Commando: "I'll be back, Bennett!"

Right OK time to get one or two more posts under way given that its the start of the year and during the horrible weather period that is January might aswell keep busy with the reviews indoors! (well it may depend on how lazy I am!).  So this one will be on the 80's action classic, Commando starring a musclebound Arnold Schwarzenegger (as pictured above with the infamous rocket launcher) which was released back n 1985 and is now 30 years old!  So let's get on the flak jacket, gear up the rocket launcher and the M16 and have a look at this one.....

So the story begins with three former delta force operatives being killed by a mercanary named Cooke (Bill Duke).  John Matrix (Arnie) who is a former Colonel in the delta force team is informed of his previous team member's deaths by his former superior officer, General Kirby (James Olson).  Not long after Kirby departs, Matrix is attacked by the mercaneries who kidnap his daughter, Jenny (Alyssa Milano) and he himself is soon captured and one of them turns out to be one of his former delta force team, the sadistic Bennett (Vernon Wells) who was presumed dead but is out for revenge for Matrix having kicked him out of his unit.  Matrix is then taken to a warehouse where he faces a South American dictator, Arius (Dan Hedaya) who wants Matrix to carry out a political assassination in Val Verde, who warns him if he doesn't carry out the assassination that Jenny will be killed.  Matrix then boards a plane to fly out to Val Verde along with one of Ariu's men, Henriques, who Matrix kills and he manages to jump off the plane just as it is about to take off.  Matrix then times his watch to countdown 11 hours, which is the time it will take for the plane to fly to Val Verde and he then sets off to find one of Arius's other men, Sully (David Patrick Kelly).

Matrix follows Sully to the airport and Sully eyes up a flight attendant, Cindy (Rae Dawn Chong) whom he unsuccessfully tries to flirt with.  Matrix then after forces Cindy to drive and follow Sully to a shopping mall, where Sully meets with another contact.  Matrix tries persuade Cindy to approach and lure Sully to him and he explains that his daughter will be killed if she doesn't help him.  Cindy instead alerts two local cops at the mall to arrest Matrix, who quickly overpowers them and he chases Sully in Cindy's car and he eventually rams and tumbles Sully's car and drags him out of it.  Matrix then dangles Sully over a cliff, who tells him that Cooke knows where his daughter is being held after which Matrix drops Sully off the cliff to his death.  Matrix then drives with Cindy to a hotel where Sully was to meet Cooke, enroute Cindy decides to help Matrix in his task to find Jenny.  At the hotel Matrix fights with Cooke in one of the rooms and kills him, taking his car key he searches Cooke's car and finds out where Jenny is being held after Matrix sneaks into a factory owned by Arius and finds some maps, he pinpoints the location of Arius's hideout.  Matrix then breaks into a weapons store and steals some guns and a rocket launcher to help him fight against Arius's men but he is arrested by the police before he can leave but Cindy afterward rescues Matrix by using the rocket launcher they had taken from the store, which upturns the police van he is held in.  The two of them then drive off to a harbour and commandeer a seaplane and fly out to Arius's island hideout, where Matrix arms himself to the teeth with guns and a flak jacket he makes his way onto the island and wages bloody war against Arius's army in an effort to find and rescue his daughter from the evil clutches of Arius and Bennett....

There is no doubt that Commando is one of Arnie's most entertaing and proposterous action films which saw him further seal his reputation as an action film star after his sucess with The Termaintor the year before.  The film's violence can be a bit over the top at times but it is also done very tongue in cheek so it never feels like it is overly excessive and it is an action film after all!  The film itself over the years has also had some controversy with the British film censors and the film was heavily censored for the British DVD release and two scenes in particular that were trimmed were the scene where Matrix severs the arm of one of Arius's soldiers and also the scene where (PLOT SPOILER) Bennet meets his demise after Matrix impales him with a piece of lead piping.  Although the film was later released as the uncut theatrical version for its Blu-ray release in which these scenes were restored.

Performance wise it has to be said that Commando isn't too bad overall, and whilst Arnie is far from a great actor he uses his onscreen charisma and presence well here in his role as the retired colonel John Matrix and he handles the physical side of the action effortlessly with his powerful physique.  Arnie also get's some good scenes and lines as well in the film, such as the scene where just after his daughter is kidnapped he faces one of Arius's men who tells he must cooperate and the man says "Right??" and Matrix says "Wrong!" and shoots him in the head with his rifle!  Also later on there is the scene Matrix is taken to the airport and Sully says to him "Have a few beers on us in Val Verde and we'll have more time with your daughter!" and Matrix replies "You're a funny guy, Sully.  I like you.  That's why I'm gonna kill you last!".  And as Bennett taunts Matrix about how he decided to do the job for nothing, Matrix angrily says "I'll be back, Bennett!".  And later on as Matrix captures and dangles Sully from a cliff he reminds "Remember when I said I promised to kill you last?  I lied!" and he drops him.  And just after he get's back in Cindy's car, Cindy asks what he did with Sully and Matrix quips "I let him go".  Another fun moment is where Matrix fights with Cooke at the hotel, and Cooke taunts him by saying he was a green beret and Matrix retorts "I eat green berets for breakfast.  And right now, I'm very hungry!".  And then there is scene where Matrix and Cindy board the seaplane and desparately try to get it going and Matrix thumps the controls saying "Come on you piece of shit!  Fly or die!" and then the engines start up and Matrix says "Works every time".  And just prior to Matrix infiltrating Arius's island, as he get's into a raft to row to shore he says to Cindy "Don't break radio silence until they see me" and Cindy asks how she will know "Because all fucking hell is gonna break loose!".  And as Matrix has his final confrontation with Bennett he riles him up into taking him on in hand to hand combat by saying "Come on, Bennett, throw away that chicken shit gun.  You don't want deprive yourself of some pleasure.  You want to put a knife in me and look me in the eye when you turn it!  Come on, Bennett.  Let's party!".  And as Matrix finally kills off Bennett, he delivers an immortal one-liner as he throws the lead pipe into Bennett's chest and he says "Let off some steam, Bennett!".

Vernon Wells without a doubt is pretty hammy in his role as the main villain, Bennett, but he also has some fun with the part as he appears to relish in it.  Wells does have some good moments in the film aswell, such as the scene where he reveals himself to be working with Arius's men and he says to him "Ever since you had me thrown out of your unit, I waited to pay you back.  You know what today is Matrix?  Payday!" and he shoots Matrix with a tranqueliser dart.  Another good moment from Wells is when Bennett listens to one of Arius's men who teases him by saying "Slitting a little girl's throat is like cutting warm butter" and Bennett simply says "Put the knife away and shut your mouth!".  And he talks with Arius afterward saying "I really love listening to your little piss-ant soldiers trying to talk tough.  They make me laugh.  If Matrix were here, he would laugh too".  And as Arius says his soldiers are patriots, Arius says "You soldiers are nothing!  Matrix and I can kill every single one of them in the blink of an eye!".  And later on as Matrix confronts Bennett and Matrix riles up Bennett, Bennett who holds Jenny at knifepoint says "I don't need the girl!  I don't need no gun!  I'M GONNA KILL YOU NOW!".  And as Bennett and Matrix start fighting, Bennett slashes Matrix in the chest and says "You're getting old, John!".  But later as Matrix overpowers Bennett in their fight, Bennett says "John I'm not gonna shoot you between the eyes.  I'm gonna shoot you between the balls!" just before Matrix finishes off bennett with the lead pipe.

Rae Dawn Chong is good in her part either as Cindy, the flight attendant who ends up helping Matrix to get his daughter back.  Rae plays Cindy as being a bit bitchy at first but she becomes a bit more engaging in the film as it goes on.  And Rae also has some good moments such as the scene where Cindy is hassled by Sully at the airport, who flirts with her and says "Come on you don't know what you're missing!" and Cindy snaps back "From here it looks like a nightmare.  Would you please leave me alone!".  Then there is the scene where Matrix forces Cindy to follow Sully and she asks "Can you tell me what this is all about" and Matrix tells her "Sure, I guess I trusted for years wants me dead" and she says "That's understandable.  I've only known you for five minutes and I want you dead, too!".  And later on when Matrix fights with Cooke at the hotel, Cindy ducks underneath a table as they do and Matrix says "I eat green berets for breakfast!" she says "I can't believe this macho bullshit!".  Also during the scene where Matrix and Cindy take the seaplane, Cindy desparately tries to start it up and she yells "God, this plane is as old as I am!".

In other roles Dan Hedaya is fairly good as the dictator, Arius who forces Matrix to carry out a political assassination to kill the president of Val Verde.  Hedaya has a good scene in his intro sequence where he tells Matrix about the assassination and he says "Now that I have you, you will do exactly as I tell you" but Matrix remains defiant and angrily says "fuck you!".  And then Arius has Jenny brought out in a chair, tied up and gagged and held at knife point, Arius tells him "If you carry out the job she will be returned to you unharmed, but if you don't I will mail her to you in pieces!".  And later after Arius receives the phone call from his men after they discover that Matrix wasn't on the plane when it arrived in Val Verde, he says to Bennett "He was not on the plane.  Kill her!".  David Patrick Kelly also is good as the sleazy mercenary Sully, who Matrix later chases, and he has a good moment where Sully follows Cindy to her car and says "You know I've got something I'd really like to give you" and as Cindy tells him she's not interested he says "Come on, you don't know what you're missing" and she tells him to go away, he angrily says "You fuckin whore!" and walks off.

And the last few cast members I will mention are to start with Bill Duke, who is actually very good in his role as the cold mercenary, Cooke, who at the start kills off Matrix's former operatives.  And the opening scenes for Duke are his best, starting with when Cooke kills one of Matrix's men who runs out to remind the bin men about his rubbish bins and he says to them "I thought you'd miss me" and Cooke takes out an uzi and says "Don't worry, we won't!" and shoots him dead.  And in the next scene where Cooke bumps off another one of Matrix's men, who is now at this point a car salesman, he delivers one of his best lines when he get's in a car at the showroom and says to the salesman "You know what I like best?  The price." and proceeds to run over the salesman and crash out of the store and drive away.  Alyssa Milano in her role as Matrix's daughter, Jenny fairs well enough and her best moment comes when she is held captive by Arius who tells her "You're father appears to be cooperating.  You will be back with him soon.  Now won't that be nice?" and Jenny says "Not nearly as nice as watching him smash your face in!".  James Olson even though he has a brief part is good as Kirby, Matrix's former superior officer, who after receives the radio call from Cindy when Matrix has stormed Arius's island "Keep on the airwaves and let me know if you hear anything unusual" and the soldier asks what he is expecting and Kirby says "World war three!".  And last of all Bill Paxton appears in a very small role in the film, probably prior to his success in Aliens, as a radar operator who warns Cindy to not fly over a restricted airspace, and as Cindy flies the seaplane underneath the radar, the plane goes off the radar and the operator says "We lost them, sir!".

Getting onto the director, Mark L. Lester does a fine job with Commando and he effortlessly handles the film's action scenes and he keeps the film going at a very taut pace given its short running time of only 90 minutes, there is no room for flab and its pacing overall is very tight.  Lester also provides the film with some good tongue in cheek humour which helps mitigate the film's violence aswell.  Music wise the film is not too bad either as it features a score from James Horner, who employs the use of steel drums to give the score a slightly different feel than your average Hollywood action movie soundtrack.  Although it has to be said that it is very similar sounding to Horner's score from 48 hours so if you shut your eyes you might imagine its the same film.

As for flaws......yes OK Commando is not perfect, but it never aimed to be to be fair as it is largely just a mindless action movie.  And of course if any flaw or niggle is to be raised here its just how utterly proposterous the whole thing is in that Matrix is a one-man killing machine who no doubt will have racked a body count in the hundreds throughout the film and not to mention he also assaulted several police officers during the mall scene aswell as breaking and entering a weapons and ammunitions store, but no doubt after the end of the film he will get off scot free with no police charges or anything, given his former army status, I'm sure Kirby would get him off the hook as it is a Hollywood film after all!  It also has to be said overall it is a pretty flimsy plot and I think there is a poor connection in how Matrix actually managed to figure out where Jenny is being held by simply sneaking into Arius's warehouse and finding some maps, which before you know reveals that location of Arius's hideout.  It just appears to be pretty convenient, or perhaps Bennett secretly left a trail of breadcrumbs to lead him right to Arius so they could have it out.  Then there is Bennett himself who is a pretty cheesy villain and there are some almost homoerotic overtones to his character, which is particularly noted in the scene where Matrix confronts Bennett at the end of the film and Matrix taunts him into fighting him, Bennett gives an almost lecherous and lustful look like he is ready to hump Matrix rather than kill him!

But that aside Commando is still a highly entertaining and ridiculous action film, which is worth a watch to this day and makes for a perfect Satruday night movie in, especially during the crappy weather just now in January!

So with that I shall see you's later.