FILM / Going Commando / Stephen Lee Naish
Image © 20th Century Fox
Commando (1985) begins with three killings. The first one takes place in a quiet American suburban neighborhood. A garbage truck rolls through the street. It's a Tuesday. Not the usual day for garbage collection as we find out from a slumbering man and women rolled up in a comfy looking bed. The man jumps up and quickly collects the garbage from the various trash cans around the house and runs outside. As he stands with garbage bags in hand, the garbage collectors withdraw an arsenal of machine guns and fire a load of noisy rounds into him. We then move to another location, a busy downtown car showroom, and we witness one of the culprits of the early morning killing buying a fancy car. Our killer gets in the car. A salesman then gives the pitch about the vinyl seats and the powerful roar of the engine. Our killer says he likes the price the best before shifting into reverse and flooring the car across the showroom and plowing down the salesman before bursting out of the windows and driving onto the busy road. Next, a fisherman boards his trawler. There is something different here. He sees our killer standing close by. He acknowledges him with a knowing smile. As he pulls out of the docks, his boat blows up.
These three assassinations rely on several key factors that don't fully add up. Firstly, these are extremely public executions. Maybe that’s the intention. To make the news and draw the attention of the security services to what is coming. Secondly, they all rely on the victims acting to accordance. Take the male suburbanite getting his trash collected a day early and rushing down the driveway to meet his doom. The majority would hear that garbage truck, shrug, and roll back under the covers. Our would-be assassins left out on the street waiting for a victim who never bothers to show up. What was the back-up plan then? The salesman needs to care enough to try and stop the killer from driving away. Most of us would run for the backroom, cower in a locked office and call the cops. Why did the showroom car have a full tank of gas?
Thinking about this would be thinking about this a little too much. And perhaps this is the anthem of Commando as a whole. Don’t think, don’t ask questions, just shut up, watch, and enjoy.
Commando stars Arnold Schwarzenegger at what we might consider his absolute peak. It contains the most violence, the most kills (a quick Google search counts 81 deaths in total), and the most stinging one-liners from Schwarzenegger. It’s a lean 90 minutes of action and adventure. It was a box-office smash at the time and although some power has been lost in the passing decades—the soundtrack for example is too 1980s for words—the film still resonates. Schwarzenegger is without an ounce of fat. His body and chiseled looks are operating at full capacity. Even the name of his character, John Matrix, is stunning. Taking the average and popular all-American name of John and teaming it with something that sounds dangerous and inorganic.
Throughout his career, and especially during his action movie golden age, Arnold Schwarzenegger was shown to be a solitary warrior. In the Terminator his only engagement with any other character is to dispassionately hunt and kill them. In his films, he is rarely married or in a relationship. When he is, there is always a catch. In Total Recall, for example, his wife Lori (Sharon Stone) is part of a conspiracy against him. In True Lies, his character appears happily married but it's revealed he has been keeping his work as a top spy a secret. Sexual encounters are rare. Schwarzenegger operates as an outsider, something his Austrian accent also alludes to. So, it seems odd to see Schwarzenegger in Commando in the role of a devoted father to a young girl called Jenny (Alyssa Milano). Matrix and Jenny live in a secluded mountainous location. A montage shows us their life together. They chop wood, they go swimming, they buy ice cream, they laugh and tease each other a lot. Jenny's mother is totally absent. There is no hint she ever even existed. No photos in the background of their idyllic house. No acknowledgment between father and daughter that an important element of their family dynamic is missing. It's the male perspective of immaculate conception. Matrix is Mary. He conceived of Jenny and raised her alone. It really is the only way because Schwarzenegger, despite the obvious and otherworldly beauty of his face and body, is utterly sexless. Like a toy G.I. Joe whose pants have been removed by childish hands to reveal a bold mound of plastic.
While eating lunch together, Matrix makes a classic dad joke. He flicks through Jenny’s pop music magazine with Culture Club singer Boy George adorning the front cover. He drops the clanger, "Why not just call him Girl George?" The dad joke symbolizes something that is random and improvisational in nature. The joke is a reaction to what might be deemed a play on words, or a silly and knowing comment. It materializes out of thin air. I'm a solid dad joker myself. I once got asked on a podcast to tell my favorite and with no child to offer up the target I stumbled. The Boy George comment also throws a rare opportunity for Schwarzenegger’s character to engage with the outside world. By this I mean the world we exist in and not the world Schwarzenegger's characters occupy. By acknowledging the existence of Boy George, Schwarzenegger acknowledges the film takes place within our present universe. I often wonder if the real Boy George was or is aware that his name was checked within a Hollywood action film. It's bizarre to think that Culture Club and Boy George's fame extended so far as to be referenced in a Hollywood action film. The band's origins, and especially that of Boy George himself, are deeply ingrained in the British working class. Far from any Hollywood glamor. The band made their own DIY glamor and made it to Hollywood, nonetheless. Decades later, Boy George and Schwarzenegger would appear in season eight of Celebrity Apprentice together. Matrix then comments that when rock ‘n’ roll made its way to East Germany in the 1970s the communists considered it subversive and that “maybe they were right,” which has to be the only time on film that Schwarzenegger has sided with communism.
Matrix and Jenny’s lunch is disturbed by the arrival of General Franklin Kirby, Matrix’s former boss, by helicopter to inform him that members of his delta force unit are turning up dead. Matrix asks Kirby who could be responsible, to which Kirby replies that Matrix has “made enemies all over the world.” Kirby leaves two soldiers behind for protection, but as the helicopter leaves the house is attacked by several gunmen. He tells one dying soldier that he must get to his shed. The shed contains his gun. The shed is in fact a keypad protected armory full of the latest weapons. Matrix knew one day that the “enemies all over the world” would be coming to his door to seek vengeance.
He instructs Jenny to run to her room and hide, but she is found and bundled away. After a brutal fistfight, Matrix is subdued and held captive. He is given an ultimatum by a slime ball named Arius, a former President of a South American country called Val Verde who was removed from power by A U.S led coup d’état that installed the new and popular President Velasco. Arius points the finger of responsibility towards Matrix and his black ops team. Arius wants a return to power and instructs Matrix to kill Velasco or Jenny will be "mailed back to you in pieces." Arius deems it a fitting punishment that Matrix should have to remove the regime he helped to install, and mockingly reminds Matrix of the honorific ‘hero of the revolution’ that was bestowed upon him after the coup. One of Arius' sidekicks turns out to be the fisherman from the third assassination. His name is Bennett (Vernon Wells) and his life has become a vengeance trip against Matrix. The kidnapping of his daughter and the order to kill the President of Val Verde is just the start.
The glimpses we see of Val Verde show a country that falls into the cliche of on-screen representation of Latin American nations. It's hot, poor, and chaotic, uniformed soldiers patrol the markets. In the background of these scenes, torn and vandalized posters of Arius can be seen rotting on the bullet-hole riddled walls. The so-called revolution that installed President Velasco hasn't brought forward a utopian society. Although we assume that Arius was not a popular or democratically elected leader (the fact that he wants to take the country back by force and has kidnapped Matrix’s daughter offers some clues), we can safely draw the conclusion that Arius was also hugely unpopular with the American government. So unpopular that they authorized a delta force unit to help overthrow Arius and install a leader who was friendly to American interests. This echoes all too much America’s historical attempts to remove democratically elected or popular leaders.
The most obvious examples of this from Latin America are that of Cuba and Chile. Cuba was drawn into revolution from 1953 to 1959. The populist movement, led by the charismatic lawyer turned revolutionary Fidel Castro, rose up against the US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. Castro was popular with the Cuban people who had suffered exploitation under Batista’s iron rule. Their land had been pillaged by American corporations, as well by hedonistic tourists who lapped up the cheap booze and took advantage of the rampant prostitution and gambling. Cuba was seen as a playground for the elite. The Revolution swept in with social programs and land reforms which nationalized all foreign owned property within the first year in power, a move which brought into effect and remains to this day, a trade embargo put in place by the U.S. Since the revolution, the CIA attempted, unsuccessfully, over six hundred times to dispense with Castro in the most ingenious ways (exploding cigars, contaminated wetsuits) and trained anti-Castro operatives to engage in acts of dissent and even full-scale invasions, most famously the American backed Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961.
In Chile, the democratically elected Marxist leader Salvador Allende shot himself in the head in 1973 as a US backed coup swept through the country, the foundations of which had been laid earlier by the Richard Nixon/ Henry Kissinger administration prior to Nixon’s election victory in 1970. The desire to keep communist influence at bay was top priority during The Cold War. Although a figure such as Fidel Castro never rose to power democratically or through electoral politics as such, his popularity with most Cuban people was enough to give him and his revolution legitimacy in the eyes of the Cuban people, its neighbors, and the world. Salvador Allende’s democratic election win was seen by the people of Chile as a step toward taking a truly independent path that would allow them to construct a positive future. American interference in Chile's political system meant that the military action to overthrow Allende drove the country to be ruled by authoritarian junta lead by the General Pinochet, whom after gaining power banned all left-wing parties and literature, and instigated a regime of terror that led to the total number of torture victims being approximately 40,018, including 3,065 killed for political reasons.
Hollywood would like its audience to believe that its depiction of foreign intervention by the US government is righteous. By using tired clichéd caricatures of bogus dictators, Hollywood paints a picture that it is acceptable to remove by force these despots from power and put in their place a more moderate intern. This is rarely the case.
As Matrix takes his seat on a plane that will take him to Val Verde, he knocks out cold and snaps the neck of his chaperone. As the plane taxis up the runway, he exists through the landing gear and clings to the wheel as the plane takes off. Matrix jumps and lands in a swamp. Knowing that the flight to Val Verde takes eleven hours, Matrix sets his watch and knows he needs to accomplish a lot in order to save his daughter.
Matrix goes on a rampage to find where Jenny is being held. He pursues Sully, one of Arius' right-hand men. Sully (David Patrick Kelly) is a scumbag who harasses a young woman named Cindy (Rae Dawn Chong), who Matrix at first kidnaps, but then persuades her to help him. He gets some information out of Sully but eventually just lets him go. That’s a joke, right there. Matrix does indeed “let him go” and he informs Cindy of this but neglects to tender the information that he let Sully go while hanging him by his leg over a cliff.
Matrix and Cindy arrive at the cheap motel to await Cooke (Bill Duke), another one of Arius crooks and the instigator of the three assassinations. Cooke arrives and knocks on the door. Cindy invites him in. Matrix attacks from behind and the two have a brutal fist fight. Unlike little Sully, Cooke is a match for Matrix. Alongside the physical fight, the two engage in what can only be described as macho sex talk. Cindy, while cowering, can’t “believe this macho bullshit” that is spewing from these brutish men. It’s not so much what they say as how they say it, although Matrix proclaiming to Cooke that he “eats Green Berets for breakfast” is a little saucy. Cooke and Matrix burst into a neighboring room where a couple are having sex on the bed. By the looks of it the man is getting pegged by his female partner. Cooke pulls a gun on Matrix. It’s over. “Fuck you, asshole,” Cooke angrily states as the pulls the trigger. But the chamber is empty. “Fuck you, asshole,” Schwarzenegger camply replies with raised eyebrows and pursed lips. Matrix launches Cooke into the air, and he impales himself on a flipped piece of furniture. Cindy holds back her vomit.
Matrix’s fight with Cooke is just foreplay for the climatic (in every sense) confrontation he has with Bennett. We might as well skip right to it. Between the fight with Cooke and the assault on Arius’s compound Commando becomes a little stale. Although the robbery of the gun shop is notable for the gun porn on display and Cindy gets to fire a rocket launcher twice, once in the wrong direction, second time hitting her target like a pro. Other than that it’s mostly just casing a military facility and stealing a water plane.
What do we talk about when we talk about Bennett? He hates Matrix to his very core. He clearly blames him for the downfall of his life after service in Matrix’s delta team. His revenge on Matrix is personal vendetta wrapped up in the political overthrow of another country's leader. Two birds, one stone. Early on, just before Matrix boards the plane to Val Verde, Matrix asks Bennett how much Arius is paying him for his services. Bennett informs him that he’s working for free. The opportunity to manhandle Matrix has no price. His obsession possibly relates to the post military life that Matrix has made for himself. He has a wonderful home, a loving daughter, presumably decent wealth. Matrix also seems unaffected by post-traumatic stress. Bennett is without any of the positives, but he seems weighed down and constantly preoccupied by violence. He blames Matrix for all the times he ordered him to unleash hell on their targets. While Bennett hates Matrix, he is also very much in love with him. Obsessively so. When he and Arius learn of Matrix’s escape, Bennett almost seems to root for Matrix’s revenge. He anticipates the showdown between his old comrade. When that showdown occurs towards the end of the film, it’s not hard to see it through a sexual lens. Firstly, the fighting bodies of Bennett and Matrix. By this point Matrix has taken a beating from his rampage through the compound. His shirtless muscular body is sweat drenched, bruised and bloody. Bennett wears a chainmail vest and a snazzy knife holster that shows off his protruding belly. There’s no way Bennett is a match for Matrix. But Bennett has one thing going for him, a gonzo-like death-wish and an ability to take hit after hit.
Bennett puts a bullet in Matrix’s arm. But Matrix knows that a simple gunshot to the head won’t satisfy Bennett’s intense desire. Matrix offers a knife fight instead and an opportunity for Bennett to look Matrix in the eyes as he twists the knife into his body. Bennett is feverish with desire at the thought. He tosses his gun aside and flicks out his knife. The two land blows on one another. Bennett’s punches land like a boxer tenderizing a slab of meat. As the fight progresses Bennett’s orgasmic tendencies build until Matrix gives him the release he needs. He rips a pipe from the wall and launches it into Bennett’s body where it pins him and allows a hot steaming white plume to erupt from his body. Probably the best orgasm Bennett ever experienced. And now his last. Jenny, having watched two men beat each other silly, embraces her heroic father.
General Kirby arrives on the scene and offers Matrix an opportunity to reform his unit and work in special operations again. Now that the threat has been eliminated, Matrix can return with a clean slate. He also offers us the audience a hint of a Commando sequel, or even a series of films in which Schwarzenegger, like Stallone in the Rambo franchise, kits up in military fatigues to unleash hell. Matrix (and Schwarzenegger) turns Kirby (and the opportunity for a sequel) down. Oh well. The film is over. Maybe Cindy will become a mother-figure to Jenny. We’re left with that thought.
Thinking about this and looking over Schwarzenegger’s filmography it is interesting to see how little he appears in sequels to his own films. Sure, he had an early run as Conan the Barbarian and he appeared on several occasions as the cyborg killer turned protector in the Terminator franchise, as well as making cameo appearances in Stallone's action showcase The Expendables. Unlike Stallone, who seems to view every role as a chance to expand towards diminishing franchise returns (unfair to the Rocky franchise but could apply easily to Escape Plan and its sequels) Schwarzenegger seems to be drawn to self-contained one-of-a-kind stories. Thinking back to his prime run of movies: Running Man, Red Heat, Raw Deal, and Total Recall, sequels are not required. They all wrap up the stories to satisfaction. Even when an opportunity does appear, as per the Predator and its sequels, he doesn't seem interested in appearing and allows the story to continue on without him.
So, what becomes of Matrix and Jenny after Commando? Without returning to military service perhaps a career in politics awaits the former delta force operative. Afterall, how better to solve the West’s problems than to engage and affect the political environment with hardman diplomacy. Perhaps Matrix will follow in the footsteps of the actor who portrays him.
Arnold Schwarzenegger softened his image during the Clinton Administration, allowing him to star in such comedies as Junior (1994) and Jingle all the Way (1996) as well as meta-action movie parodies like Last Action Hero (1993). Bloodbaths and jingoism were not the (espoused, anyway) order of the day under Clinton. The return of the Republicans to the Presidential office in 2000 with the election victory of George W Bush saw Schwarzenegger revisit harder game with science fiction/action film’s End of Days (1999) and The Sixth Day (2000), and of course his third outing as the T-800 in Terminator: Rise of the Machines (2003). By this point, however, Schwarzenegger’s acting days, at least at this stage of his career, were coming to an end, yet his turn to politics was perhaps the performance he had dreamed of. Merging his past film characters' repertoire of one-liners and his charming personality, Schwarzenegger was elected to the position (or was it a role?) as the Republican Governor of California on November 17, 2003. Despite Hollywood’s liberal tendencies, the conservative political path Schwarzenegger took was obvious. His films celebrated American jingoism and gleefully indulged in violence towards foreigners. The violence he dished out in films such as Commando, Predator, Raw Deal, Eraser, and End of Days is under the authority of U.S military or Federal police. Despite his outsider status as a foreign-born (though he became a naturalized U.S citizen in 1983) Schwarzenegger’s characters fight for an American way of life. He was an active supporter of Ronald Reagan, serving the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition during the George H. W. Bush administration, and, despite marrying into the Kennedy dynasty, remained on the right of the political spectrum. His beef with President Donald Trump might have been personal distaste for the repulsive buffoon, but it also stemmed from television rating rivalries. The policy agenda of the Trump administration probably wasn't too far from Schwarzenegger’s own political positions.
In an address to the Republican Convention in 2004 he stated: “To think that a once scrawny boy from Austria could grow up to become Governor of the State of California and then stand here—and stand here in Madison Square Garden and speak on behalf of the President of the United States. That is an immigrant's dream! It's the American dream.” Arnold Schwarzenegger has lived, breathed, served, and has fought for America’s position in the word. On film and in American politics. Commando serves as his entry point into this lifelong fight.
Stephen Lee Naish is a UK-born writer and visual artist. His writing has appeared in Aquarium Drunkard, Film International, The Quietus, Sublation, Dirty Movies, The Big Picture, 25 Years Later, Albumism, and Merion West. His artistic works have appeared in Empty Mirror, Apricity Magazine, Lost Futures, and The Creative Zine. He is the author of six books of nonfiction. He lives in Kingston, Ontario.