Commando (film)

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Commando

Commando promotional movie poster
Directed by Mark L. Lester
Produced by Joel Silver
Written by Steven E. de Souza,
Joseph Loeb III,
Matthew Weisman
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Rae Dawn Chong
Music by James Horner
Cinematography Matthew F. Leonetti
Editing by Glenn Farr
Mark Goldblatt
John F. Link
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date(s) October 4, 1985
Running time 88 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $10,000,000 (estimated)
Gross profits $37,810,000 (USA)
IMDb profile

Commando (first released on October 4, 1985) is a Hollywood action movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Schwarzenegger plays retired Colonel John Matrix, a special forces soldier who once led an elite unit and has since left the armed forces, resigned to live a peaceful life in a secluded mountain home with his daughter Jenny (Milano). Unbeknownst to Matrix, the members of his former unit are being killed one-by-one. Despite receiving armed guards at his home, supplied by General Franklin Kirby to protect him (though Kirby admits that they are not nearly as good as Matrix), and smelling the attackers as they are down-wind Matrix is eventually found and Jenny is kidnapped.

After a shoot-out at Matrix's home and a harrowing car chase, Matrix is ultimately captured by Bennett, a former member of his unit who was presumed dead. He is then taken to meet Arius (who calls himself El Presidente), a warlord who demands that Matrix assassinate a political leader in his native land, afterwhich Arius would assume power with his personal army. If Matrix refuses, Arius will have Jenny killed. Matrix, reluctantly, accepts the demand. Matrix also meets Sully, one of Arius' men, and promises to kill him last.

While aboard an airplane destined for the nation whose leader Matrix was to assassinate, Matrix kills the man assigned to watch him, leaving his face covered with his hat and wrapped in a pillow and blanket, while instructing a flight attendant to not disturb the man, as he was "dead tired". Matrix then makes his way down to the landing gear, where he jumps out of the plane in the middle of take-off, landing in a small marsh. Setting his watch for the approximate time of the flight, Matrix sets out to find the whereabouts of Jenny before the plane lands. If he is noticeably absent Jenny will be killed. Luckily, his watch has an audible count down timer so he can monitor the amount of time remaining quite easily.

Matrix's first target is Sully. Matrix begins following Sully, who takes the time to attempt (and fail) to pick up Cindy, an off-duty flight attendant (Chong). Matrix tells Cindy of the disaster that has befallen him and Jenny, and beseechs her for her help. She somewhat reluctantly agrees. Matrix instructs her to follow Sully to a local mall, where Cindy reports Matrix as a kidnapper. After a daring battle with mall security, and after Sully identifies Matrix as being the source of chaos in the mall, a chase ensues, with Matrix (and Cindy) in pursuit of Sully. They finally catch Sully, and Matrix takes the keys to his motel room. Matrix then breaches his promise to kill Sully last and drops him off the side of a mountain. Afterwards, Cindy asks what happened to Sully, which Matrix replies, "I let him go".

The search continues at the motel, where Matrix confronts Cooke (Duke), a Green Beret. After Matrix kills Cooke (saying that he eats "Green Berets for breakfast, and, right now, I'm very hungry!"), impaling him on a table leg, he and Cindy take Cooke's car (as he won't be needing it) and drive off to an arms warehouse where they learn the location of the island where Arius' mansion is located and, presumably, where Jenny is being held.

Seeing the potential for a major firefight, Matrix breaks into a gun shop, and steals an extremely large amount of firepower ranging from pistols, shotguns and assault rifles to grenades, remote explosives, and a rocket launcher. Before he can leave with his last handful of weaponry, the police catch Matrix and arrest him, but not before most of the arsenal was already loaded in Cooke's car, which Cindy was driving. Using the rocket launcher, Cindy aids Matrix in escaping police custody and they head off to a marina where they commandeer a seaplane.

They land the plane off the coast of the island where Arius was located, and Matrix instructs Cindy to contact General Kirby, informing him that "all hell was going to break loose." Matrix rows an inflatable raft ashore wearing only a speedo, arms himself, and proceeds to Arius' villa. It is there that Matrix wages a one-man war against Arius' army, killing nearly all of them and destroying numerous buildings and vehicles as he makes his way to Arius' villa.

Once in the villa, Matrix confronts Arius in a gunfight. He kills Arius, unloading several shotgun shells into the man, when he hears Jenny calling from the basement. In the basement, Matrix finds Jenny, but not before Bennett finds Matrix, shooting him in the upper arm. Matrix convinces the sadistic Bennett to put down the chicken-shit gun and face him in a knife fight, which results in Bennett being impaled by a steam pipe (and Matrix telling him to "let off some steam").

The "war" now over, and Kirby's men finally arriving, Matrix, Cindy, and Jenny fly off into the sunset.

[edit] Reception

Commando earned $7,700,000 during its opening weekend, playing on 1,495 screens in the United States. It went on to gross $35 million in the United States and $57 million worldwide.

[edit] Weapons Used By John Matrix

[edit] Main cast

Bennett (Vernon Wells) taunts Colonel John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger) in a scene from Commando.
Bennett (Vernon Wells) taunts Colonel John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger) in a scene from Commando.

[edit] Trivia

  • The song that plays at the end credits is "We Fight For Love" (also known as "Somewhere, Somehow, Someone's Gotta Pay") by Power Station[1].
  • During the scene in the shed, after Matrix cuts the soldier's arm off, he was originally supposed to hit the victim with it and tell him to shut up. This scene was edited out as being too macabre.
  • Matrix kills 89 people on camera in Commando and quite likely dozens more off-camera with the sheer number of explosions he sets off in the island climax.
  • Following his success in the Conan movies and The Terminator (1984), producers realized that Arnold Schwarzenegger was becoming a household name. This was the first film in which he got true "top" billing. The name Schwarzenegger was placed at the top of the poster, above the title of the film. Almost every film he has starred in since has done the same.
  • Bill Duke, who plays Cooke, later played alongside Schwarzenegger again in Predator.
  • Matrix reads popular 80s music teen magazine Creem in the movie's opening scenes.
  • A sequel was considered, but never filmed; Arnold Schwarzenegger, by his own admission, was not interested.
  • John McTiernan was offered the chance to direct this film, and turned it down. Later, while editing Nomads (1986), his feature debut, he was offered the chance to direct Arnold Schwarzenegger's second film for 20th Century Fox, Predator (1987) , which he accepted.
  • The shopping mall used is the same one that was used in Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Fast Times at Ridgemont High: the Sherman Oaks Galleria.
  • The mansion used in the final shoot out between Matrix and Arius is the same mansion in the final shoot out between Axel Foley and Victor Maitland in Beverly Hills Cop (1984), and was the home of silent film star Harold Lloyd.
  • The house in the opening scene where Cooke and Diaz kill the first of Matrix's men was the home of screenwriter Steven E. de Souza.
  • This movie was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Special Effects, but lost to Back to the Future.
  • In the scene aboard the plane, one of the flight attendants is actress Chelsea Field; this film is one of her early roles. Bill Paxton also makes a small appearance as a radar operator.
  • The movie references Val Verde, a fictional country frequently used by Hollywood. The airport in the fictional country is actually Long Beach Airport.
  • Composer James Horner, who crafted the film's distinctive themes, also worked on 1986's Aliens and won an Academy Award for his score on Titanic.
  • World renowned sex therapist Ava Cadell plays the busty girl in a motel bed in the film.
  • The commercial for the fictional movie "Exploder: Evacuator Part II" in the computer game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City parodies the movie, including the plot device of the hero's family being kidnapped as well as "all hell breaking loose."
  • In the scene where Matrix dangles Sully over a cliff, an editing flaw is visible. Although it appears Sully's doom is imminent, he is completely free from harm's way, as he is supported by not only the strength of Matrix but a cable attached to his leg.
  • Shortly after Matrix kills Sully, a continuity error occurs. When Matrix flips Sully's car, damage on one side is clearly visible. However, when they drive away the car appears unscratched. Also, during the chase sequence, the driver's side rear view mirror falls off of Sully's Porsche due to contact with Matrix's car. Later during the chase it is reattached.
  • In an episode of The Simpsons Rainier Wolfcastle (a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger) references Commando while holding a piece of pie and glaring at it and says: "Remember when I said I would eat you last? I lied."

[edit] Toy line

Diamond Toymakers released a line of action figures in 1986 in an attempt to cash in on the success of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. Matrix now leads an elite special forces unit called C-Team, made up of Spex, Blaster, and Chopper, against the forces of F.E.A.R., led by Psycho and consisting of Lead-Head, Stalker, and Sawbones. There was an assortment of 4" figures, containing all of the above, a series of 8" figures, consisting of Matrix, Spex, Blaster, Psycho, Lead-Head, and Stalker. Oddly, Chopper and Sawbones are absent. Finally, there was an 18" John Matrix that came with a pistol, an M-16, and a grenade.

[edit] Soundtrack

A soundtrack album was released by Varese Sarabande on December 2, 2003 as part of the Varese Sarabande CD Club, and was limited to 3000 copies.

[edit] Track listing

  1. Prologue/Main Title (03:58)
  2. Ambush And Kidnapping (02:35)
  3. Captured (02:14)
  4. Surprise (08:19)
  5. Sully Runs (04:34)
  6. Moving Jenny (03:44)
  7. Matrix Breaks In (3:30)
  8. Infiltration, Showdown and Finale (14:32)

[edit] External links

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