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Commando Movie Review

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Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Commando
The movie begins with members of a disbanded/retired special black ops commando team, formerly led by Arnold (Col. John Matrix in the film). Arnold (Matrix) has retired to a mountain retreat/log home where he lives with his daughter (his wife is not in the picture and it is vague as to what happened to her). Matrix's former Military General/Commander arrives by helicopter to report to Matrix that members of his elite but disbanded team are being assassinated one by one. In reality, a former member of Matrix's team has "gone over to the dark side" and become a mercenary for an ousted Caribbean Dictator who is staging a big comeback and has designs to kill his successor and resume power. His evil plan is to kidnap Matrix's daughter (a very young Alissa Milano)and force Matrix to actually assassinate the new leader he and his team put in power.

They are not counting on the rage Matrix has over his daughter being kidnapped. Along the way Matrix inadvertantly hooks up with a young flight attendant (played by Rae Dawn Chong) who is his sidekick throughout the remainder of the movie. At first she is terrified of Matrix and thinks he is a psycho but eventually she realizes that he is on the level and that his daughter has been kidnapped. As in all of Arnold's movies he employs dozens of military weapons and this movie is no exception.

In the end he machineguns all of the former dictator's troops in waiting, kills his former team mate who has gone rogue, kills the dictator and rescues his daughter,and only sustains a flesh wound to one of his massive biceps in the process. Of course the one liners that have made Arnold's movies famous are plentiful.

--KERRY BULLS, Resident Scholar

OHHHH, this is by far the greatest movie ever made. It has the best one liners you will ever hear. "Hey Sulley, you know how I promised to kill you last... I LIED". Arnie goes completely beserk on the greatest single rampage ever on the screen. The way he hacks up bad guys with an axe and sword makes my eyes water. But best of all, this movie has the greatest villain, simply known as... BENNETT! and he lets off his fair share of steam. See this or let your life disintergrate into watching Hugh Grant films.
--Colin Eddison, Resident Scholar

John Matrix is an ex-military squad leader who's daughter is kidnapped by an evil terrorist group. They agree to give him his daughter back if he assassinates a politician. While he is sent off, he escapes and goes to rescue his daughter.
--Jack Bauer, Resident Scholar

Matrix is living a quiet life with his daughter in his house in the hills. Before he knows it his daughter has been kidnap by a wannabe dictator and a bunch of mercenaries headed by matrix's mentally disturbed former team member - BENNETT. They want him to carry out an assasination or they kill his daughter. Threatening Matrix was a big mistake as he kills all of them and Wipes out an entire army on an island to get to his daughter. There is a final showdown between Matrix and Bennett who gets a pipe thrown through him.
--Andrew Bennett, Resident Scholar

This is truly one of the greatest movies of all time. There is great action and amazing characters. Arnold has some of the most classic lines in all of movies. He is supposed to be a normal guy, yet he is able to fall from an airplane from a few hundred feet, hit the ground, and run away. He also hits a telephone pole while going 60 MPH in a convertible without a seatbelt on and feels nothing. What a great movie.
--James Horn, Resident Scholar

Military veteran Col.J.Matrix is coaxed back into full combat by a gun-touting-bandana-wearing-green-beret by the name of Cooke.Matrixs' former unit is killed and his daughter snatched and will have to use all his knowledge and experience to settle the score.Pumping soundtrack from James Horner and the Powerstation push this action classic
into a league of its own.

--russell todd, Resident Scholar

Commando is the explosive action tale of John Matrix, a man with a distinguished military career who has settled down to become a father. Everything is going great for Matrix but after a hard day feeding wild deer and fighting with ice cream,John's daughter is kidnapped by a fat useless nonce called Bennett (Vernon Wells). From here on in shit starts hitting fans. John seems to accumulate bigger and bigger guns as the film progresses to a breath taking climax, which occurs on a secluded island retreat. Arnie eventually locates Jenny and Bennett and what follows is a knife fight that will leave even the bravest of punters clinging to his seat.
--Dergus Longstock, Resident Scholar

Arnold's daughter "Chenny" is kidnapped; Arnold must rescue, while creatively killing each of the kidnappers.
--steve, Resident Scholar


Analysis of Commando
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Movie
Actual chase scenes or violence - 72.5%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 17.5%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 10%



Time/Era of Movie: - 1980's-1999
Spying & Terrorists Yes
Cloak & Dagger Plotlets: - terrorist kidnappers
The terrorist enemy is... - terrorist group

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's - 40's-50's
Hair color? - brunette (Brown)
Hair style - short/standard straight (man)
Body type - muscular (man)
Events of movie makes character more... - tougher
Ethnicity/Nationality - German
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Physique - bulging muscles

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Hair type - (man) short/standard straight
Intelligence - Average intelligence
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant

Setting
United States Yes
The Americas (not US): Yes
Island? Yes
Misc setting - fort/military installation

Style
Accounts of torture and death? - very gory visuals of deaths and torture
Sex/nudity in movie? Yes
What kind of sex: - seeing breasts
How much use of techno gadgets? - 3 (some)
Kind of violence: - land battles - amphibious landings - mission to rescue - mission to destroy something - mission to protect something - karate chop - hand to hand - guns - knives
Unusual forms of death - dropped from large heights - impaled - perforation--bullets - perforation--swords/knives
Any profanity? - Some foul language
Lot of special effects? Yes
Kinds of F/X - exploding bombs
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