Led by Luc Devereaux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) a cloned UniSol Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren) are now wanted by the government who will do anything to find them a wipe out their UniSol army for good.
Universal Soldier fans maybe left scratching their heads, however, sci-fi action fans looking for slick, stylish direction with hard hitting violence and a Philip K. Dick tone - in the vain of Impostor (2001) maybe impressed by director John Hyams offering.
While not a fun hammy 90s hit like it's original, this is smaller personal intentionally vague story adds another angle on UniSol. Reckoning may have benefited from being a stand alone low budget Dredd/Memento/Bourne-like film as it's so far removed to the original's feel.
This is actor/stuntman Scott Adkins film with very limited screen-time for Van Damme or Lundgren which isn't such a bad thing as their characters have become dismembered to those in the first outing. Nevertheless, Adkins as John carries it under Hyams games console shoot 'em up direction. While this film may not be Adkins Jason Statham 'star vehicle' it shows he's a convincing action man with some range of emotion to match as John goes on his hunt for Devereaux in some Apocalypse Now (1979) homage of sorts.
With excellent camerawork, lighting, stunts, ambiguous script, perfect moody atmosphere it's not a normal action film - and with nudity, blood and horror like gore it's not for the faint hearted either.
Don't expect a rehash or even the Universal Soldier you fell in love with and you may be surprised by this basic, dark, testosterone injected ride. Now somebody needs to remake 1987's cheese-fest Dead Prey with Adkins as the lead.
