Hot Toys MMS276 John Matrix (Commando)

Commando by Gabz (Grzegorz Domaradzki)

Commando

Commando feels like the first time a film specifically built itself around the emerging star persona of Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the Dino De Laurentiis barbarian films, Schwarzenegger was filling a pre-existing role. When he played the lead in The Terminator Schwarzenegger may have altered James Cameron's idea of who his cyborg assassin should be, but again the role predated the glamour. Commando though seems to be pointedly playing around with the few bankable - pitchable - attributes the actor had displayed.

First and foremost, John Matrix is a strongman. Every obstacle he comes across is expertly dismantled by his huge muscled paws. His feats of strength are so outlandish that Schwarzenegger begins to resemble a cartoonish idea of muscle might. He's basically The Incredible Hulk with an agenda. Commando is also happy to replay several beats and ideas from Terminator, most obviously in the regurgitation of a few of that film's more memorable zings, but also in how Matrix stalks his prey. When pursuing his enemies Schwarzenegger tends to slide back into his surveillance camera acting, scanning with his eyes, then allowing his head to follow robotically. Commando is an iterated example of the mechanical otherness that defined Arnold Schwarzenegger's early roles - the persona beginning to metamorphose from a hunter killer into something human.

Commando #4570 by Ian Kennedy

Genesis - The Brazilian

I've spent the evening reading Steven E de Souza and Frank Darabont's unproduced Commando II script - this is the track they advise you to crank up to get a sense of John Matrix's world. Obviously the script is completely amazing and features scene after scene of Schwarzenegger saying blunt things and frowning. Zinger wise, the highlight has to be Arnold's aside after brutalising the door staff of an exclusive members only club: "I don't know why they call them bouncers. They don't bounce." Elsewhere, our hero escapes a high-tech death corridor by creating an anti-laser umbrella out of Janitorial supplies and a few rest-room mirrors. Take that technology! For his big finish, Schwarzenegger gains entry to the big bad's evil Contra compound by disguising himself as a blushing bride. Real shame it never got made.