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20th
Century Fox (1985)
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Alyssa Milano,
Vernon Wells and Rae Dawn Chong
It is amazing how much fun a re-watch of some of
the 80s classic movies, especially the action flicks, can bring. Not only do
they provoke a form of nostalgic feelings by bringing back growing days’
memories, you sometimes wonder how gullible you were to believe some of their
eclectic stunts. A typical example is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1985 flick,
‘Commando’ (glaringly a favourite at its time).
Old school days
It was during a period when video gaming and
watching European club football wasn’t available and watching movies via your
vintage VHS or Betamax VCR is an optimum means of getting entertainment.
Even terrestrial television channels don’t stay
on long enough to serve enough meaningful entertainment. Consequently, folks
indulge in going on and on about the latest stunt they just saw in a new movie
to show off how current and cool they are. So you can only imagine how much
bragging rights, ‘Commando’ gave the group of people privileged to see it
earlier than others. They never stopped talking about it, and funnily others
wouldn’t want them to stop; the excitement from the gist is required to keep
the desire to watch the movie because getting a copy to watch immediately isn’t
guaranteed.
The local video cassette rental clubs all have a
long list of customers patiently awaiting the return of the club’s only copy.
Unbelievable
The movie in itself is entertaining and action
packed. Schwarzenegger portrayed an ex-special force operative, Matrix, whose
daughter was kidnapped in an attempt to coerce him into killing the president
of a fictitious South-American nation.
However, this only woke up the sleeping killer in
Matrix who immediately resulted to killing his child’s abductors instead of
completing the criminal task. He jumped off an aeroplane in flight, ran
undetected through airport security, won a fight against over a dozen cops at a
mall, got in a fight where several rounds were fired at a motel, and still went
about his business as if it were no big deal. No cop came after him; not like
in recent flicks when running a red light will attract a whole squad. He also
broke into an ammo store that stocked rocket launchers, (Yes, rocket launchers)
and killed an army of over a hundred fully armed soldiers all by himself. He is
‘the commando’.
We all loved it
Easy as it is to criticise the movie now, back in
the 80s it appeared almost flawless. It was a toast to action movie lovers that
even though they watched it many times over, they still do not notice that most
of the stunts were not only cheesy, but were also exaggerated by the people who
first saw it. Viewers were more focused on not missing a thing so that they can
contribute more the next time they discuss ‘Commando’ with their friends. Such
was the intrigue the movie imposed.
