Universal Soldier 3

[L. Langer]

Universal Soldier 3: A New Beginning is being captured with the RED One system in Bulgaria by none other than Peter Hyams, whose son is directing the film. It will be DTV here in the US and likely limited theatrical release in the rest of the world before making it's way to home video. Just thought all you Van Damme fans (and Jarred Land along with the rest of the RED folks) would like to know.

 

[Andrew Ceperley]

Let's hope it looks better than Beyond a Reasonable Doubt.

I love Peter Hyams, but that was far from his best (looking especially) work.

 

[Emiliano Ranzani]

Funnily, I thought they were already beyond number 3 in the UNIVERSAL SOLDIER series, but I must admit I never went further than the 1st one.

I always liked Hyams low-key lighting in his adaptation of RELIC...too bad they never released a decent DVD of that...

 

[Noah Kadner]

So he's just DP and his son is the director? Lucky kid.... Love 2010, Outland, Capricorn One and Running Scared.

Noah

 

[scott william]

VAN DAMME is Back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JVCD was a good film and i mean good even for non van damme fans. I'm not sure about this one though.

PS: Van Damme did direct a HD movie called 'The egal path' last year not sure whats happening with that...

 

[Emiliano Ranzani]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1288403/

I suspected it couldn't be number "3" - I remember reading every once in a while in movie magazines they were making new ones - this one, called "A New Beginning" is actually the fifth entry in the series.

 

[Andrew Ceperley]

I loved 'The Relic.' It's too bad that the only way a lot of people see it is on that DVD which looks like it's from a nasty analog master (3/4" anyone?) that in turn is from a really muddy print. I remember that movie looking so good in theaters.

 

[Emiliano Ranzani]

Yeah, the RELIC disc was made at the beginning of the DVD era and they never bothered re-issuing it. My copy is clearly generated from a Beta master (just like a VHS) and is full of motion artifacts...not to mention the washed out and noisy shadows...they should really make a new edition...I mean, after all, I don't think it would cost that much nowadays.

 

[L. Langer]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1288403/

I suspected it couldn't be number "3" - I remember reading every once in a while in movie magazines they were making new ones - this one, called "A New Beginning" is actually the fifth entry in the series.

It's not a series. It's really an abused franchise. The "sequels" made after the first film with Matt Battaglia were all low-budget made-for-TV movies that were done for TMC back when they financed movies to get first right of broadcast on their network as exclusives. I remember watching them way back when on that channel and then Sci-fi (Now SyFy) picked them up a year or two ago claiming them as "Sci-Fi Originals". They have absolutely nothing to do with Van Damme's follow-up which was a direct sequel. They went through multiple and completely different stories while filming that. Originally he was going to be a Unisol again and they made a bunch of promotional material for that storyline but then they decided to pull a 180 and make him completely human. Whatever the plotline is in this new movie, it's being kept under wraps, though it obviously involves some sort of militant European organization.

 

[Petri Teittinen]

I did QC for the Nordic Blu-ray release of Universal Soldier 3 a couple of days ago. For the most part it looked very good, extremely sharp and detailed. I wasn't too keen on the grading of most of the external shots; they were tinted very cold blue. There were some instances of smearing, that nasty (to my eyes) effect that follows from slowing down the shutter speed. It totally ruined 2012 (not shot on RED) for me.

Funnily enough the disc was titled Universal Soldier 3, main menu reads Universal Soldier: Regeneration and the on-screen title is Universal Soldier: A New Beginning

 

[Emiliano Ranzani]

There were some instances of smearing, that nasty (to my eyes) effect that follows from slowing down the shutter speed.

That puzzles me. You generally get smearing at 1\25th of a second, which is what some people used to shoot interlaced footage to try and simulate a progressive scan look when 24\25p was a rare virtue in the video world.

 

[Felix K.]

I loved "Outland" as a kid. One of the movies I remember watching with my old man. I do miss Connery on the big screen!

 

[L. Langer]

The follow-up has been announced. John Hyams is returning to the director's chair (probably with his dad lensing the picture too) and it will be shot and released in 3D. There is no information regarding the 3D element of the production yet.