All Critics (44)
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Top Critics (13)
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Fresh (23)
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Rotten (22)
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DVD (1)
Several sequences of this gorefest, which is posed between hyperkinetic martial-arts mayhem and near-static moments of confusion and terror, have a gleeful virtuosity that nearly redeems its lumbering longueurs and generic splatter.
Day of Reckoning is somehow not just the best film in the series, but a damn fine piece of action filmmaking by any measure.
"There... is... no... end" Van Damme announces in between blows. As a comment on the current film, I'll agree. As a prediction - all I can do is shudder.
An intensity of purpose and a patient, suspenseful directing style make the B-movie "Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning" superior to most of the big-budget action films I've seen lately.
This bloody wallow in sweat, guns and fisticuffs - for those who swing that way - delivers.
The movie creates something of the sensation of huffing industrial solvents - in a good way! - a waking-sleep zombification that can't exactly be described as pleasurable but definitely has an odd, distinct power.
It's a far cry from what Van Damme and Lundgren were doing twenty years ago, but in the end this film comes off like a band that claims all of the 'right' influences in interviews but can't synthesize good taste into work of merit.
Hyams' film is steeped in the myopic lust for vengeance that fuels many B-actioners, but he brings a great deal more to the proceedings.
When it sticks to the fights, the thugs, and the attitude, it's a pretty good time.
Essentially Lost Highway for a post-UFC world, Universal Soldier: Days of Reckoning is an intriguing but ultimately rather empty experience.
Aside from perhaps Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren's accountants, it's difficult to say for sure who exactly has been calling for another entry in this francise.
Earns its stripes as one of those bad movies that's so bad it's good, in its bad way.
Day of Reckoning is an action movie that's as much about each frame as it is about each punch and thwack and gunshot, not to mention that devastating black and white makeup job on Jean-Claude Van Damme's bald head.
If Day of Reckoning shows off some of the freedom that comes with working in the DTV market, it also highlights its limitations.
I found the level of violence in the film repugnant and most of the characters irredeemable, disposable and forgettable. They aren't particularly bright, either. It has the artistic sensibilities of a slaughterhouse.
An actual great piece of brainy action cinema.
It's a bad trip LSD-like movie you either love or hate, no in-between.
If you want a few well-done fights and you like Adkins, I can't completely recommend against it.
An entertaining Universal Soldier movie that dares to try something different.
Day of Reckoning, for lack of a better expression, 'goes there.' But like the flight plan of a hijacked plane, it's not necessarily my destination of choice.
As with all the films in the Universal Soldier series, this is mostly a catalog of increasingly brutal fights, which are the main attraction in and of themselves.
An arty action flick that's almost worth watching. The odds of director John Hyams pulling off such a feat were only slightly worse than winning Powerball.
I'd say this film hates women, but that's too limiting. It hates everyone.
67%
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76%
89%
19%
Top Critic
