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Commando [Widescreen]

Actor(s): Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rae Dawn Chong, Dan Hedaya, Vernon Wells, David Patrick Kelly
Director(s): Mark L. Lester
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Movie Details

MPAA Rating: R
Content Advisory: Violence, Graphic Violence, Brief Nudity, Not For Children, Adult Language
Movie Release: 1985
DVD Release: 05/25/1999
Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
Audio Tracks: English, French
Subtitles: English, Spanish
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Number of Discs: 1
Run Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Total Copies: 2
Genres: Action, Action Thriller
See Also: Commando, Commando [Blu-ray], Commando [Director's Cut]

DVD Synopsis

Shortly after The Terminator wrote his name in bold neon lights across box-office grosses, this action thriller took advantage of the hitherto (almost) unexploited comic side of star Arnold Schwarzenegger and paired him with Rae Dawn Chong. Colonel Matrix (Schwarzenegger) is retired and living peaceably with his 10-year-old daughter when she is kidnapped by the henchmen of an exiled Latin American dictator. The dictator's plan is to reinstate himself in power by eliminating the president of his country, using Matrix to kill him (or he will kill the kidnapped daughter). Matrix escapes from the plane that is supposed to be carrying him to his mission and then proceeds to go from one violent confrontation to the next as he hunts down the dictator and moves to rescue his daughter. Helping him is Cindy (Chong), who has her own reasons for wanting the dictator dead. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Actors

Arnold Schwarzenegger - Col. John Matrix
Rae Dawn Chong - Cindy
Dan Hedaya - Arius
Vernon Wells - Bennett
David Patrick Kelly - Sully

Editorial Review of DVD

Arnold Schwarzenegger kicks some major butt as Colonel John Matrix in the action hit Commando. Fox has done only a slightly passable job on this 1.85:1 non-anamorphic widescreen transfer. Sadly, this is not the sharpest transfer, and there is an excessive amount of grain and edge enhancement throughout the film. However, the colors and black levels all look evenly rendered and bright. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround in English and French. Unfortunately, this is not a very exciting 2.0 soundtrack. While the dialogue, effects, and music all sound distortion-free, there is little surround usage during the feature. Also included on this disc are English and Spanish subtitles. The only extra feature Fox has slapped on this disc is a theatrical trailer for the film. Maybe someday we will see a better version of this exciting action classic on DVD -- until then, fans are stuck with this only mediocre edition of Commando. ~ Patrick Naugle, All Movie Guide

Member Movie Reviews

Jason C. (JJC) from NEWARK, NJ wrote on 5/6/2008...

A solid, hardcore, no-brain actioner from the resume of Ah-nold was "Commando." This was at the height of Arnie's career, when the body count in his films was at an ultimate high (this one might be the highest).

Arnold plays John Matrix, an elite commando who is forced to come out of his early retirement when his daughter (Alyssa Milano) is kidnapped by a band a specially-trained thugs led by Arius (Dan Hedaya), an exiled Latin American dictator. Matrix is to assassinate the President of Arius' country in exchange for his daughter, but Matrix, decides to abort that mission and take on the bad guys. Matrix becomes a single-man army and sets off an all out war against this small regime, and rescue his daughter.

Great stuff, if you haven't seen it, this is a must. A prime-example of the ultra-violent '80s film! This was also the competition film to "Rambo: First Blood Part II," released earlier that same year, starring Arnie's friendly rival Sylvester Stallone.

"Commando" was directed by Mark L. Lester, a director noted for giving us gratuitous violence in films like "Firestarter," "Showdown in Little Tokyo" and his mini-franchise "Class of 1984" and "Class of 1999." He's also responsible for some of the better "direct-to-video" films like "Extreme Justice" and "Night of the Running Man" both starring one of my favorite character actors, Scott Glenn. Check those out as well.

Here's something you may not know about the sequel to "Commando":

The writer of "Commando," Steven E. De Sousa, wrote a sequel for it, about John Matrix going up against terrorists. 20th Century Fox was interested but Arnold was not. So, De Sousa rewrote his "Commando II" script, submitted it to Fox, was touched up by writer Jeb Stuart and it became, "Die Hard."

Pretty cool, huh?