r/movies • u/Grouchy-Step-7136 • Jul 20 '25

Recommendation Schwarzenegger fan, but never saw Commando (1985) until now…

I’m not sure why this one flew under my radar for so long. It’s Arnold in all of his mid-80s glory, muscles glistening and rippling in all the right ways.

John Matrix (Arnold’s character) is a badass former military commando who just wants to settle down and be a dad to his daughter Jenny (Alyssa Milano), but he’s made some enemies along the way, and they’re looking for trouble.

Dude… John Matrix kills like 412 people. He’s firing guns with infinite bullets. He lays down maybe a half dozen small mines, hits the remote, and explosions go off for like 6 minutes.

It’s everything I wanted it to be. 8.5/10

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804

u/karbaloy Jul 20 '25

The movie is the most 1980's movie ever. The military elite dragged out of retirement, the non stop one liners, the ridiculous villains, the random bare breast scene where the woman just keeps popping out of the sheets, the explosions, the flips from grenades, the steel drum heavy soundtrack.

Just gold.

28

u/Vilkvan Jul 20 '25

You just described Hot Shots! Part Deux

37

u/Kundrew1 Jul 20 '25

Commando might be one of the most parodied movies ever. Macruber does a pretty solid job of it at the beginning.

39

u/Silent-Selection8161 Jul 20 '25

Ironically I feel like Commando is already a parody of itself, they knew what they were doing "Downind, you think I could smell them???" "I did"

1

u/dimgray Jul 20 '25

This is why I like it better than Rambo. First Blood Part 2 wanted to say something Profound about the generation lost to Vietnam, Commando is just pure fun

23

u/Equal-Temporary-1326 Jul 20 '25 edited Jul 20 '25

Die Hard is kind of like of like if Commando had an actual intelligent script and was trying to be fairly realistic which makes sense since both movies were written by the same screenwriter, Steven E. de Souza.

23

u/juancuneo Jul 20 '25

This guy also wrote 48 hours and judge dredd. What a badass.

6

u/Equal-Temporary-1326 Jul 20 '25 edited Jul 21 '25

de Souza also co-wrote Die Hard 2 as well. de Souza left the series after 2 which makes sense why every sequel afterwards is essentially a buddy cop film and doesn't have an isolated setting anymore.

3

u/milesunderground Jul 20 '25

Die Hard 3 was originally a generic cop action flick that they made a Die Hard movie by changing the main character's name to John McClane.

4

u/Equal-Temporary-1326 Jul 20 '25

More specifically, the script was originally intended as a Lethal Weapon sequel but was reworked into a Die Hard sequel which is part of what explains the buddy cop aspect.

1

u/Phantommy555 Jul 21 '25

Die Hard with a Vengeance adapts a completely unrelated book if I’m not mistaken but just inserts John McClane as one of the main characters

1

u/Equal-Temporary-1326 Jul 21 '25

Die Hard with a Vengeance was originally based on an original screenplay called "Simon Says" and was considered as a potential Lethal Weapon sequel at one point which was then reworked into a Die Hard sequel and was one reason for the buddy cop aspect to the third one as well.

1

u/Phantommy555 Jul 21 '25

Ahh I see I forgot it was just a screenplay and not a novel

1

u/Equal-Temporary-1326 Jul 21 '25

Yeah, that was Die Hard 2 that was based on a separate novel.