← Back to Reviews
 
1985: Commando


1985 has been the hardest year to choose the best film so far. It was really hard to choose between my established #1 pick and Ran, After Hours & Brazil. But as good as those films, Commando is too much of a personal choice for me. Other films I enjoyed from 1985 are Rambo: First Blood Part II, Back To The Future, The Goonies, Jewel Of The Nile & Rocky IV. I haven't seen Come & See yet, but I may in the future, as I have seen many positive ratings for it.



Arnold Schwarzenegger plays John Matrix, a retired leader of a commando strike team, who now devotes his life to his daughter. But when his daughter is kidnapped by warlord Arius and his henchman Bennett, who was thought to be dead, Matrix is thrown back into action and has 10 hours to save his daughter from death.

I am a BIG Arnold fan. I like all of his films, even his mediocre efforts like Conan The Destroyer & Raw Deal. Commando is a very personal favourite, mainly becuase of the fact that it is one of the movies that made me LOVE movies.

Commando is not a masterpiece of modern filmmaking, but it acheives as one of the more finer action films of the 1980's. There is plenty of chemistry between Schwarzenegger and his co-star Rae Dawn Chong and plenty of tongue in cheek humour as well. There's plenty of Schwarzenegger one liners, but what sets them apart from the other Arnie quotes, is that these ones actually work, mostly because of the clever and humourous script. Again, it's not a cinematic masterpiece, but it is an undeniable cult classic.



But Commando isn't mostly remembered for it's script. It's marvellously over-the-top, with brutal violence and particularly fun action sequences. The final 30 minutes are the best moments of the film, as Arnie unleashes an arsenal on a private army of guards. This is when the film works at it's absolute best.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was never a great actor, but his performance in this film is surprisingly decent. But the standout is Rae Dawn Chong as his reluctant sidekick Cindy. She generates most of the laughs in the film, especially when she exclaims "Sh*t" after accidentally blowing up a small building with a rocket launcher.

I realise that this decision will one of the more surprising choices in this list, but there is no other way to put it; I love this film. It's one of the films that made me love cinema. A cult classic.