Commando (1985) vs. Cobra (1986).

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I think Commando was meant to be a humorous action movie. Here's a list of absurdities:

The gun shed has a two-digit code to unlock it (1 and 3)
Loudly knocking a guy out on a plane without anyone batting an eye, including the resting passengers in front of them
Smashing a car into a tree while remaining completely unshaken
Being able to "smell" the bad guys from several yards away
Sully still hanging around the airport
That Hispanic guy at the mall who isn't under suspicion or attack deciding to run out wielding a gun
Sully not taking a second shot at Matrix while he's rocking the phone booth.
Ripping out a car seat
Accurately hitting a target with a rocket launcher on first try
Spawning a bulldozer out of nowhere, ramming it through a military supply warehouse, and thinking it won't trip a silent alarm
Guys shooting at a plane and not hitting it or damaging vital parts
Taking on a private army alone and getting out in one piece
Hitting multiple guys simultaneously while pointing your gun in one direction
Electrocution making you stronger instead of killing you
Spearing a pipe through a guy's chest

Any others?



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Matrix throwing circular saw blades hard enough to chop the top of someone's head off, Matrix being able to jump off a plane into fairly shallow swampland during take-off (and wouldn't leaving the door open compromise the cabin pressure enough so that the flight couldn't happen?), Matrix coaxing the gay-coded Bennett into dropping his gun with one very homoerotic monologue about knife-fighting, Matrix swinging like Tarzan using a giant balloon and landing on top of an elevator...
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To comment on the homoerotic monologue, I watched Siskel and Ebert's review of the movie:



And they both said they do not like how the villain is portrayed in terms of sexual interpretation. But I thought it added to the villain actually, and made the movie better, unless that's me? They also talk about how they like the female sidekick character, but I thought she was the weak link, and too over the top in her acting.



Matrix throwing circular saw blades hard enough to chop the top of someone's head off, Matrix being able to jump off a plane into fairly shallow swampland during take-off (and wouldn't leaving the door open compromise the cabin pressure enough so that the flight couldn't happen?), Matrix coaxing the gay-coded Bennett into dropping his gun with one very homoerotic monologue about knife-fighting, Matrix swinging like Tarzan using a giant balloon and landing on top of an elevator...

I wonder if the homoeroticism was intentional or not. Was the guy made up to look like Freddie Mercury? Who knows. I can just see it as Matrix using reverse psychology by playing off Bennett's ego...to get himself out of being shot. Bennett thinks he's the best or at least good enough to beat Matrux and a knife fight would be a more skilled challenge rather than just shooting him.



They also talk about how they like the female sidekick character, but I thought she was the weak link, and too over the top in her acting.

I don't mind her. I think her reactions are reasonable considering the experiences she'd been through with Matrix. She adds a little normalcy to the movie as Ebert said.



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And they both said they do not like how the villain is portrayed in terms of sexual interpretation. But I thought it added to the villain actually, and made the movie better, unless that's me? They also talk about how they like the female sidekick character, but I thought she was the weak link, and too over the top in her acting.
I think you have to weigh up how much personality it gives the character versus how much it plays into problematic cliché (especially when he has to fight an implicitly heterosexual action hero) and see if you can ever truly reconcile these two factors. Bennett's definitely the kind of larger-than-life villain that the film needs (the film's other villains all come up short in this regard), but his caricatured nature won't necessarily work for everyone. Conversely, I agree with their point about Rae Dawn Chong's character in that she does well at playing the normal person who gets caught up in Matrix's mission and would understandably act freaked out about it the whole time (and her histrionics make a good foil to his stoicism).

I wonder if the homoeroticism was intentional or not. Was the guy made up to look like Freddie Mercury? Who knows. I can just see it as Matrix using reverse psychology by playing off Bennett's ego...to get himself out of being shot. Bennett thinks he's the best or at least good enough to beat Matrux and a knife fight would be a more skilled challenge rather than just shooting him.
I think it's less a matter of ego than Matrix appealing to Bennett's own sadism and desire for revenge, saying it'll be more enjoyable to stab him up close than to shoot him from a distance. Still very much a ploy to get Bennett to drop the gun, but the specific psychology involved is different.



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I think you have to weigh up how much personality it gives the character versus how much it plays into problematic cliché (especially when he has to fight an implicitly heterosexual action hero) and see if you can ever truly reconcile these two factors. Bennett's definitely the kind of larger-than-life villain that the film needs (the film's other villains all come up short in this regard), but his caricatured nature won't necessarily work for everyone. Conversely, I agree with their point about Rae Dawn Chong's character in that she does well at playing the normal person who gets caught up in Matrix's mission and would understandably act freaked out about it the whole time (and her histrionics make a good foil to his stoicism).
Oh okay, well I like the villain and thought he was the best part of the movie actually. However, I realize that Rae Dawn Chong's character is suppose to be panicking and freaking out, I just didn't think she did well, and thought maybe she goes too over the top. Jamie Lee Curtis does it well in Halloween for example, where sas Rae Dawn Chong, just goes kind of more Chris Tucker-ish with it, if that makes sense?

And she has given much better performances in other movies, so I'm guessing it was the director who wanted her to act like that probably?