Commando
1985 · Directed by Mark L. Lester
Original language: English
- action
- adventure
- thriller
The story
John Matrix, the former leader of a special commando strike force that always got the toughest jobs done, is forced back into action when his young daughter is kidnapped. To find her, Matrix has to fight his way through an array of punks, killers, one of his former commandos, and a fully equipped private army. With the help of a feisty stewardess and an old friend, Matrix has only a few hours to overcome his greatest challenge: finding his daughter before she's killed.
What it’s like
Hard, saturated 1980s studio colour: sunlit suburban Los Angeles rendered in warm yellows and sky blues, then pushed into smoky greens and oily night tones once the action drops into a mountain compound and a dim Los Angeles hangar, with muzzle flashes and fireballs lighting the frame in bursts. The camera is mostly kinetic and wide, tracking through explosions and whipping pans, with the occasional slow push onto a glowering close-up. Synth-heavy score pulses under gunfire and brassy fanfare, and the dialogue is punchy and gleefully corny. Pacing is relentless, a sequence of set pieces that barely pauses, with a father-daughter core that gives the chaos a warm, protective centre. Violence is constant and cartoonishly high-volume: many gunfights, explosions, stabbings and hand-to-hand beatings, with a body count in the dozens and some blood, but little lingering gore; there is a brief, non-explicit suggestion of sexual content and a scene of peril involving a child. Fun, loud and unserious, it suits a Friday night with friends, a nostalgic rewatch, or anyone who wants escapist, one-man-against-an-army spectacle rather than anything gentle or subtle.
More films like Commando
Closest in mood, pacing and theme. Tell us why you loved Commandoand we’ll explain which ones fit you.
