Wikipedia

Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business

Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Businessis a 1998 Americanmade-for-televisionscience fiction filmdirected byJeff Woolnoughand starringMatt Battaglia,Chandra West,Jeff Wincott,Richard McMillan,andBurt Reynolds.LikeUniversal 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 starringJean-Claude Van Dammeagain,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
Original release
NetworkShowtime
ReleaseOctober 24, 1998(1998-10-24)
Related
Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms

Plot

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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 theUniversal Soldierunit. After a hostage situation mistakenly leaves Veronica a fugitive, the two escape the city and go into hiding.

Meanwhile,CIA Deputy DirectorMentor (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 theU.S. government,up to theWhite Housefrom which a voice impersonating then presidentBill Clintonanswers Risco's activation signal.[1][2]

Cast

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Production

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

Unfinished Businessand its predecessorBrothers in Armswere primarily shot inSouthern Ontarioover 42 days[3][4]spread between 27 October[3]and 23 December 1997.[4]Downsview Military Basewas 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 aFairchild C-123 Providerto 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-dayblizzard.[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 abackronym,as the G.R. prefix found in each UniSol's identifier is revealed to be derived from his initials.[5]In thenovelizationof the first film's script byRobert Tine,G.R. stood forGrave Registration.[6]

The ending was left open for a potential regularseries.Threesyndicatorshad reportedly expressed interest at the time of filming, but it did not materialize.[3]

Release

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Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Businesspremiered ontelevisiononThe Movie Channel,asister channelofShowtime,on 24 October 1998. It was released onVHSbyParamount Home Videoon 13 July 1999.[7]

Unfinished Businessreceived a 2002 DVD release byTVA Filmsin Canada, as part of adouble featurethat also includes the previous installmentBrothers in Arms.[8]

SomeGermanhome videoversions of the film are sold asNeu Bearbeitete Fassung(Newly Edited Version), but this merely indicates that they are cut for violence.[9][10]

Reception

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Critical response

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Review aggregatorRotten TomatoesgivesUniversal Soldier III: Unfinished Businessa 20% approval rating based on 5 reviews, with anaverage ratingof 4.4/10.[11]

Among reviewers not referenced by the mainaggregators,reception was also poor.VideoHoundrated the film one and a half on a scale of zero to four, slightly lower thanPart II.[12]Bulletproof Actionsimilarly decreed that "Brothers in Armswas no masterpiece [...] But things still managed to go downhill inUnfinished Business".[13]

In a mild dissent,The Action Elitefound the film "awful", albeit "kind of better" thanPart II.[1]Moria Reviewsalso rated the film marginally higher than the previous installment, but still found fault withJeff Woolnough's "annoyingly posed and affected" direction.[14]Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guidegave the picture two stars out of five.[15]TV Guidealso 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 Geekcalled bothUnfinished Businessand its predecessor "flat and as uninspired as you would expect from a made-for-cable spin off".[2]

References

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  1. ^abFriel, Eoin (4 December 2015)."Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business(1999) Review ".theactionelite.com.Retrieved6 September2022.
  2. ^abJones, Will (22 August 2014)."The birth, death and regeneration of the Universal Soldier movies".denofgeek.com.Retrieved31 December2022.
  3. ^abcdeHoffman, Andy (15 December 1997)."On set:Universal Soldier".Playback.Retrieved6 September2022.
  4. ^abcdWardle, 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.ISBN9781841504247.
  6. ^Tine, Robert (1992).Universal Soldier.New York: Jove Books.ISBN9780515109337.
  7. ^Bell, Carrie (25 June 1999)."Universal SoldierReturns, Again ".Entertainment Weekly.Retrieved6 September2022.
  8. ^Universal Soldier 2;Universal Soldier 3(Double Feature).DVD(Media notes). TVA Films. 2002.UPC824255050364.
  9. ^Universal Soldier 3.DVD(box cover) (in German). VCL.UPC4012050547080.Ungeschnittene Fassung [...] Freigegeben ab 18 Jahren [...] 91 minuten
  10. ^Universal Soldier 3.DVD(box cover) (in German). VCL.UPC4012050228484.Neu Bearbeitete Fassung [...] Freigegeben ab 16 Jahren [...] 89 minuten
  11. ^"Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business(1998) ".Rotten Tomatoes.Fandango Media.RetrievedDecember 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.Retrieved6 September2022.
  14. ^Scheib, Richard (5 September 2004)."Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business(1998) ".moriareviews.com.Retrieved6 September2022.
  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 BusinessReview ".tvguide.com.Retrieved6 September2022.
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