Alternate versions

The original UK cinema and video versions were censored by around 15 seconds, and removed the shots where Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger) slices off the soldier's arm with the machete as well as Bennett's death to remove a shot of the pipe in his chest and the tracking shot of it sticking from his body. The 2001 UK DVD release retained these cuts and also added a further 44 seconds of distributor cuts; this was because the DVD master used for the UK release was a censored German/Scandinavian version. All cuts were fully waived in 2007 by the BBFC (although it was not released until 2015). The heavily edited 2001 UK DVD version, with a total of 56 seconds removed, was also used as the master for the initial Australian DVD release. In this version additional edits include, but are not limited to:

• In the opening scene, after Cooke (Bill Duke) has initially shot the man in the robe, he walks over to the body and shoots him again. These second hits have been removed.
• When Matrix breaks Henriques' (Charles Meshack) neck on the plane, he simply elbows him, and in the next shot, Henrqiues is already dead. The shot of Matrix snapping Henriques neck is gone.
• The shot of the piece of wood sticking through Cooke's stomach is absent.
• All close ups of the pole in Bennett's (Vernon Wells) stomach are gone.

In 2007, a Director's Cut version of the film was released containing 1 minute 41 seconds of new footage:

• In the theatrical release, when Arius (Dan Hedaya) tells Jenny (Alyssa Milano) that Matrix is cooperating and asks her if it would be nice to see him again, she responds "Not nearly as nice as watching him smash your face in." In the Director's Cut, she says, "Not nearly as nice as watching him kick your ass."
• During the scene where Matrix and Cindy (Rae Dawn Chong) follow Sully (David Patrick Kelly) from the airport to the shopping mall, there is an extra scene where she asks him his name and what he does for a living.
• After Matrix has killed Sully, there is a short scene of Arius, Bennett and Jenny arriving in Val Verde, followed by a scene of Matrix explaining to Cindy what's going on. In the Director's Cut, this scene runs longer, with Cindy asking Matrix about Jenny's mother, who Matrix says died in childbirth. He then laments how he has missed all the important moments of her life due to his work around the world. Cindy asks him why he had to do so much traveling, and what he did, to which he replies, "Things you don't want to know about. Things that sometimes I wish I didn't know about. But that part of my life is over with, all that matters to me now is Jenny."
• The tool-shed scene is longer, and contains several very brief new shots of soldiers being killed in various ways. Included amongst the new material is a brief close up of a rake piercing a soldier's belly, a shot of a saw-blade slicing a soldier's neck, a shot of the soldier who is hit in the groin with the axe grimacing in pain, and a shot of the soldier touching the stump of his arm after Matrix has cut it off.

The director's cut restores extra bits of graphic violence during the tool shed scene that were cut to get an R-rating rather than an "X".

The initial German theatrical release, as well as all subsequent TV versions and VHS releases were cut by 44 seconds. Some of the more violent scenes were removed from the toolshed scene, as were the shots of Cooke impaled on the piece of wood and Bennett impaled on the pole. The 2001 German DVD release however is uncut (SPIO/JK approval, no FSK rating). In 2010, the film was removed from the BPjM index and the FSK rated the uncut version "Not under 18".

Upon its initial release, the movie was banned twice for Swedish cinema, and never received theatrical distribution. The film was only released on Home Video when 15 minutes were cut by the distributor. However, the 2006 TV version aired in Sweden was uncut.

On several US TV versions of the film, the garden shed shootout scene only shows one soldier shooting the shed instead of the large group of soldiers as in original version.