Our favourite movies: #2: Commando (1985)

Joel Silver produced the Matrix trilogy, a successful film series for sure, but nothing, NOTHING compared to the Silver produced Commando. Starring Arnie at the height of his powers, the movie opens with our hero swinging his chopper around, thumping wood into halves. A fitting metaphor for what is to come as John Matrix (Schwarzenegger) has got some wood to chop and nothing's going to get in his way. And this time it's personal, as the bad guys have (cliche alert) kidnapped his daughter. Time to go shopping. That's right, shopping...Arnie style. Using a bulldozer as a key to the gun store, Matrix goes a bit Dale Winton chucking bazookas, shotguns and grenades into his trolley. As you do. This brilliantly ridiculous scene sets the tone for what is arguably...no, not arguably, IS the greatest action movie of 1985.
Driven relentlessly by that stunning, not to mention unique steel drum soundtrack, Arnie reels off some of the best one-liners committed to celluloid. Delivered impeccably in Schwarzenegger's trademark Austrian dialect, the lines zing like rapid-fire, white hot bullets of rapier wit wounding their targets before they've had a chance to bite the dust. And bite the dust they do in spectacular fashion. Arnie's escort fatally elbowed in the face: "Don't disturb my friend. he is dead tired." Snivelling henchman Sully dropped off a cliff edge: "I let him go." Tough guy nemesis, Bennett impaled by a steam pipe: "Let off some steam, Bennett!"
Zing! You're dead. Schwarzenegger uses words like a machine gun toting Shakespeare.
Throw in expendable soldiers torn up by bullets, grenades and scalped by frisbeed circular saw blades and you've got yourself a bona-fide action classic.



The visible springboards intentionally left in shot as Arnie's foes are blown up by his tossed pineapples only add to the movie's charm which we're sure was a concious artistic choice on the director's part. And it all works beautifully.
Commando represents a star at the height of his powers ruling over the movie world and the entire action genre. Screw becoming the governor of California, this is Arnie's greatest achievement.