Suburban Commando

Suburban Commando
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Burt Kennedy
Produced by	Howard Gottfried
Written by	Frank Cappello
Starring	Hulk Hogan Christopher Lloyd Shelley Duvall
Music by	David Michael Frank
Cinematography	Bernd Heinl
Editing by	Terry Stokes
Studio	New Line Cinema
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	October 4, 1991
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$11 million
Box office	$6.9 million (United States)

Suburban Commando is a 1991 science fiction comedy film starring Hulk Hogan, Christopher Lloyd and Shelley Duvall. Burt Kennedy directed the film based on a screenplay by Frank Cappello. The film was originally titled "Urban Commando", and was intended for Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger. When these two opted to make Twins (1988), the script was bought by New Line Cinema as the follow-up to another Hulk Hogan film, No Holds Barred (1989).

Plot

Shep Ramsey, an interstellar warrior, is on a mission to take down the intergalactic despot General Suitor (William Ball), who has kidnapped President Hashina, the ruler of an alien planet. Shep gets on board Suitor's flagship but is unable to rescue Hashina, who is killed by Suitor, who turns into a berserk reptilian alien after he gets wounded. Shep barely escapes, but attaches limpet mines as he does so and getting off the ship just before it explodes.

Due to his inability to save the President, Shep's superior officer suggests that he is "stressed out" and that he should take a vacation. Annoyed, Shep accidentally smashes his control systems and is thus forced to crash land on Earth and wait for his spaceship to repair itself. He has little knowledge of Earth's customs, and his temper and sense of justice cause a lot of problems for the people around him, especially a mime artist he frequently runs into and continually tries to help (such as getting him out of his 'invisible box').

Charlie Wilcox (Christopher Lloyd) is a weak-spirited designer for the fawning and hypocritical boss of his company, Adrian Beltz (Larry Miller). His wife Jenny (Shelley Duvall) constantly, but unsuccessfully, tries to encourage him to stand up for himself. In order to help their financial situation, she rents out Charlie's hobby shed as a vacation cabin, which Shep leases. Shep's appearance and behavior do little to invite Charlie's confidence, and he begins to spy on his guest. He soon discovers Shep's advanced equipment and as he fools with it, an energy source signal emanating from it is traced by Suitor, who has escaped the destruction of his ship and now sends a pair of intergalactic bounty hunters after Shep. Another problem is that Shep requires several rare crystals to fix his ship, the closest samples of which can be found in Beltz's office. Charlie assists him in getting into the building during a reception party, but then the bounty hunters corner them. After winning a furious fight, Shep and Charlie proceed to repair the ship.

With the defeat of the bounty hunters, Suitor himself comes to Earth. Seeking revenge, he takes Charlie's family hostage, forcing Charlie to lead him to Shep. Suitor begins torturing Shep, enjoying himself before he plans to go for the kill. Finding his courage, Charlie is able to injure Suitor, who then turns into his monstrous form. Physically outmatched, Shep is forced to set his ship to self-destruct, and he and Charlie just manage to escape the ship's explosion, which takes out Suitor for good.

Shep leaves Earth using the bounty hunters' ship to try for a quiet family life with Beltz's secretary, Margie. Charlie, on the other hand, has become bolder from his experiences; he appears in Beltz's office the following morning, yelling at his boss in front of witnesses, and finally quits his thankless job.

Reception

To date, the film holds a 20% on Rotten Tomatoes.

External links

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