who The Terminator aka the T-800 aka Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kyle Reese aka The Father of the Future aka Michael Biehn really are and their implications on the life and future of Sarah Connor aka Linda Hamilton.  Foot chases, shootouts, car chases, crashes and explosions on the dirty streets of Los Angeles to Brad Fidel's pulsing, powerful crescendo filled soundtrack had the hairs on the back of my neck tingling.  Of course being one of my favorite movies, I had a smile on my face for most of the duration as there's just so much to love and remember in this movie from Arnold and Biehn's naked entries into our time, Bill Paxton and Brian Thompson as hilariously outfitted punks to the 80's hairdos, phenomenal post-apocalyptic Future War action sequences, Nike Vandals product placement, Rick Rossovich's pervy-funny boyfriend, Lance Henriksen and Paul Winfield's quirky cops, shotgun blasting, UZI spraying club shootout, doomed yet beautiful love story and plastique for dinner!

Post film, writer and director James Cameron took the stage for a smooth 45 minute Q&A with time for questions from the audience.  Strangely, the discussion topics were generally broad with much of Cameron's time devoted to talking about technology and his 3 Avatar sequels even though he said he was there to talk about Terminator.

- Arnold was submitted for Reese, Cameron went to lunch with The Oak intending not to like him but found him charming and intelligent and saw him as The Terminator
- Cameron had just watched Terminator and it's sequel recently with his 10 year old son to head off the boy seeing the R rated affairs without his consent
- Had no idea Linda Hamilton would be able to make the change, physically and dramatically, for the character of Sarah Conner in the sequel which finds her hardened by life and preparation for war

- Movie was shot for $6.5 million, proudly in the style of Roger Corman's low budget features using every trick in the book and Cameron thinks it looks like a movie with twice the budget
- Special effects budget for the first film was a slim $1 million bucks for all make up, opticals etc
- Told his story and for a brief moment in the 90's contemplated bringing Terminator to Fox but had moved on after Titanic
- Approached Aliens as a fan of Alien, carrying on what Ridley Scott set up and Ripley as lone survivor versus killing her off and doing his own version.  Loves David Fincher but didn't like that Alien3 killed off majority of characters built up in Aliens.  Hicks lives!
- New producers approached him but says his involvement is uncredited, behind the curtain stuff, just giving his thoughts on what could be and how Arnold's character can evolve
- Loved Spider-Man as a kid and wrote a long script-ment but Carolco went bankrupt and he didn't pursue the rights
- Says the L.A. Times erroneously stated that The Abyss was most expensive film ever made but his next film, T2, was.
- Uncharted waters on Abyss and T2 as the glimmering, water tentacle f/x were cutting edge using an optical printer on Abyss then taken further on T2 for the T-1000's liquid metal man's 42 digital shots
- Wouldn't re-release Terminator in 3D but has considered Judgement Day for conversion
- Thinks technology has already taken over and cites the overabundance of people looking at their phones at any given time as an example
- Personally would like to see a niche movie watching experience utilizing Virtual Reality that lets the viewer decide how the movie plays out
- Writing 3 Avatar sequels with 3 separate co-writers, sat down for a year and pumped out 1500 pages of notes to build the story and world
- Avatar Land at Disney World is going to be something special, complete with floating mountains and animatronic figures with 60 some points of articulation where many have 12 today
- Wrote Sarah Connor as an Everywoman who is tapped on the shoulder and faced with a great task
- Stripped away Connor's support system; friends, cops, Reese, ability to run, to make her strong
- For sequel, gave Arnold script on plane to Cannes film festival, at breakfast Arnold couldn't believe his Terminator character didn't kill anyone but he trusted Cameron and went along

Cameron was eloquent, funny, informative and casually brilliant throughout.  Like I said, it was a bit of a general conversation with technology and Avatar being primary topics and I could have used more anecdotes about the films themselves or just stories of working with Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton.  Because let's face it, Biehn, Henriksen and Paxton are fucking awesome and a big part of that reason is because of Cameron using them multiple times in his films.  Of course much more was discussed but hey, you had to be there.  Which won't be totally true since I'm sure a video will hit the internets soon enough.  Since we just saw Judgement Day, we opted not to stay and while waiting for the elevator, received quite a surprise when the doors opened and Cameron was there with his handlers and security.  Hopefully he saw the shocked expressions on our faces as I wanted to yell "Put Biehn in Avatar 2!"

See ya tomorrow night for more Biehn and Henriksen on the big screen!

The Way We Weren't: James Cameron's X-Men

I always wondered what a "Carolco" superhero movie would have been like.  Carolco, if you'll recall, was the independent mini-major studio run by Mario Kassar and Andy Vajna then only Kassar, who overpaid for top talent like James Cameron, Roland Emmerich, Dean Devlin, Paul Verhoeven, Renny Harlin, Walter Hill, Arnold, Sly and Michael Douglas but gave us big budget, ballsy Hollywood epics like Terminator 2, Cliffhanger, Rambo, Total Recall, Basic Instinct and Universal Soldier.  In 1989, Carolco bought the rights to Marvel's X-Men comic book.  James Cameron was going to produce and his then wife Kathryn Bigelow was set to direct.  Bob Hoskins was the favorite to play Logan/Wolverine while Angela Bassett was tipped to play the weather controlling Storm.  Noted X-Men comic book writer Chris Claremont and the man himself, Stan Lee, visited Cameron in 1990 to talk X movies but were quickly derailed when Lee brought up Spider-Man.  Cameron's eyes lit up and Carolco ended up buying the rights to Marvel's web-slinger as well.  Cameron wrote a scriptment for Spidey and even storyboarded numerous scenes.  However, the bankruptcy of Carolco sent everything into a mess of litigation and by the mid 90's, X-Men went to Fox and Spider-Man to Sony.  Cameron had already moved on and was waist deep into Titanic.

Sigh, a 90's X-Men movie from the makers of Aliens, Terminator 2, Near Dark and Point Break?  It almost breaks the heart.  While giving a property to an eccentric, imaginative visualist like Tim Burton is fine and dandy, there's something to be said about handing it to a guy or gal who knows how to tell a good story, make it look interesting and have you on the edge of your seat as they take you on a pulse pounding, nail biting ride a la Cameron, Verhoeven, Harlin, Bigelow or Emmerich.  It probably would have had a lot more action than 2000's ok but kind of staid version to say the least and you could have gotten some strong and familiar actors to fill the roles.  Like whom?  Glad I asked!  Back in 1995, Wizard of Comics magazine posted their wish list for an X-Men movie cast.  Like the staff, I would have preferred Cameron to direct but Bigelow would have killed it too.

Professor Charles Xavier - Patrick Stewart.  Yeah, I'm cool with this.  Apparently so was Fox since he's about to play Professor X for a 6th time.

Lucas Bishop - Michael Dorn.  I'm fine either way with this choice.  Dorn has the voice and size to play the time skipping mutant.

Piotr "Colossus" Rasputin - Dolph Lundgren.  Hell yes, perfect casting.  90's Dolph had the physique and quiet strength to play the shy Russian farm boy who has super strength and organic metal skin.

Scott "Cyclops" Summers - MICHAEL BIEHN.  Even perfect-er casting than Dolph.  A calm, cool headed leader who likes to mix it up and is also an under the radar babe magnet in a 90's James Cameron joint?!  You couldn't ask for a better choice to portray Cyke.

Remy "Gambit" LeBeau - Jean-Claude Van Damme.  Fuck yeah!  A roguishly charming ladies man who fights with a bo staff and martial arts complete with a New Orleans accent?  Why would you ever think of Taylor Kitsch, Channing Tatum or Josh Holloway for this?  Boggles the mind.

Elizabeth "Psylocke" Braddock - Tia Carrere.  I'm ok with this, not sure what her action chops were but she was in movies with Dolph, Brandon Lee and Arnold so...

Ororo "Storm" Monroe - Iman.  Uh who?  Sorry, I'll take Angela Bassett's beautiful yet strong presence over some rail thin supermodel for this one.

Jean Grey - Nicole Kidman.  A pretty redhead with acting chops to play the lust of all X-Men that eventually goes crazy and destroys an entire population of aliens?  Yeah, I'm down.

Logan "Wolverine" - Glen Danzig.  Get the fuck outta here.  Bob Hoskins would have been fine.  Have him lose a few pounds but he would have been solid as the short, surly, beserking asshole of the team.

Cable - Clint Eastwood.  This one is a wash, I mean who better to play a grizzled, hardass, time traveling soldier?  He might have been a little old at the time but I'm having trouble conjuring up a suitable 90's alternative.

Erik "Magneto" Lensherr - Rutger Hauer.  Good choice.  Blade Runner and Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Hauer is great at playing that Euro-trash villain with equal parts menace and grace.  Ed Harris would be a good choice too.

Victor "Sabretooth" Creed - Clancy Brown.  Highlander's Brown has the size, voice and maniacal moxie to tear shit up as the eviler version of Wolverine.  "There can be only one!"

Cain "Juggernaut" Marko - Big Van Vader.  Pro-wrestler Vader had the girth sure but I think this is a villain you could have kept out of a 90's X-Men film.  Or cast a tall, muscular guy like Ralf Moeller to fill the role and shoot him at perspectives to make him even bigger so when Colossus defeats him, it's not an empty victory.

Emma "White Queen" Frost - Rebecca De Mornay.  Yup.  With 90's hot yet talented actresses like DeMornay, Kidman and Carrere around, this would have made a heck of a lot sexier X-flick than what we've been given with the actual movies.

My First Million: Jean-Claude Van Damme & Universal Soldier

Following the success of 1988's Bloodsport, Jean-Claude Van Damme was in high demand.  Tom Pollack, then head of Universal studios, called JCVD wanting to work with him.  Unfortunately, the young Muscles From Brussels had signed multiple contracts with smaller independent studios, using snippets from the unreleased Bloodsport as his calling card.  Now that he was hot, everybody came looking; starting with the man behind the melee, Cannon Film's Menahem Golan.  Golan had JC locked into a low paying contract that paid him $25,000 for Bloodsport, then $50,000 and $75,000 for two more pictures that ended up being 1989's Cyborg and 1990's Death Warrant.  Each of these low budget actioners would gross 10 times their production costs, thus making Van Damme a safe investment.

By the time Van Damme got out of his low paying contracts, it was time for a step up.  Along with Bloodsport co-writer and now trusted friend and director Sheldon Lettich, the two developed Double Impact, the tale of reunited twins who team up to exact revenge on the mobsters who killed their parents.  Produced in name only by Academy Award winner Michael Douglas (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) and long time associate Moshe Diamont, Double Impact would be a bigger and classier Van Damme affair that showed a different side of the karate guy.  The budget?  Roughly $15 million.  A far cry from the $1-3 million that Bloodsport, Kickboxer, Cyborg, Death Warrant and Lionheart each cost.  Released by Columbia Pictures in August of 1991, Double Impact would become Van Damme's highest grosser yet, raking in $30 million at the U.S. box office.  His fee?  $600,000.

Around the same time, Mario Kassar of Carolco had previously paid Sylvester Stallone $16 million for 1988's Rambo III and just handed over a slightly used private airplane worth $14 million to Arnold Schwarzenegger for 1991's Terminator 2:  Judgment Day.  Sly and Arnie were already the undisputed kings of action cinema which meant challengers to the crown were inevitable.  Kassar sent the script for Crystal Knights, an action romp about reanimated dead soldiers that had stalled out under Andrew Davis (Steven Seagal's Under Siege) to Van Damme with an offer worth a cool $1 million.  Kassar also recruited Hollywood and real life tough guy Dolph Lundgren to the play the villain.  Lundgren had made a splash opposite Stallone in 1985's mega hit Rocky IV but struggled after with enjoyable duds like 1987's Masters of the Universe, 1988's Red Scorpion, 1989's I Come In Peace and 1991's Showdown In Little Tokyo.

Fresh from Germany director Roland Emmerich was hired to take the reigns as he had just walked away from helming Stallone in the still yet to be made Isobar.  Kassar only gave Emmerich one caveat, make the "mini-Terminator" for $20 million.  Working with friend and co-writer Dean Devlin, the two rewrote the script, renamed it Universal Soldier and headed to Nevada and Arizona to shoot the film.  For Van Damme, it was a chance at the big time.  A studio picture with a talented director, ample resources and known co-stars could elevate him beyond the low budget, video market karate pictures he was known for. 

The story of two soldiers who kill each other in Vietnam and come back in the present day part of a government program as elite yet blank, zombie-esque killing machines; Universal Soldier stands as one of the great action flick examples of the 90's.  It's big, loud, violent, fast and funny.  Big machines, big guns, big guys, big action, big fights and big explosions, it's all there.  While it may play as a knock off of Robocop and Terminator to some, Emmerich and crew deliver a film with it's own vision, scope and attitude that highlighted Van Damme and Dolph's attributes while putting them in an actual "movie" where they're part of the attraction instead of the only thing on display.  Van Damme plays Luc Deveraux as simple, innocent and childlike while also utilizing his karate prowess to beat up a room full of thugs and slug it out in the rain against Dolph.  Lundgren goes for it as the psycho Sgt. Andrew Scott and plays a wonderfully sinister and dark humored antagonist complete with human ear necklace.  It's an 80's and 90's action fan's dream come true as familiar faces like Simon Rhee (Best of the Best), Tiny Lister (No Holds Barred) and Ralf Moeller (Cyborg, Best of the Best 2) pop up to blow shit up.

Released in July of 1992, Universal Soldier would mark Van Damme's first $10 million opening on it's way to a $36 million total and continuing his filmography trend of performing better than his last picture.  Overseas the flick excelled and Unisol also became VD's first $100 million grosser.  In an essence, it really was a "mini-Terminator" as Arnie and James Cameron had roughly 5 times the money to spend on T2 and earned roughly 5 times as much.  Van Damme's next picture netted him over $3 million on his way to a career high (and start of decline) of $7 million for 1994's Street Fighter.  But that, is another story...

You're discharged, sarge!

Arnold 24: Terminator 2: Judgement Day

Rolling back into town just in time for my company's national conference and holiday party after my adventures in Middle America, I somehow found time to watch part and or all of 4 Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, Terminator 2, End of Days, Jingle all the Way and The Terminator.  It's like Pringles, once you (pec) pop, you can't stop...or something.

Post conference and pre-party it was time for 1991's Terminator 2:  Judgement Day, James Cameron's record and ground breaking sequel to his 1984 cinema changing tech-noir thriller, The Terminator.  Even though I have two different versions of it on DVD, I skipped the step of popping it in and opted for streaming it on Netflix.  I've long had issues with the quality of Netflix as I find the pixelated images and non-black blacks annoying and would rather watch a disk or even a VHS.  To my surprise, Terminator 2 looks great on Netflix with virtually no image distortion at all for much of what I viewed.  I'm sure I could fix the issues with an upgrade in internet speed and television but that's just wasteful so shut up you tech whore.  Technology represses the inner beast.  Remember that.

A sequel with remake qualities, T2 follows young John Conner (Edward Furlong) as he learns about his future as leader of the human resistance 20 years ahead of time while evading the liquid metal T-1000 (Robert Patrick, who has somehow never co-starred opposite Michael Biehn) with the help of a reprogrammed T-800 (Arnie, duh!) and his mother, Sarah (future Cameron ex-wife Linda Hamilton), now life hardened and awaiting the machine brought Armageddon.

T2 is an amped up version of part I with many of the same story beats repeated only replacing human hero and father of the future Kyle Reese (Michael "fucking" Biehn!) with Arnold's nicer, good guy Terminator.  When Ah-nuld helps Sarah escape from a mental facility, he repeats the same line Reese does upon finding her in part I:  "Come with me if you want to live".  With over ten times the budget of Terminator, Judgement Day was an action and special F/X extravaganza combined with great production design, a killer cast, strong characters and a few laughs along the way.

Seeing T2 a couple years ago on the big screen, it's amazing to see how well it still holds up.  The main reason, in my opinion, is that Cameron only used the then ground breaking visual F/X (first developed for his own The Abyss) for the T-1000.  The morphing, puddle melting, knife handed, Silver Surfer walking villain was something audiences had never seen and I'm sure is one of the main reasons for repeat attendance.  Cameron's crew shot everything around the T-1000 practically with physical stunts, make up, sibling twins, miniatures and rear screen projection.  So when the T-1000 walks out of a ball of fire, he's the only visual effect on screen as the exploding truck wreckage is real VS today's CGI on top of CGI = video game cartoon shit.

Judgement Day was a product of now defunct independent mini-studio, Carolco; the 90's powerhouse started by Mario Kassar and Andy Vajna.  Like a classier version of 80's juggernaut Cannon, Carolco was the place for big budget, high concept, movie star powered fodder with worldwide appeal.  The two got started distributing films in the foreign market and soon went into production themselves on 1982's First Blood, which would become Sylvester Stallone's second franchise after Rocky.  An extremely troubled production (Stallone claims to have offered to buy the flick and burn it), the film was retooled several times before hitting screens to modest success while redefining action cinema forever.

That success led to the mega hit sequel, 1985's Rambo: First Blood Part II, the second highest grossing picture of the year.  Kassar and Vajna set out to pool established and rising talent, over paying for the services of James Cameron, Walter Hill, Mickey Rourke, Arnold, Sly, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Paul Verohoven, Michael Douglas, Renny Harlin, Roland Emmerich and Oliver Stone.  But by 1990, Kassar's hot headed attitude pushed calming influence Vajna to depart and start his own company.

When Carolco hit, they did so on a global scale as Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Terminator 2, Cliffhanger and Rambo II collectively brought in over $1.5 billion in theaters alone.  Costly critical hits like The Doors and Chaplin showed they had an eye on expanding the company repertoire while epic flops like Showgirls and Cutthroat Island highlighted Kassar's lack of quality control.  By 1995, the party was over.

While Carolco and Kassar might not be the kings they once were, Terminator 2 remains a jewel in their and cinema's history.  Grossing $500 million worldwide, T2 would be 1991's most successful film by a large margin and become a landmark in movies and technology.  Arnold would parlay the success into having a studio at his control for 1993's Last Action Hero while James Cameron would make history again years later with Titanic.

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