Actor and martial arts star Michael Jai White has long been a fan favorite with talk of many a film prospect be it Undisputed, Blood And Bone or a select handful of other film franchise properties from recent memory. One such IP is now back in the hype realm thanks to a tweet by the action star commemorating his friendship with Jean-Claude Van Damme with a heyday picture Tweet from the set of Universal Soldier: The Return (1999).
White portrays the voice and physical incarnation of S.E.T.H., a supercomputer who recruits the whole of the rebooted “UniSol” program and takes on human form to combat being decommissioned by the military due to budget cuts. Van Damme returns to the role of Luc Deveraux seven years after removing his implants and recirculating back into society now as a tech expert then forced to take matters in his own hands with the world and his daughter’s life at stake.
The sequel bombed and the franchise went into DTV obscurity, and by 2009, John Hyams found new ground to work with in bringing Andrei Arlovski into the fray on Universal Soldier: Regeneration, cutting directly from the first film and past The Return. The cult success that followed led to the production of a fourth outing that favorably landed martial arts star Scott Adkins front and center for festival favorite, Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning.
Both films took on a much more psychological, cerebral tone for its action horror take on the IP that delivered a gritter, more filmically stylish and artful tale that eventually brought Van Damme and Adkins back together for a fourth time since Isaac Florentine’s The Shepherd. The treatment is more than fascinating, and personally, I can’t help but wonder what a fifth entry would look like if Hyams’ managed to reboot S.E.T.H. in a way that would wholly welcome the character back.
He did it twice with Dolph Lundgren’s Sgt. Andrew Scott character and I’m even curious if towering actor Bill Goldberg might even serve a purpose to help revive a continuation with Hyams shepherding things. Of course, there’s no telling if or when this franchise might ever see the light of day, but Regeneration and Day Of Reckoning are signs of a pretty good thing.
This all goes into my tweet toward White, with mention of Hyams, imploring the notion of a cinematic evolution of S.E.T.H. to continue the spiraling intrigue and mystery of the UniSol phenomenon. Him having been a villain only to be kicked to smithereens 20 years ago and the idea and wonderment from fans on just how the hell Hyams might pull a rabbit out of that hat would be more than appealing.
What do you guys think? Comment below and share your thoughts!
I’ve always wanted to see how @jrhyams‘ handling of the franchise would continue since Regeneration. It’s been top notch with Dolph’s twice revival of Sgt. Scott & @TheScottAdkins in DOR, and I think this presents a timely opp to reboot S.E.T.H. with a proper cinematic evolution.
— FCSyndicate (@FCSyndicate) June 4, 2019