8) Universal Soldier: Regeneration
Sequel to: Universal Soldier: Redemption
Time between movies: 11 years
After 1999’s Redemption (5% on Rotten Tomatoes!), nobody expected another Universal Soldier movie and, to be frank, there likely weren’t many who actually wanted one. But the schlocky direct-to-video market works in mysterious ways, and in 2009 the demand of the few fans the franchise had left led to the movie gods giving us Universal Soldier: Regeneration. Shockingly, it proved something of a direct-to-video classic.
Reuniting Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren for a Chernobyl-based bloodbath, Redemption is far deeper than it has any right to be, a kind of melding of action cinema and arthouse. The fight scenes are brutally orchestrated by director John Hyams, while the former artist ponders questions of reality and mortality as he simultaneously blows supersoldiers’ heads to pieces. Glorious.