The film also stars Michael Jai White (briefly appeared in the first film as a soldier), Heidi Schanz, Xander Berkeley, Justin Lazard, Kiana Tom, Daniel von Bargen, James R. Black, Karis Paige Bryant and Bill Goldberg.
At least 15 years after Andrew Scott's death,[a] former UniSol Luc Deveraux has been reverted to normal via genetic procedures.
He currently works as a technical expert for the U.S. government with his new partner Maggie, who has been through countless hours of combat training with him.
by sending in troops, but most of the troops (alongside a TV reporter and her crew) were massacred by four UniSols; even when Luc briefly tried to lead a team of United States Army Rangers commanded by Captain Blackburn and Sergeant Morrow, most of the Rangers (including Blackburn and Morrow) are killed when a UniSol sentry sees them sneaking into the building.
arrives and kills Squid, revealing an ultimatum to Luc: he must give up the secret code that is needed to deactivate a built-in program that will shut S.E.T.H.
Luc reluctantly obliged Maggie's wishes by setting off the time bomb to destroy the building, killing the remaining UniSols for good.
An archival footages of Trini Tran and Tai Thai appear uncredited as Vietnamese Woman and Vietnamese Man from the first film, while the archival recordings of Michael Jai White (also cast in the lead role of this film) and Tom Tanglang as Soldiers are used for the flashback involving Luc Deveraux.
Producer Craig Baumgarten had wanted to make a sequel for years but due to the bankruptcy of Carolco the rights were unavailable.
[5] Michael Jai White, who previously appeared in the original film, joined the cast as the antagonist.
[5] A film soundtrack was released by Trauma: Prior to his return to professional wrestling in the summer of 1999, Romeo actor Bill Goldberg spoke with officials of his employer, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) to allow him to use Crush 'Em as his walk-out theme and for Megadeth to play the song live for his return on the July 5, 1999 edition of WCW Monday Nitro, as Goldberg was a fan of the band.
Goldberg would continue to use Crush 'Em as his walk-out theme until October 1999[6] DVD was released via Region 1 and VHS in the United States on December 28, 1999 and re-released on DVD in 2004, and also Region 2 in the United Kingdom on 1 July 2002, it was distributed by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.
88Films released the film on Blu-ray in November 2020, limited to 3000 copies with numbered slipcase, fold out poster & booklet.
The website's critical consensus states: "Universal Soldier: The Return fails on almost every level, from its generic story to its second rate action and subpar performances".
[14] Joe Leydon of Variety magazine called it "an underwhelming follow-up to one of the career-stalled action star's better efforts".
[16] Mick LaSalle of The San Francisco Chronicle wrote a mixed review, saying the film "has a shameless B-movie exuberance" and that it "is nothing for anyone to be proud of, on either side of the screen, but it's a lively 90 minutes".