Commando (1985)

Simply Perfect

Don't Believe the Hype

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

This is one of those timeless classics from Arnold Schwarzenegger that you do not get tired of watching, despite knowing the storyline so well already.The movie is from 1985 and is definitely one of the defining movies in the early stages of Schwarzenegger's action movie career."Commando" has a heap of action, and actually has a good story and of course it is crammed with one-liners.Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rae Dawn Chong carry the movie quite nicely, while Vernon Wells in the role of the main bad guy was just laughable because of the way the character was written and the fact that he wore a chainmail shirt throughout the entire movie.There are lots of mistakes in the movie, with the obvious ones being Sully's yellow Porsche that alternates between having a severely damaged chassis to being in mint condition and then going back to being severely damaged. But also the numerous scenes where it is painstakingly obvious that it is a stunt double for Schwarzenegger performing the action sequences.But all in all, a very entertaining action movie filled with nostalgia.

I consider this the most Arnold of all Arnold Schwarzenegger action films, meaning it's a wildly cartoony 1980s style action film. However, if you actually take a close look at Arnold's filmography, he really did not make very many of these types of these overblown actions films that Stallone seemed to endlessly make. Arnold was just coming off his massive success with "The Terminator" (this film does have Arnold say "F— you, a—hole." and "I'll be back.") and he no longer had to swing a sword and wear a loincloth to earn his paycheck. In this film he plays John Matrix, a retired special forces commando who's daughter (Alyssa Milano) is kidnapped by South American despot, the great (and badly miscast), Dan Hedaya, so he can blackmail Arnold into working for him. Also working for Hedaya is the terrifically smarmy David Patrick Kelly and Vernon "The Road Warrior" Wells as a former commando buddy of Arnold's who's now changed sides. The film was written by Steven E. de Souza, who's 80s action films were always complete comic book fantasies and never made any attempt at realism. He also was probably the worst offender of cheesy one liners after someone is killed or injured by the film's hero. One line from this film, "Let off some steam." is probably my all-time favorite bad one-liner in an action film. Another action film cliché is mis-matched partners, which in this film is Arnold being helped by airline stewardess Rae Dawn Chong, who actually does a very good job of being funny and charming and more of a real person trapped in an overblown action film. You also get Bill Duke as a thug, and very small early role for Chelsea Field and Bill Paxton. Produced by Joel Silver ("Lethal Weapon," "Die Hard," "The Matrix," etc.), photographed by Matthew F. Leonetti ("Red Heat," "Strange Days," "Dawn of the Dead"), and edited by Mark Goldblatt ("Rambo: First Blood Park II," "The Terminator 1 & 2," "The Last Boy Scout"), this film has quite an action film pedigree that's hard to beat. You also get a classic muscular 80s style score from composer James Horner, who first cut his teeth in the business composing scores for action, horror, and sci-fi films, and later went on to work on more prestige of projects like "Field of Dreams," "Titanic," "Braveheart," "Apollo 13," and "Glory." If I'm not mistaken, I think I've heard this score re-used in a number of Hong Kong action films. I think my main complaint about this film is that director Mark L. Lester does not really bring a lot to the picture. The action is lacking any kind of excitement or suspense. There are some good hand- to-hand fight sequences, but I think that's more to the credit of the fight choreographers than Lester. I will give Lester credit for some ironic laughs, such as Arnold's initial reveal, which is done by a close-up shot of big boots, a close-up of a big chainsaw, a close-up of a big bicep, back to the boots again, and then the other big bicep, and finally Arnold's big head carrying a big log on his shoulder. I was also amused by a charmingly dated pre-cell phone scene where a David Patrick Kelly has to steal a quarter and race to a phone booth to make a call before before Arnold can stop him. Overall, this is a complete cheesy action film, but Arnold is good in the lead and outside of bland direction is a well crafted action film.

I've recently decided to start an Arnold Schwarznegger movie marathon,and I started with this one.First,the good,the action of course,very well choreographed and memorable,this movie almost felt like a video game,besides all the shootouts,there was a great knife fight.The pacing,the action is nonstop,so the movie goes by fast,but not too fast.The characters,they are decently acted,and are all memorable.The addition of Rae Dawn Chong's character was one I liked,she provided some much needed comedy to balance the over the top nature of this movie.The music,while outdated,is fun and fits the film perfectly.The best part of the movie,Arnold,of course,he is so entertaining,spitting out one liners and being super intimidating,while he may seem unrealistic in the climax,it makes sense because throughout they show his strength,which is a lot more than the average person.Now,the bad,the acting at times isn't that great,and sometimes the stupidity is pretty high.Commando is a highly entertaining action movie that is nearly perfect.

A Commando movie? Here it is! Wow! A great one! Just look at the tagline. A huge achievement in the "funny action movie" genre with a mind blowing budget of 10 000 000 $.a commando movieDirector Marc L. Lester known for such classics in the genre as the Stephen King's adaptation "Firestarter","Showdown in little Tokyo" and much more, has done a great job , helping Arnie to show all of his potential in this blasting roller coaster .There aren't any known names in the cast, to draw your attention off from Arnold, like for example Sharon Stone does in "Total Recall".The Plot:The plot is far from original but this is not so important, simply because only a retard would expect deep character development and story narrowing like in the "Godfather".Arnold is John Matrix, a very tough badass (what do you expect) and retired elite Commando who lives a peaceful live in the forest until one day several pricks kidnap his little daughter in order to blackmail him to lead a revolution and to give the power back to an evil dictator.This is a Funny Action Movie because:From the first scene in which Arnold appears, you have to be impressed by his strength and the shape of his muscles. The guy is walking in the forest and carrying a gigantic tree on his shoulder, looking like a lethal killing machine. Basically, in every scene he is beating his chest and screaming "I am the bodybuilding itself".Basically, in every scene he is beating his chest and screaming "I am the bodybuilding itself".And it really looks like Arnie is shooting the film between his chest training breaks. He's full of protein, testosterone and ready to explode. It is very funny when he is cutting woods as well, or when he is naked and playing with his beloved daughter in the river. How sweet Daddy he is! It is a bit like watching Rambo feeding little puppies.The dialogue is so hilarious and dumb that you keep thinking that some 5-year-old kid is the screenwriter. Mr. Schwarzenegger's acting is as stiff as usual, so you definitely won't be disappointed.There are plenty of ridiculous lines as well. For instance, when John Matrix promises to a bad guy that he will kill him last but he kills him before the others (because of the steroids washed his brain) by throwing him off of a rock, this goes like this "Remember, Matrix, when you told me that you will kill me last. " With a cold look on his rocky face, Matrix confesses "I lied!!!!!!" and throws him away. Of course, this line is shaped with a significant amount of hilarious Austrian accent.Happily, there are plenty of such lines like for example "Right? –"Wrong" as is the answer of Arnold after shooting one poor bad guy in the stomach and he dies, being probably the 345th victim of the cold-blooded Commando.The grand finale of the movie can make you feel pain in the cheeks from laughing while you are questioning yourself "How one could make such a movie and meant it to be serious?!" John Matrix is shooting with a machine gun in the dictator's quarters and kills approximately a thousand of mercenaries without even a scratch on his body.Conclusion:You need to be ashamed if you love the Arnold flicks and you've missed this one. It is one of his best and definitely worth your time if you want to make a six-pack without doing even one exercise.Go watch it and tell me what do you think about it after your laughing spasms stop! If they do.funnyactionmovies.com