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{{work|wppage=Commando (1985 film)}}
[[File:THEARNOLD_COMMANDO.jpg|frame| [[Rated "M" for Manly|You can't get much more macho than this.]]]]
 
{{quote| '''Cindy''': [[Hero Stole My Bike|You steal my car]], [[Super Strength|you rip the seat out]], you kidnap me, you ask me [[I Have Your Wife|to help you find your daughter]], [[Blatant Lies|which I very kindly do]], and then you get me involved in a [[More Dakka|shoot]] [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy|out]] where [[Mooks|people]] are dying and there's [[Ludicrous Gibs|blood spurting all over the place]], and then I watch you [[Crazy Awesome|rip a phone booth out of a wall]], [[Building Swing|swing from the ceiling like]] [[Tarzan]], and then there's [[Police Are Useless|a cop that's going to shoot you]] and I save you and they start chasing me! [[Expospeak|Are you going to tell me what's going on or what?!]] <br />▼
 
▲{{quote| '''Cindy''': [[Hero Stole My Bike|You steal my car]], [[Super Strength|you rip the seat out]], you kidnap me, you ask me [[I Have Your Wife|to help you find your daughter]], [[Blatant Lies|which I very kindly do]], and then you get me involved in a [[More Dakka|shoot]] [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy|out]] where [[Mooks|people]] are dying and there's [[Ludicrous Gibs|blood spurting all over the place]], and then I watch you [[Crazy Awesome|rip a phone booth out of a wall]], [[Building Swing|swing from the ceiling like]] [[Tarzan]], and then there's [[Police Are Useless|a cop that's going to shoot you]] and I save you and they start chasing me! [[Expospeak|Are you going to tell me what's going on or what?!]] <br />
'''Matrix''': [[The Stoic|No]]. }}
 
Possibly the most [[So Bad ItsIt's Good|awesome]] film [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] ever made, and certainly the most [[Ho Yay|homoerotic]]. ''Commando'' tells the story of John Matrix (Arnie), a retired special forces [[Colonel Badass|colonel]] whose daughter is kidnapped. To get her back he must, like, kill a prime minister or something? But thankfully he decides to [[Rash Equilibrium|ignore these demands]] and [[Hilarity Ensues|just kills them all instead.]]
 
Best known for Schwarzenegger displaying his distinctive tongue-in-cheek humor for this kind of over-the-top action film.
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Not to be confused with the [[Print Long Runners|long-running]] British [[Comic Book]] ''[[Commando (Comic Book)|Commando]]'', which is a little more sedate in its overall narrative. Does not involve [[Going Commando]], either.
 
Directed by Mark L. Lester, who directed the 1984 adaptation of [[Firestarter]]. Distributed by 20th Century Fox.
----
 
{{tropelist}}
=== This film features notable examples of: ===
 
* [[Awesome McCoolname]]: John Matrix.
* [[Badass]]: John Matrix, to [[Rule of Cool|absolutely ridiculous]] levels.
** Bennett deserves mention too, for not only being the only person in the film to put up a decent fight against Matrix, but for getting him ''on the ropes'' in their final battle (though Matrix ''was'' wounded before that fight started).
* [[Badass Boast]]: From Cook to Matrix, answered with [[Narm]] and [[Lampshaded]] by Cindy:
{{quote| '''Cook''': This Green Beret's going to kick your big ass.<br />
'''Matrix''': I eat Green Berets for breakfast! And right now I'm ''very'' hungry!<br />
'''Cindy''': [[Crowning Moment of Funny|I can't believe this macho bullshit!]] }}
** Also:
{{quote| '''Arius''': Mr. Bennett, my soldiers are patriots.<br />
'''Bennett''': [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy|Your soldiers are nothing]]. [[Badass|Matrix]] and I can [[One -Man Army|kill every single]] [[Mooks|one of them]] [[Hilarity Ensues|in the blink of an eye]]. [[Foreshadowing|Remember]] [[Lampshading|that]]. }}
* [[Banana Republic]]: Val Verde.
* [[Beyond the Impossible]]: Early on, Matrix is trying to chase some bad guys but the power to his truck is cut, so he ''pushes it and drives it down a hill''. Then there's the plane escape.
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*** A more subtle one: Matrix is impeded by a padlock and chains, so he just rips them off.
*** Killing a group of heavily armed soldiers with spare gardening and hardware tools found in a shed.
* [[Bond One -Liner]]: Schwarzenegger has always been good at these, but ''Commando'' contains some of his greatest efforts.
** After killing a man on a plane and [[Of Corpse He's Alive|disguising him as if he's asleep]], he turns to a stewardess and says: "Please don't disturb my friend. He's dead tired."
** After dropping Sully off a cliff, and then being asked where he's gone: "I let him go."
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* [[Conservation of Ninjutsu]]: dozens, if not hundreds of soldiers, and not one of them can take a decent aimed shot against the guy standing in the middle of a wide open garden shooting at them with a machine gun that should be braced on its bipod in order to fire accurately - no problem for Matrix. The wussy boss bad guy takes several minutes of dodging and fire-trading before he makes the kill. [[The Dragon]] nearly kills Matrix himself. Oh, and by the end of the film, Matrix's apparently killed ''everybody on the island.''
* [[Disney Villain Death]]: Sully
* [[Distressed Damsel in Distress]]: Jenny, but hardly a hopeless example of the trope. Using her own resourcefulness she's able to free herself from her confinement -- if not, Bennett would have cut her throat before Matrix even got near her.
* [[The Dragon]]: Bennett.
** [[Dragon Their Feet]]: The [[Big Bad]] is Arius, not Bennett. He got his own dose of buckshot before Matrix deal with Bennett though.
** [[Dragon -in -Chief]]: As quoted above, Bennett claims (correctly) that he's a bigger threat to John than Arius' and his army.
* [[Elite Mooks]]: Cooke boasts about being a former Green Beret. Matrix is unimpressed.
* [[Expy]]: General Kirby is basically [[Rambo (Franchise)|Colonel Trautman]]. Matrix himself is basically a tongue-in-cheek version of Rambo.
* [[Faking the Dead]]: Bennett is apparently blown up in his boat by Cooke in the pre-title sequence, but it's only to mislead Kirby.
* [[Follow That Car!]]:
{{quote| '''Matrix:''' Follow him.<br />
'''Cindy:''' Oh, I ''knew'' you were going to say that... }}
* [[Groin Attack]]: A mook catches an axe between the legs in the toolshed scene.
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** He kept his word too: There never was a sequel.
* [[High Altitude Interrogation]]: Matrix dangles Sully above a cliff to make him talk. And then...
{{quote| '''Matrix''': "Remember, Sully, when I promised to kill you last?<br />
'''Sully''': "That's right Matrix! You did!"<br />
'''Matrix''': "[[I Lied]]." (Drops Sully) }}
** This one is actually a lot more cold-blooded. While Sully made it perfectly clear that he would be willing to talk, Matrix had already found the necessary [[Plot Coupon]] in his coat pocket before holding him over the cliff's edge. He just brought him there solely to [[Post MortemBond One -Liner|let him go]].
*** Maybe Matrix '''[[Overprotective Dad|really hated]]''' that "more time with your daughter" crack Sully made at the airport?
* [[I Have Your Daughter]]: Subverted in that when the bad guys kidnap Matrix's daughter to blackmail him into working for them, he doesn't even pretend to play along; he ignores their demands and just kills them all.
* [[Impaled Withwith Extreme Prejudice]]: [[You Have Been Warned|spoilers]].
* [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy]]: With an army that shoots like ''that'', no '''wonder''' Matrix could take on 87 men and still win.
* [[Improbable Aiming Skills]]: The other reason Matrix could take on the army presented and win.
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** He lied.
* [[Lock and Load Montage]]: Complete with enough weaponry to kill a small army. [[Hilarity Ensues|And I'm not talking hypothetically here.]]
** Interestingly, Matrix puts all the equipment on, including his vest and then puts camo paint on his arms and face. Later, he loses the vest and now he has camo paint on his manly chest. Which means, after the [[Lock and Load Montage|lock and load montage]], he must have taken all the equipment '''off''' again to paint it on, as he was obviously ''planning'' to lose his shirt later.
* [[Mandatory Unretirement]]
* [[Mean Character, Nice Actor]]: Yes, '''Bennett''' of all people has an actor who is a very nice person off camera, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjkp-Qtq2Ss as Arnie himself recalls].
* [[Mook Horror Show]], especially the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B5xEBASwgE toolshed sequence].
* [[More Dakka]]: Most of the movie revolves around dakka exchange between fighting parties: trimming bushes with machine gun fire, entire squad [[No One Could Survive That|dakka-venting the barn with The Ahnold inside]], et cetera, et cetera.
* [[Nice Job Guiding Us Hero]]
* [[Not Even Bothering Withwith the Accent]]: Justified (or handwaved, at any rate) by mentioning early in the film that Matrix hails from East Germany.
* [[One -Man Army]]: Hoo, boy, is Matrix ever.
** Could have been called [[One -Man Army]]: [[The Movie]].
* [[Only a Flesh Wound]]: Subverted. When Matrix is shot in the shoulder by Bennett, his right arm is ''mostly'' out of the fight, he even comments on it and can't use it for much aside for holding impromptu shields and weapons, seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL5diYxDmP8#t=4m here from 4:10 to 6:43.] It seems fine by the end though.
** Played completely straight throughout with Matrix's leg and abdomen wounds, suffered after a being a little to close to a live grenade.
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* [[Race Against the Clock]]: After escaping the plane, Matrix has 11 hours to wrap things up before it lands and his escape is discovered.
* [[Rash Equilibrium]]: Arius hints that Jenny's going to get killed (or worse) no matter what Matrix decides to do (though he doesn't count on Matrix killing every one of his men).
* [[Rated "M" for Manly]]: ''Boy howdy''. This movie will impregnate any unprotected female viewers. And a few male ones, too.
* [[Redshirt Army]]: General Kirby leaves behind two soldiers to protect Matrix and his daughter, describing them as "real good, but not as good as you". Both men are killed as soon as he flies off.
* [[Reckless Gun Usage]]: After Matrix gets locked up in a police van, Rae Dawn Chong tries to free him with a quad-barreled missile launcher. Unfortunately she points the wrong end at the target and blows up the shops behind her.
* [[Roaring Rampage of Rescue]]: The movie of the trope.
* [[Shout -Out]]: At least three of Arnie's lines are things he said in ''[[The Terminator]]''. His one-word answer, "Wrong," before blasting away his first [[Mooks|mook]], his [[Catch Phrase]] "I'll be back" (of course), and the line, "Fuck you, asshole!" This was his first big movie after ''[[The Terminator]]'' and his first big movie with more than five lines.
* [[Show Some Leg]]: Matrix has Chong pretend to be a hooker in Sully's hotel room. Doesn't quite work as Cooke is still wary, but he still misses Matrix hiding behind the door until the [["Hey You!" Haymaker]].
* [[Shur Fine Guns]]: When Cook is knocked into the next room while fighting Matrix, he fires his last two rounds while he's tumbling backwards, resulting in the exchange in the [[Narm]] entry.
* [[Soft Glass]]: Played with. Arnold plays this straight, but his friend who ran the car dealership is badly cut when he's driven through a window. It's possible the shards killed him, that or being hit by the car, as seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwq9V7AEhi0 here from 3:00 to 3:16.]
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* [[Title Drop]]: 'Commando' is Matrix's radio callsign.
* [[Trope Codifier]]: This is ''the'' [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] movie.
* [[Unhand Them, Villain!]]: Arnold does this to Sully.
* [[Unnecessary Combat Roll]]: It actually proves useful. Matrix is in a gun fight with Arius, and the two take turns shooting at each other and taking cover. After a few rounds of this, Matrix rolls out from his cover as Arius tries to shoot him, only for Matrix to shoot Arius at the end of the roll.
* [[What Could Have Been]]: This was originally offered to John McTiernan of ''[[Predator]]'' and ''[[Die Hard (Film)|Die Hard]]'' fame. Now watch the first half hour of ''Predator'' and ask... [[Sincerity Mode|which is more awesome]]?
** ''[[Die Hard (Film)|Die Hard]]'' was originally intended to be a sequel to ''Commando''.
* [[What Do You Mean ItsIt's Not Awesome?]]: EVERYTHING, from walking through a mall to getting into an airplane.
** And getting off of one.
* [[What Measure Is a Mook?]]: Completely averted. Matrix has no problem killing someone, be it a random henchman or a main villain.
* [[Zerg Rush]]: How many security guards does that mall have?
* [[We Hardly Knew Ye]]: A handsome Val Verdan in a fur-lined jacket with a [[Goatee of Evil]] is introduced in a manner that indicates he's [[The Dragon]], taking part in the opening assasinations and shooting one of Kirby's [[Red Shirt|redshirts]]. He stays behind to deliver the [[I Have Your Daughter]] ultimatum... until Matrix blows him away with a shotgun.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Films of the 1980s]]
[[Category:Arnold Schwarzenegger (Creator)]]▼
[[Category:Commando]]
[[Category:Film]]
▲[[Category:Arnold Schwarzenegger (Creator)]]
[[Category:Films With Recuts]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]
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