DVD Review:
Commando
Written by: Kage
Alan
Film Rating:
B-
DVD Special Features: N/A
There was a time when a film didn't need any huge
optical special effects
when Arnold Schwarzenegger was cast (minus "The Terminator"
of course). He WAS the special effect and they just let him
pick up a gun, utter a few corny lines and blow away the bad guys. Yes,
those days were good for Arny and we haven't seen much of them lately. Films
like "Commando" allowed us to escape to the movies for 90
minutes and live out a wild fantasy only Hollywood could make real for
us. Where have those days gone?
The story here is a typical one. Colonel John Matrix (Schwarzenegger)
was
once an elite commando (where have we heard this before?) who made
enemies around the world while still in the service, but he's retired
now (though he looks nowhere near the retirement age). When
his old team members start
getting assassinated and his daughter (Alyssa Milano,
"Charmed") is kidnapped
by the evil Arius (Dan Hedaya, "Alien: Resurrection") and
Bennett (Vernon
Wells, "Beneath Loch Ness"), Matrix must jump into action
and save the day.
This means he'll have to ditch the bad guys watching him, convince a
female
pilot (Rae Dawn Chong, "Soul Man") to help and then blow
everything up in 11 hours or they'll kill his daughter.
Whew! Doesn't that sound exciting? The bad guys
are naturally no match for
the sheer firepower Schwarzenegger brings with him and can't compete
with
little comments like "Remember, Sully, when I promised to kill
you last? I
lied." The action is so unbelievable and the story so
we've-seen-this-a-hundred-times-before that we can't help but root for
Arny
anyway. After all, we know he's going to win. We
just want to see how he
does it!
Fox has done some fine things with this release. First off,
it's an
extremely decent looking Widescreen transfer. Second, the
audio has some
kick to it during the action sequences. Finally, despite
there only being a
Full Frame trailer as an extra, the disc is modestly priced at $9.99
at your
local Best Buy. Not too shabby in my book for an afternoon
of classic Arnold
entertainment. An added note of interest is that James
Horner ("Titanic")
performed the score for the film and The Power Station is responsible
for the
song played during the end credits. Anybody remember them?
According to IMDB, the body count in this film is somewhere around 88. One
certainly must assume that director Mark Lester ("Firestarter"
and "Class of
1999") knew to put Schwarzenegger front and center of the camera
and let him work his magic. Despite the typical continuity
errors prevalent in these
films, "Commando" is great fun to sit back and watch on a
Saturday afternoon.
Guilty pleasure? Absolutely! Will it culture you
or give you a life
changing experience? Did you really take that last question
seriously? If
so, seek help.
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