Commando (film)

Commando
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mark L. Lester
Produced by	Joel Silver
Screenplay by	Steven E. de Souza
Story by	Steven E. de Souza Joseph Loeb III Matthew Weisman
Starring	Arnold Schwarzenegger Rae Dawn Chong Dan Hedaya Vernon Wells Alyssa Milano Bill Duke David Patrick Kelly James Olson
Music by	James Horner
Cinematography	Matthew F. Leonetti
Editing by	Glenn Farr Mark Goldblatt John F. Link
Studio	Silver Pictures
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	October 4, 1985 (1985-10-04)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$10 million
Box office	$57,491,000

Commando is a 1985 American action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vernon Wells, Rae Dawn Chong, Alyssa Milano, Bill Duke, Dan Hedaya and James Olson. It was directed by Mark L. Lester and shot on location in and around Los Angeles, California.

The film was nominated for a Saturn Award in 1986 for Best Special Effects but lost to James Cameron's Aliens, another movie with music provided by James Horner from Commando. A critical success and commercial hit, Commando is the 7th highest grossing movie of 1985 worldwide.

Plot

Arnold Schwarzenegger as John Matrix, firing an M202A1 FLASH rocket launcher.

Retired Special Forces operative Colonel John Matrix (Schwarzenegger) is informed by Major General Franklin Kirby (Olson) that all the other members of his unit have been killed by unknown mercenaries. Despite being given protection, the mercenaries attack Matrix's secluded mountain home, kill Kirby's men, and kidnap John's young daughter Jenny (Milano). As she is the only thing he truly loves, Matrix desperately gives chase, but his truck crashes. He is cornered by a group of thugs, but fights them off. They over power Matrix and he is shot with a tranquilizer gun by Bennett (Wells), who was believed to have been assassinated also.

Matrix is shown his daughter, who has been bound and gagged. Bennett explains that Matrix is needed to carry out a political assassination for Arius (Hedaya) (who calls himself "El Presidente") and his army of former U.S. soldiers and mercenaries, among them Bennett, who was dishonourably discharged by Matrix for his disregard for human life and order and has now joined Arius in retribution. Arius is a warlord and dictator who was previously overthrown by Matrix in a revolution staged by the U.S.. He now wishes to lead a military coup in his home country, Val Verde, and reasons that Matrix's familiarity with the country's new U.S. puppet leader will aid in an assassination attempt. As Arius has Jenny, Matrix reluctantly accepts the demand.

After boarding an airplane to take him to Val Verde, Matrix instead kills his captor, Henriques, who was to make sure he stayed on the plane, and jumps into a swamp just as the plane is taking off from the runway. Matrix then sets his watch timer for the approximate time of 11 hours of the flight. Subsequently, he 'kidnaps' an off-duty flight attendant named Cindy (Chong), and pulls the seat out of her car, which would allow him to not be seen. Matrix tells Cindy he needs her help, and convinces her to follow Sully (David Patrick Kelly) to a shopping mall, where Sully is making a deal. Matrix asks Cindy to talk to Sully again as a ruse (earlier, she had told him to go away after he unsuccessfully tried to get together with her). Instead, she alerts the guards to Matrix, and a huge fight breaks out between Matrix and the security guards, which Sully witnesses. Seeing that Matrix has somehow got off the flight, he tries to find a phone to make contact with Bennett. Matrix rips out the phone booth with Sully still inside then fights security while chasing Sully. At a crucial moment Cindy incapacitates a guard for Matrix and joins him, now also being targeted by security guards. Sully reaches the garage with Matrix in hot pursuit. After a lengthy car pursuit, Sully is forced off the road and his car goes on its side. Grabbing Sully, Matrix finds the keys for the Sunspot motel where Sully is to meet Cooke (Bill Duke). Matrix dangles Sully by his ankle over a cliff and then drops him to his death.

Matrix and Cindy go to the motel and ambush Cooke. After a fight, Cooke is impaled on the leg of an overturned table. An invoice in Cooke's car outside leads them to a warehouse filled with armaments for Arius' coup. Matrix infiltrates the warehouse and learns where Arius' mansion is located (and where Jenny is presumably being held). He then breaks into a surplus store that happens to contain a huge selection of advanced military weapons and explosives in a secret room. He steals a one-man arsenal of both small arms, explosives and heavy weapons, whereupon he is arrested. Cindy helps him escape from the police by firing a rocket at the van he is being held in which overturns the van via explosive concussive force without hurting anyone. After commandeering a seaplane from a nearby marina run by Arius, Matrix and Cindy land the plane off the coast of the island where Arius is located. Matrix instructs Cindy to contact General Kirby and then proceeds to Arius' villa, while systematically and brutally killing Arius' entire private army of nearly 200 soldiers on the way. He subsequently confronts and kills Arius in a gunfight.

Meanwhile, Jenny uses a door handle to pry away boards nailed to the window frame of her room, enabling her to attempt escape, but she is seen by Bennett, who gives chase and catches her. Matrix eventually locates Jenny in the basement, but he is shot in the arm by Bennett. Matrix then taunts Bennett into facing him in hand-to-hand combat, an invitation Bennett cannot resist. After a fierce struggle, Matrix finally finishes Bennett off by impaling him with a large metal steam pipe, right as Bennet is about to shoot Matrix.

Kirby arrives with a military detachment and asks Matrix to rejoin the special forces unit. Matrix, however, unceremoniously declines, and he, Cindy, and his daughter fly into the proverbial sunset.

Cast

Protagonists

• Arnold Schwarzenegger as John Matrix, a former United States Army Colonel.
• Rae Dawn Chong as Cindy, Matrix's initially unwilling companion.
• Alyssa Milano as Jenny Matrix, John's daughter.
• James Olson as General Kirby, Matrix's former superior.

Antagonists

• Dan Hedaya as Arius, the former Dictator of Val Verde until being overthrown by a new President.
• Vernon Wells as Bennett, a former Captain in Matrix's special forces team, now allied with Arius.
• Bill Duke as Cooke, Arius's brutal hitman and a former Green Beret.
• David Patrick Kelly as Sully, a former Army soldier now working for Arius.

Reception

Box office

Commando was a huge commercial success. It was also the 7th top-grossing film of 1985 worldwide. It was outgrossed by The Color Purple, Out of Africa, Back to the Future, Sylvester Stallone's Rocky IV and Rambo: First Blood Part II.

Critical reception

The film maintains a 69% on Rotten Tomatoes (based on 32 reviews), indicating generally positive reviews. Reviews from Kevin N. Laforest, Scott Weinberg, Dave Kehr and Luke Thomson acknowledge the film's tongue-in-cheek humor as well as its status as a cult classic.

Production

Screenwriter Jeph Loeb states that the film was originally conceived as a vehicle for Gene Simmons (who passed on it), and later scripted with Nick Nolte in mind to play the lead as an out-of-condition former commando struggling with the demands of his mission. Walter Hill was originally involved in the development process.

The original concept was for an Israeli special forces–Mossad agent, who is sick of the continual death and destruction in the Middle East. So he quits Israel and emigrates to the United States, where he is forced out of his self-imposed retirement after the kidnapping of his daughter. This was modified and further adapted when Schwarzenegger was cast; some of the original dialogue can be viewed in the deleted scenes when Matrix says he regrets his past actions.

Locations

The film was shot on location in California. The unnamed island off the coast of Santa Barbara, to which Matrix flies to rescue his daughter, was filmed on the Pacific coast at San Simeon. The barracks that are "attacked" are actually beach properties belonging to the Hearst Castle Estate. The house that Matrix storms at the film's climax was actually the former main residence of the Harold Lloyd Estate in the Benedict Canyon district of Beverly Hills. The car chase scene between Sully and Matrix starts on Ventura Blvd and moves into the hills on Benedict Canyon.

Sequel

A sequel was written by De Souza and Frank Darabont, based on the 1979 book Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp (which is, itself, a sequel to his 1966 novel The Detective, made into a film of the same name in 1968 featuring Frank Sinatra and Lee Remick), but Schwarzenegger was not interested in making a sequel as his previous sequel (Conan the Destroyer) was less successful critically and did not do as well domestically at the box office. The script was reworked with a new central character, eventually played by Bruce Willis, and was retitled Die Hard. The fictitious country of Val Verde is later nodded to in the sequel to Die Hard.

Remake

In 2008, a Russian remake (День Д) was made. It was produced and directed by Mikhail Porechenkov (who stars as John Matrix's equivalent) and also features Barbara Porechenkova, Mikhail Trukhin, Alexandra Ursulyak, and Bob Schrijber.

In 2010, it was announced that Fox would begin filming a remake of the film with David Ayer in negotiations to direct. Sam Worthington is attached to play the new lead role, which will reportedly have a more realistic approach.

DVD releases

The first DVD of Commando was released in region 1 in the U.S. on May 25, 1999. Common with early DVD releases, the disc featured a non-anamorphic video transfer, a basic 2.0 surround track, and only the US theatrical trailer as an extra. DVDs released in other regions soon followed, some with anamorphic transfers, but the 2001 UK region 2 DVD was censored by the BBFC (approximately 12 seconds of cuts) due to violence. These cuts were brought over from the 1985 original theatrical release. However, a German master was used for the UK DVD, meaning the film was cut even more than it should have been, leading to 56 seconds of cuts instead of the BBFC's 12 seconds. If the film had been resubmitted to the BBFC, it would be passed uncut under the BBFC's new, more liberal rules. This has proven to be the case as the BBFC's website indicates that both versions of the film (the U.S. theatrical cut and the unrated edition) for the DVD were passed on June 11, 2007. With the unrated edition released, the film is in its entirety, a first for the UK.

On June 5, 2007, 20th Century Fox officially announced that a completely unedited and unrated director's cut of the film would be released on region 1 DVD on September 18, 2007. Through seamless branching, this disc not only features an unrated cut (which was claimed to run at 95 minutes, but is only 91 minutes, with 92 seconds of extra footage), but as a bonus, also contains the original 90 minute, R-rated US theatrical version. Aside from this, the DVD is a special edition, featuring an audio commentary from director Mark L. Lester (only on the theatrical cut), additional deleted scenes, a Pure Action featurette, a Let Off Some Steam featurette, and four photo galleries with over 150 photos. The transfer is anamorphically enhanced and features a 5.1 audio mix.

In April 2008, the 90-minute theatrical version of the film was released to consumers on the high definition Blu-ray Disc format.

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 (which replaced his old deceased unit from the original film) called C-Team, made up of Spex, Blaster, and Chopper, against the forces of F.E.A.R., led by Psycho (who is based on the character of Bennett) 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. Chopper and Sawbones are absent. Finally, there was an 18" John Matrix that came with a pistol, an M16, and a grenade.

Soundtrack

Commando
Soundtrack album by James Horner
Released	December, 2003
Genre	Soundtrack
Length	43:21
Label	Varèse Sarabande

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link

A soundtrack album was released by Varèse Sarabande on December 2, 2003 as part of the label's CD Club and was limited to 3000 copies. The score, composed by James Horner, is notable for its prominent use of steel drums.

A song titled "We Fight for Love", featured in the film and recorded by the Power Station, wasn't included in the official soundtrack. The song featured late founder Robert Palmer's replacement, Michael Des Barres, and was the only song with Des Barres singing lead. It would appear on the 2006 remaster of The Power Station.

Track listing

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

External links

• Commando at the Internet Movie Database
• Commando at Box Office Mojo
• Commando at AllRovi
• Commando at Rotten Tomatoes
• Commando at the Internet Movie Firearm Database