Commando: Director's Cut (1985)

Director: Mark L. Lester

Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vernon Wells, Bill Duke, Rae Dawn Chong, Alyssa Milano

Country: United States

Rating: R

Run Time: 91 minutes

Arnold's acting career did not get off to a great start. Films like Hercules in New York did nothing but hurt the man and make him look like a fool. However, he got fortunate when he landed the role of Conan in John Milius' 1982 opus Conan the Barbarian, one of the definitive sword and sorcery films. He than followed up that film with The Terminator, his breakout hit that solidified his action stardom. However, both of those films were mature genre pictures that more or less demanded serious performances from Arnold. It wasn't until 1985's Commando when the Arnold that we know now, the fun and self aware bad ass, came into fruition thanks to an extremely tongue in cheek script by Steven E. de Souza and an excessive amount of action courtesy of Mark L. Lester.

Commando is the definitive representation of 80s action. It celebrates excessive violence, larger than life heroes, and machismo as if it were going out of style. Both Commando and Rambo: First Blood Part II helped define the 'one man army' genre picture in 1985 with their over the top portrayals of men on a mission and memorable shots of sweaty muscular bound men wielding heavy machine guns. It should be stated up front that Commando is not a great film per say, as its story is in no way engrossing and its characters in no way realistic. However, it's a damn fun film and arguably one of the most entertaining action pictures of all time. Commando is about as great as a purely entertaining popcorn picture can get without being remotely serious, thematic, or political.

Just about every shot is as manly and iconic as this.

John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a former Delta Force operator and a current single father of one, living a happy life of solitude with his daughter Jenny (Alyssa Milano). However, old skeletons from his closet come knocking on his door when his former superior warns him of numerous attacks on old members of his unit. Just after Matrix's superior leaves him, armed mercenaries storm his home and kidnap both Matrix and his daughter. Matrix soon discovers that Darius (Dan Hadeya), a former dictator of South America, and Bennett (Vernon Wells), a psychopathic former member of his unit, are behind everything.

Darius wants Matrix to murder the current dictator of South America or else he will kill his daughter Jenny. However, Matrix refuses to go along with the plan and escapes the plane that would have taken him to South America. Matrix now has 12 hours to find his daughter Jenny before the plane lands without him and alerts Darius of his failure to comply. What follows is an hour and a half of straight gun fights, fist fights, and hilarious one-liners in what is arguably Arnold's most entertaining film to date.

While some people may consider Rambo: First Blood Part II to be the ultimate 'man on a mission' film, I have always preferred Commando for its shameless violence and gratuitous level of entertainment. Commando has all of the excessive action and high body count of a mid-80s Rambo film but without all of the political subtext and controlling fingers of one Sylvester Stallone. Therefore, Commando is the perfect film to pop in for a light and entertaining watch.

Vernon Wells brings all of his Road Warrior crazy to Commando.

It's important to point out that Arnold's films have always been more successful because he trusted his directors or producers and placed himself into their hands as an actor ready to entertain while Stallone always took control of nearly every one of his projects by making himself the screenwriter, producer, or director. One look at both icons' filmographies will reveal that Stallone has always been self conscious about his image while Arnold simply seemed to have the time of his life with both the filmmakers he trusted and the films he made. Commando is nothing but a good time, and sometimes that's exactly what I demand from my entertainment. There is a time and place for the politics of Rambo, but blending political melodrama with over the top action of Rambo: First Blood Part II makes it harder to take Stallone's message seriously. First Blood? Nailed it. First Blood Part II? Not so much.

Commando opens with arguably one of the cheesiest credits of all time as Matrix and his daughter hang out with one another. They feed a deer, eat ice cream, practice karate, and play in a pool together all set to James Horner's amazing score. It's hard to explain, but I can't help but laugh when I see 80s era Arnold laugh. The dude has a hilarious smile.

In a sense, Commando was the original Taken. Both films tell a story about what a father will do in order to get his daughter back from her captors. The big difference between them though is that Commando is an escapist fantasy whereas Taken is a captivating and realistic drama. One look at the two's kill counts says it all: Matrix kills over 100 people in his wake to get to his daughter while Mills kills around 20 to 30. Sure, Mills is a lethal force to be reckoned with. But Matrix is an unstoppable killing machine who might as well be the physical incarnation of death. He literally, and I exaggerate in no way, takes on an entire army in the film's infamous final action scene and kills every single poor soul who dares to get in his way. The beat down that John Matrix dishes out on Darius and his men is the ultimate revenge befitting of their heinous crimes.

Matrix takes down an entire army as if it were nothing.

All of the action sequences in Commando are primed to be as ridiculous and entertaining as possible. We see Matrix take on a squadron of mall cops, massacre an entire army of armed soldiers, and even throw a pipe clean through a man's chest only for steam to come out of it. I'm pretty certain that Commando features Arnold highest on screen kill count, or at least features the most individual deaths by Arnold's hands. Commando is 80s action at its finest and most entertaining, backed by one of the greatest arsenals of one liners in action-dom.

Commando might have the greatest selection of Arnold one liners in all of his filmography next to Predator and Total Recall thanks to lines like, "I'll be back, Bennett," "Please don't wake my friend he's dead tired," "Remember when I told you I'd save you for last Sully? I lied," "Let's party," and the all time classic, "Let off some steam, Bennett." It was here where the self aware bad ass that we know Arnold as now was born; an action star so bad ass and humorous that you couldn't help but love him for giving you exactly what you wanted to see on the big screen.

Commando also excels as a Joel Silver production because it features a fantastic selection of Joel Silver players and other recognizable character actors from the 80s and 90s. We are treated to a menacing henchman performance by Bill Duke (Predator, Action Jackon), a one scene appearance by Carlos Cervantes (Scarface, Extreme Prejudice), another psychotic and villainous turn by Vernon Wells (The Road Warrior), a scummy and hilarious appearance by David Patrick Kelly (The Warriors), a very racist but still enjoyable lead villain by Dan Hedeya (Blood Simple), and a blink and you'll miss it cameo by Bill Paxton (Aliens, Predator 2). Even though Arnold is enough to hold any action fan's attention, each and every one of these bad ass character actors helps the film that much more.

Realism.

I love Commando, plain and simple. Just about every action fan does. Whereas The Terminator has the more gripping themes, Conan the Barbarian has the more epic story, and Predator has the most tension, Commando is the most purely entertaining and well rounded of any Arnold film to date. It has all of the laughs, gore, and drama that you want from an action film, but without any of the complex characters or deep themes that make other action classics good films stripped of their action. Although not a perfect film in its own right, Commando is one of the all time action classics, and a must watch along side First Blood and Die Hard if you are to understand the decade that is 80s action. If you ever meet someone who can't enjoy Commando, then outright end that friendship John Matrix style by dropping them off a cliff.

Rating: 9/10 - A silly but unabashedly entertaining 'man on a mission' film in which Arnold lays waste to an entire army.