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Devlin &
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About Dean Devlin
& Roland
Emmerich

 


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"Quotes"

"We make pop-
corn movies.  We
love popcorn
movies.  When
you have that
kind of passion
for the films you
make, there's a
chance that that
passion may
become
infectious."
-- Dean Devlin

"...Emmerich and
producing partner
Dean Devlin --
two guys who
know how to
crank out an
event movie..."
-- Entertainment
Weekly magazine

"Very difficult.
Very difficult.
Never comes out
of his trailer.
Also, like, where
do you park his
trailer?  I love
that problem."
-- Roland
Emmerich on the
problems with
accomodating a
giant lizard on
a movie set.

"He does have
the biggest
trailer.  I was
pretty upset by
that.  But, you
know, who's
gonna go tell
him?"
-- Hank Azaria on
the jealousy of
the other actors
towards Godzilla
on the movie set.

 


event
DVD's




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expanded
universe

Check out the
Event Movies
expanded
universe
section.
You'll find info
and reviews about
the original-story
ID4 and Stargate
novels that
expand upon the
movies that
inspired them
to be written.
Currently, ID4:
War In The Desert
by Stephen
Molstad and
Stargate:
Rebellion by Bill
McCay have been
reviewed.

 

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Emmerich event

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LINKS



Devlin & Emmerich's
production company


Sci-fi movie news


Sci-fi movie news
from Cinescape
magazine


Ain't It Cool News


The official site


The official site


The official site


A DVD message
forum for
Canadians

Film Force
Cool movie news

 

FAN
LINKS

Annie's Patriot
website

Sharon's Patriot
website

Sue's Patriot
website

Bob's Patriot
website

Outpost 247
(a Centropolis
fan website)

 

What's Next?

July, 2000:
Dean Devlin will be
making his debut as a
director for a movie
called "Cellular".  The
plot centers around a
man who receives a
call on his cell phone
from a strange woman
who is being held
hostage.  He has until
her phone battery runs
out to find her and
save her life.  It's a
unique concept that
could translate into a
big box-office hit with
a relatively low budget.

April, 2000:
Cinescape Online

described this
"different" project that
Centropolis is going to
be involved in:
Centropolis
Entertainment is teaming
up with Village
Roadshow and Warner
Bros. for a giant
monster movie called
Arac Attack. The film,
which Centropolis had
been developing, will
have a budget of $30M.
According to Variety,
the eventual pic will tell
the story of a toxic waste spill that results
in the creation and
rampage of giant
spiders. Described as a
comedy thriller, the film
will be directed by Ellory
Elkayem (They Nest)
and will shoot on
location in Australia.
Production is scheduled
to start in September.
Dean Devlin and Roland
Emmerich will produce
the project. Centropolis
Effects will handle the
film's effects.

 

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the plot

During the Vietnam War, two American soldiers kill each other after one of them goes psycho on his entire platoon. Shortly after their deaths, they are re-animated after being genetically altered by scientists in a top-secret government project. Fast-forwarding to the present, the two soldiers, along with numerous other soldiers, are part of a successful anti-terrorist team, their new genetic make-up supplying them with increased strength, endurance, durability and no memories of their past. But during an operation, memories of the past are again awakened and Jean-Claude Van Damme, along with the help of Ally Walker, find themselves on the run from the Universal Soldier team. Shortly after, Dolph Lundgren also begins to remember the past events that led to himself and Van Damme killing eachother. Motivated by a desire to finish what he had started back in the Vietnam War, Lundgren takes over the team and uses them and their resources to relentlessly hunt down Van Damme and Walker. When he finally catches up to them, the two soldiers settle things the old-fashioned way -- one on one.

the good
With this being one of Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich's earlier offerings, they should be forgiven for producing something that, when compared to later offerings, shows their inexperience. But the film is not without its good points. The best thing about "Universal Soldier" is its action. It's a good thing that the action is high quality because the acting is just not there (see below). A lot of the success with the action can be attributed to the spectacular stunts such as the bus/truck chase and when Dolph Lundgren's character went smashing through the car windshield at the gas station. As far as the acting is concerned, Ally Walker completely saves this movie because Van Damme and Lundgren never have and never will put out respectable performances. She was a breath of fresh air providing many of the film's more memorable and humorous moments. There were a number of cameo appearances by lesser-known actors that added a lot of spice to the humour of the film. For example, there was the hotel owner and his mother, the gas station owner and the couple in bed at the hotel. These memorable performances somewhat made up for the bad acting jobs by the film's marquee names. So to summarize what's good about "Universal Soldier": Big guys + Big guns = slam-bang testosterone-filled mayhem. And hey, is that so wrong?

the bad 
Right off the bat, the quality of acting that we are about to be treated to is revealed when Van Damme comes across a rattled soldier in the jungle. When Van Damme asks what happened to the rest of the platoon, the soldier replies with awkward abruptness, "F**king dead!" How did this guy make it through the casting screens? One thing that has always bothered me about this film was the scene at the beginning where Van Damme and Lundgren are perforating each other's bodies with bullets. As Jean-Claude is falling backwards, he continues to fire his machine gun at Lundgren. And even though his weapon is pointing almost 45 degrees upwards, his bullets continue to pelt Dolph's body! So to summarize what's not so good about "Universal Soldier": Bad acting + Bad acting = Bad acting. I'm tempted to say shame to the casting director, but the movie clearly calls for an abundance of muscle heads. And how many muscle heads do you know that can also act? Schwarzenegger maybe?

memorable moments 
Despite its flaws, "Universal Soldier" was an entertaining movie that had some memorable scenes. As previously mentioned, it relies heavily on action. Some of the impressive action moments included the bus/truck chase, Van Damme jumping through the walls of the hotel while being bombarded by gunfire and the huge explosion that incinerated the gas station. Some of the humorous moments included the mother of the hotel owner drooling at the sight of a naked Jean-Claude, the bus driving off to its destination suddenly revealing a ton of  police cruisers behind an oblivious Ally Walker, and Van Damme eating the diner into bankruptcy and then subsequently kicking everyone's asses as they try to collect the bill from him. And how could I not mention the scene where Ally Walker is searching Van Damme's naked body for an implanted homing device and Jean-Claude instructs her to "look for something hard". Classic.

 

 


Resistance is futile...


Dolph Lundgren sings a
tender lullaby to help Jean-Claude fall asleep...


Jean-Claude in training for
the 100-yard dash...


Dolph lives out his life-long
dream of being a chiropractor...


"Go ahead, make my day..."


A photo of a bunch of naked
guys sleeping together...


Dolph has had enough with
Ally Walker's gags...


Jean-Claude misinterprets
after Ally Walker tells him to
take a cold shower...

 

Box Office Tallies

U.S. box office receipts for "Universal Soldier" totalled $36.3 million.


commentary


If it weren't for Jean-Claude Van Damme, "Universal Soldier" might have come and gone without so much as a peep. Of course, I'm not insinuating that his acting saved this movie. Rather, it was his presence as an established action movie star that attracted some attention to the film. If the acting had been better, then maybe it would have enjoyed more success at the box office. As it stands, this would be considered Devlin and Emmerich's first major, big-budget film that they collaborated on as a team. And the results, while they reveal some inexperience, are generally impressive considering what little they had to work with. This would soon become a trademark of the duo -- the ability to create a movie that has a big-budget look and feel without the big-budget. This ability ultimately landed them the job to revive "Godzilla", their estimated budget for the film having been significantly lower than the budget proposed by director Jan DeBont ("Speed" and "Twister"). But despite this fact, they are somehow able to churn out entertaining movies of above-average quality. And "Universal Soldier" would prove to be only a glimpse of greater things to come...

 

 

 


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