In 1969, a U.S. Army team secures a village against North Vietnamese forces. Luc Deveraux discovers members of his squad and villagers murdered. Deveraux's sergeant, Andrew Scott, has gone insane and is holding a young couple hostage. Deveraux tries to reason with Scott, who executes the man and orders Deveraux to shoot the girl. Deveraux refuses, and Scott kills the girl with a grenade. After shooting each other to death, Deveraux and Scott's corpses are recovered by a second squad and cryogenically frozen, their disappearance classified as missing in action.
Deveraux's and Scott's corpses, with others, are reanimated decades later for the Universal Soldier (UniSol) program, an elite counter-terrorism unit. They are given a neural serum to keep their minds susceptible and their memories suppressed. The team demonstrates its superior training and physical abilities against terrorists, but Deveraux regains memories from his former life upon seeing two hostages that resemble the Vietnamese villagers. Deveraux disobeys commands from the control team and becomes unresponsive.
In the mobile command center, the UniSols are revealed to be genetically augmented soldiers with enhanced self-healing abilities and superior strength, but they overheat and shut down. Because of the glitch, Woodward, one of the technicians on the project, suggests removing Deveraux from the team, but UniSol commander Colonel Perry refuses. TV journalist Veronica Roberts tries to get a story on the UniSol project. Roberts sneaks onto the base with a cameraman, discovering GR76 immersed in ice, still alive despite normally fatal injuries.
When Roberts is discovered, Deveraux and Scott are ordered to capture her dead or alive. She flees to her cameraman's car, but they crash. Scott murders the cameraman against orders. Deveraux rescues Roberts, and they escape in a UniSol vehicle. To protect the program, Colonel Perry sends the remaining UniSols to find Deveraux and Roberts.
Deveraux and Roberts flee to a motel, where Roberts discovers she has been framed for the murder of her cameraman. Deveraux collapses from overheating and has to take an ice bath. The UniSols destroy the motel, but Deveraux and Roberts hide in a bed until they leave. The couple flees in a stolen car to a gas station, where Deveraux has Roberts remove a tracking device from his leg. They set a trap and when the UniSols arrive the gas station explodes. Colonel Perry is ordered to terminate the mission, but Scott's insanity returns, and he kills Perry and all but two doctors. Deveraux and Roberts sneak onto the command center bus and steal UniSol documents. Scott orders the rest of the mindlessly obedient UniSol team to kill Deveraux and Roberts.
Spoken languages: English
Subtitles: Danish,Swedish,Norwegian,Finnish
