Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business

Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business is a 1998 American made-for-television science fiction film directed by Jeff Woolnough and starring Matt Battaglia, Chandra West, Jeff Wincott, Richard McMillan, and Burt Reynolds. Like Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms, none of the actors or crew of the original returned, but most of the cast and crew from the first sequel are present. In 1999, a theatrical sequel starring Jean-Claude Van Damme again, Universal Soldier: The Return, ignored the plotline of the two sequels.

Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business
Official VHS cover
Genre
  • Action
  • Sci-Fi
Written byPeter M. Lenkov
Directed byJeff Woolnough
StarringMatt Battaglia
Chandra West
Jeff Wincott
Richard McMillan
Burt Reynolds
Music byIvan Doroschuk
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producersKevin Gillis
John Laing
ProducerRobert Wertheimer
CinematographyRuss Goozee
EditorRobert K. Sprogis
Running time95 minutes
Production companyCatalyst Entertainment Production
Release
Original networkShowtime
Original release
  • October 24, 1998 (1998-10-24)
Related
Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms

Plot

Luc Devereaux (Matt Battaglia), a rejected "UniSol" (a superhuman soldier designed to be the perfect killing machine), and journalist Veronica Roberts (Chandra West) travel to Canada to continue their attempts to expose the Universal Soldier unit. After a hostage situation mistakenly leaves Veronica a fugitive, the two escape the city and go into hiding.

Meanwhile, CIA Deputy Director Mentor (Burt Reynolds) and Dr. Walker (Richard McMillan) are in the process of creating a powerful, UniSol clone of Luc's brother, Eric (Jeff Wincott), to assassinate him and Veronica. The program is under section GR-44. Deveraux and Roberts flee to Canada, hoping to find a news outlet that will tell their story as GR-44 is in hot pursuit.

The finale hints at a broad conspiracy involving "sleeper" UniSols planted in every branch of the U.S. government, up to the White House from which a voice impersonating then president Bill Clinton answers Risco's activation signal.[1][2]

Cast

Production
See also: Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms § Production

Unfinished Business and its predecessor Brothers in Arms were primarily shot in Southern Ontario over 42 days[3][4] spread between 27 October[3] and 23 December 1997.[4] Downsview Military Base was used as the UniSols' operations center.[4] Both pictures were shot concurrently, with the schedule alternating between scenes from each film.[4] The two films had an aggregate budget of $10.7 million.[3]

The shoot was occasionally disrupted by Canadian seasonal weather. Part III's climactic scene, which required a Fairchild C-123 Provider to be flown in from the U.S. due to a shortage of pilots for similar aircraft available in the country, was delayed by a two-day blizzard.[3]

Matt Battaglia's personal friend Burt Reynolds plays the main villain of the film, "Mentor", who was introduced at the end of the previous film. The character's real name (Gerard Risco) is a backronym, as the G.R. prefix found in each UniSol's identifier is revealed to be derived from his initials.[5] In the novelization of the first film's script by Robert Tine, G.R. stood for Grave Registration.[6]

The ending was left open for a potential regular series. Three syndicators had reportedly expressed interest at the time of filming, but it did not materialize.[3]

Release

Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business premiered on television on The Movie Channel, a sister channel of Showtime, on 24 October 1998. It was released on VHS by Paramount Home Video on 13 July 1999.[7]

Unfinished Business received a 2002 DVD release by TVA Films in Canada, as part of a double feature that also includes the previous installment Brothers in Arms.[8]

Some German home video versions of the film are sold as Neu Bearbeitete Fassung (Newly Edited Version), but this merely indicates that they are cut for violence.[9][10]

Reception

Critical response

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business a 20% approval rating based on 5 reviews, with an average rating of 4.4/10.[11]

Among reviewers not referenced by the main aggregators, reception was also poor. VideoHound rated the film one and a half on a scale of zero to four, slightly lower than Part II.[12] Bulletproof Action similarly decreed that "Brothers in Arms was no masterpiece [...] But things still managed to go downhill in Unfinished Business".[13]

In a mild dissent, The Action Elite found the film "awful", albeit "kind of better" than Part II.[1] Moria Reviews also rated the film marginally higher than the previous installment, but still found fault with Jeff Woolnough's "annoyingly posed and affected" direction.[14] Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide gave the picture two stars out of five.[15] TV Guide also gave it two out of five stars. The publication praised West and Battaglia's chemistry, but ultimately felt that the film "[wasn't] great entertainment".[16] Den of Geek called both Unfinished Business and its predecessor "flat and as uninspired as you would expect from a made-for-cable spin off".[2]

References
  1. Friel, Eoin (4 December 2015). "Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business (1999) Review". theactionelite.com. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  2. Jones, Will (22 August 2014). "The birth, death and regeneration of the Universal Soldier movies". denofgeek.com. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  3. Hoffman, Andy (15 December 1997). "On set: Universal Soldier". Playback. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  4. Wardle, Paul (September 1998). "Showtime Sequels: Universal Soldiers". Cinefantastique. Vol. 30, no. 5–6. Forrest Park: Frederick S. Clarke. pp. 12–15.
  5. Auger, Emily E. (2011). Tech-noir film: a theory of the development of popular genres. Bristol: Intellect. pp. 451–452. ISBN 9781841504247.
  6. Tine, Robert (1992). Universal Soldier. New York: Jove Books. ISBN 9780515109337.
  7. Bell, Carrie (25 June 1999). "Universal Soldier Returns, Again". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  8. Universal Soldier 2; Universal Soldier 3 (Double Feature). DVD (Media notes). TVA Films. 2002. UPC 824255050364.
  9. Universal Soldier 3. DVD (box cover) (in German). VCL. UPC 4012050547080. Ungeschnittene Fassung [...] Freigegeben ab 18 Jahren [...] 91 minuten
  10. Universal Soldier 3. DVD (box cover) (in German). VCL. UPC 4012050228484. Neu Bearbeitete Fassung [...] Freigegeben ab 16 Jahren [...] 89 minuten
  11. "Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business (1998)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  12. Craddock, Jim, ed. (2002). VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever 2003. Farmington Hills: Gale. p. 795.
  13. Chris The Brain (17 July 2020). "Bullet Points: Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business". bulletproofaction.com. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  14. Scheib, Richard (5 September 2004). "Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business (1998)". moriareviews.com. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  15. Stanley, John (August 2000). Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide. New York: Berkley Publishing.
  16. Pardi, Robert. "Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business Review". tvguide.com. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
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