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| Commando
Year: 1985
Classification: Action
Directed:
- Mark L.Lester
Actors/Actresses:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger as John Matrix
- Rae Dawn Chong
- Alyssa Milano
- Phil Adams
- Bill Paxton
- Branscombe Richmond
The Classic "Ah-nold" Shoot-em-up!!
Okay, so Arnold is not much of an actor. But when movie fans need him to kill the bad guys, cause some explosions and save the day, Arnold never disappoints. This time he's on the hunt for a gang of thugs who kidnapped his cute little girl, as he gets help from an airline stewardess played by Rae Dawn Chong. The both of them encounter some exciting and humorous adventures along the way -I loved when she blows up a police van in order to save Arnold. Pretty good stuff huh? A skinny airline stewardess who actually fires a rocket launcher! Anyway, this is in the tradition of entertaining Schwartzengger junk like Predator and Total Recall. We gets lots of action, cartoonish bad guys and those Arnold one-liners we know so well. And yes, Arnold says "I'll be back" in Commando as well! The film is presented on dvd in it's original format of 1.85:1, but look out for screen grain, especially during the night scenes. Except for a theatrical trailer, there are no extras on the dvd but the action of Commando is just good enough. This is a movie where you just want to sit back with popcorn and a coke, and forget about reality for 90 minutes. So if you're in the mood for a good action flick, Commando is sure to entertain you. Have fun!
Hilarious
I don't even know where to start with this epitome of the camp classic, but the brilliantly bad lines are as good a place as any. Some examples include: "I eat Green Berets for breakfast and I'm very hungry," "Please don't disturb my friend; he's dead tired," and the concluding topper, "Let off some steam, Bennett."<BR>However, the action scenes are what really make this movie. Can anyone ever forget the scene when Arnold takes on about 50 mall security officers at once? Outrageous as this and other early scenes are, they are merely preparation for the hilarious climax when Arnold takes out about 200 of the bad guy's soldiers in an open space. This fight scene includes such lowlights as Arnold hitting three guys standing in three different spots without actually moving his gun, and flowers somehow stopping bullets meant for Arnold. I still wonder why guys seem to be just running after Arnold (and into bullets) when they have perfectly useful guns right on their shoulders. Add in Arnold's wooden performance, and the outrageously over-the-top antics of the Australian actor who played his rival Bennett, and the result is one of the great bad movies ever made.
Cheezy!
Arnold Schwarzenegger plays John Matrix, a retired commando living in the mountains with his daughter, Jenny, played by an extremely young Alyssa Milano. But John's peaceful rest is ruined one day, when his daughter is kidnapped by a former President of one of those crazy "other" countries. In order to get his daughter back, John must assassinate the NEW President within the next 11 hours. John has other plans though. He kills the thug who is chaperoning him on the plane, and gets off before it leaves the ground. While the bad guys think John is on his way to do the job, he's actually in hot pursuit of THEM. One by one, he picks them off throughout the city, working his way to the big boss and his spunky daughter. <BR> I AM going to give this film some stars for fun action, but it's minimal. No, the action's not minimal, but the amount of pleasure I get from it is. But keep in mind that this is NOT my kind of movie. I never would have thought I'd be writing a review for this, but since I found myself watching it on TV the other day with nothing better to do, I figured I might as well write a review. Anyways, the thing that really ruins this movie is Rae Dawn Chong. She plays an airline pilot, or stewardess, or something, who gets pulled into the action and somehow STAYS involved. Many times in the film it seems the logical thing would be for Arnold (John) to just leave her behind, she's not part of the situation, just an innocent bystander that was only involved for a few minutes, but no, he won't let her go through the whole movie. Why is this such a problem, besides it just being silly? Well, bottom line, she is intensely annoying until she gets serious about helping out. She whines and kicks through half of her role. It is REALLY annoying. Another silly aspect of the film is the tough guy villain. Not the main one, the Australian guy who is the main thug, an ex friend of John's, and supposedly almost his physical equal. Arnold looks like the Incredible Hulk in this movie, while the Australian guy just looked like some doughy redneck dressed like a male prostitute. Not scary, and certainly no match for Arnold. There fight scene at the end was a bit on the unbelievable side.<BR> Bottom Line, if this kind of movie is your bag, and your are simply entertained by killing, blowing things up, and one-liners that don't compare to a good Bruce Campbell movie by any means, than this is something you'll probably like. I suppose it IS classic Arnold, and exactly the sort of things his hardcore fans love. But I bet even you will find Rae Dawn Chong's role annoying. By the way, this review is nothing against Arnold in general, I actually do enjoy certain films of his: True Lies, Terminator 2, Jingle All the Way...
Buy Commando at Amazon.com
Buy posters at Allposters.com
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