Commando (1985) on Netflix
R19851h 30mActionAdventureCrimeThriller
Retired colonel John Matrix lives under a new identity with his daughter Jenny. When mercenaries take her, Arius, a deposed dictator, orders Matrix to kill a president in exchange for her life.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb6.7/10189,746 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes68%
Trailer
Plot summary
Colonel John Matrix has left the Army and lives with his daughter Jenny in the California mountains under a new name. Major General Franklin Kirby, his former superior, brings word that the other members of his old unit have been murdered one by one. Then armed men storm the house and take Jenny. The raiders carry Matrix to Ernesto Arius, the South American dictator he once helped remove from power, who wants him to assassinate the president of Val Verde so that Arius can seize the country again. Jenny's life is the price of his cooperation. With about eleven hours before the flight carrying him lands, Matrix breaks away and, helped by an off-duty flight attendant named Cindy, goes after an associate of Arius.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Commando (1985)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Writer Jeph Loeb said his original script was about an Israeli soldier who had renounced violence, and the lead role was first written for Gene Simmons, who turned it down before Steven E. de Souza rewrote the script and tailored it to Schwarzenegger.
- Mark L. Lester said a new book had come out about child African fighters that included a section on how they show kids the end of Commando to get them enthusiastic, which he thought was disturbing, adding that filmmakers do not realize the effect their movies have on people.
- Vernon Wells was the first choice to be cast as Captain Bennett, mostly because of his role in Mad Max 2; Mark L. Lester said Wells was the only one who could have played against Schwarzenegger, and that Bennett was in love with Matrix but hated him too.
- The 2001 United Kingdom DVD was censored by the British Board of Film Classification with 12 seconds of cuts to an arm severing and closeups of the impaled Bennett, but a German master was used, so the film ended up with 56 seconds of cuts instead.
- Siskel asked how much the telephone booth that Matrix picks up and flips over with Sully inside weighed; Schwarzenegger answered 270 lb, said the stuntman in the booth weighed 130 lb, and said lifting 400 lb was no problem because he had been lifting his whole life.
- The score, composed by James Horner, is notable for its prominent use of steel drums and for reusing motifs from Horner's soundtrack for 48 Hrs., which were recycled again to varying degrees in Red Heat and Another 48 Hrs.
