Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
John Matrix, the former leader of a special commando strike force that always got the toughest jobs done, is forced back into action when his young daughter is kidnapped. To find her, Matrix has to fight his way through an array of punks, killers, one of his former commandos, and a fully equipped private army. With the help of a feisty stewardess and an old friend, Matrix has only a few hours to overcome his greatest challenge: finding his daughter before she's killed.
Commando is a quintessential mid-80s Schwarzenegger action vehicle that delivers exactly what it promises but little more. The plot is paper-thin and entirely formulaic — kidnapped daughter, lone wolf rescue — with zero subversion. Acting is campy and self-aware but hardly skilled; Schwarzenegger leans into the one-liners and Vernon Wells chews scenery as a cartoonish villain. Cinematography is competent and energetic for the era, with solid action staging that keeps things moving. Novelty is low — it recycles every action trope of its time, though it does so with a certain gleeful excess that became its own kind of identity. The ending delivers satisfying if predictable mayhem with the obligatory showdown, hitting the expected beats cleanly.