Commando poster
Review

Commando 1985

Directed by Mark L. Lester · 90 mins · 2,142 views

4.1 Letterboxd 3.40(128,676)
Ratings M S M D P M T R G C

Synopsis

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.

Trailers

Reviews (14)

  1. M
    matt lynch 8 月 23, 2026

    Still waiting patiently for COMMANDO II: MATRIX RELOADED.

    1,041 3
  2. S
    Sean Fennessey 8 月 23, 2026

    “You’re a funny guy Sully, I like you. That’s why I’m going to kill you last.”

    557 9
  3. M
    Matt Singer 8 月 23, 2026

    I find this movie very relatable. As a father of two daughters, I would do anything for my kids. Also I love bad one-liners and can break steel chains and padlocks with my bare hands.

    457 7
  4. D
    DirkH 8 月 23, 2026

    – perfect cheesy one liners/corpses ratio. – bullet proof bushes your average Austrian Oak can hide behind when shot at. – perfect bullshit/bullshit ratio. – perfect road map to ‘switch off your brain and laugh like an idiot’ town. I love it without shame.

    1,368 27
  5. P
    Patrick Willems 8 月 23, 2026

    This movie is pretty much perfect in every conceivable way.

    619 5
  6. M
    Matt! 8 月 23, 2026

    This shit still has everything you could ever want. Car-pushing, phone-booth-flipping, bulldozer-crashing, saw-blade-scalping, pipe-spearing, death/physics/logic-defying 80s action B-movie glory courtesy of peak musclehead Arnie as the iconic John Matrix. R-rated bloody deaths and badass explosions. Too quotable for me to even rationalize. Unpretentious and wholehearted in its self-aware-but-I-don’t-care extremism. Cheeky, brazen, borderline satirical hyper masculinity. James Horner’s electrifying score that might as well be smelling salts for your ears. Everything about this is hammy action flick perfection.

    594 10
  7. T
    Todd Gaines 8 月 23, 2026

    Arnie is used just right in Mark L Lester’s Commando. When your star struggles with English dialogue, only give him a few lines, and make them clever, such as “Don’t disturb my friend, he’s DEAD tired.” This way, he appears humorous, and he doesn’t trip over his words. Focus on his strengths, not his weaknesses. You cast Rae Dong Chong as a potential love interest, but you realize mid ’80s Arnie is better suited staying in the “Friend Zone” with his lady friends. While a Love Connection would be fun to watch, it’s pointless having one in Commando. Arnie has big muscles. So, let’s film scenes from his chest view, showing off his non-steroid muscles from Austria. Show him shooting…

    361 17
  8. R
    Richard 8 月 23, 2026

    Perhaps the single most important film ever made.

    2,024 16
  9. G
    Grooveman 8 月 23, 2026

    “Fuck you, asshole!” “Fuck you, asshole.”

    471 5
  10. C
    Cormac 👑 8 月 23, 2026

    Arnie could do Lincoln but Daniel Day-Lewis couldn’t do Commando.

    319 8
  11. 🇵
    🇵🇱 Steve G 🐝 8 月 23, 2026

    Any film playing off the handicap of Arnold Schwarzenegger hand-feeding a deer and yet still managing to be this amazing is obviously one of the human race’s greatest ever achievements.

    311 15
  12. H
    Harry Keogh 8 月 23, 2026

    250 Things I Learned from watching Commando (originally posted on the Getbig.com forum by user Army of One). 1) Porsches can “heal” themselves after repeatedly crashing into a Fiat and rolling onto their sides. 2) Two people can crash into a pole at 50 mph, wearing no seatbelts, and walk away. 3) Uzi’s do not run out of ammunition until everyone is dead. 4) Being electrocuted will give you superhuman strength. 5) The best place to lock up a hostage is in a large room with balsa wood covering the window openings, with no guards outside the window. 6) The only way to break through balsa wood is with a disassembled doorknob. 7) Cheap airplanes are started by punching the…

    412 12
  13. J
    John Chard 3 月 28, 2020

    I eat Green Berets for breakfast. And right now, I’m very hungry!

    Commando is directed by Mark L. Lester and written by Jeph Loeb, Matthew Weisman and Steven E. de Souza. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rae Dawn Chong, Dan Hedaya, Vernon Wells, James Olson, David Patrick Kelly, Alyssa Milano and Bill Duke. Music is by James Horner and cinematography by Matthew F. Leonetti.

    John Matrix (Schwarzenegger) is the former leader of a special commando strike force that always got the toughest jobs done. He is forced back into action when his young daughter (Milano) is kidnapped by kingpin criminal Arius (Hedaya) and his gang of thugs. They want Matrix to carry out an assassination, but all Matrix has on his mind is to save his daughter – he has half a day to do so before the thugs will kill her – so it’s now a private war…

    After playing “Conan” and “The Terminator”, Schwarzenegger slipped into a role that would prove to carry all the hallmarks of the big man’s action movie career. Commando is awash with outrageous action, pure carnage and gruesome deaths, plenty of quippy one liners, and of course over the top villains.

    Clocking in at just 90 minutes in length, it’s the perfect “leave the brain at the door” popcorn crowd pleaser. Chong gets a well written lead lady part, giving us a spunky heroine who evolves as the plot grows ever more chaotic, and young Milano gets to play a resourceful child character.

    High art it is not, but who cares if you want to just watch Arnie waylay a whole army on his own. Great fun. 7/10

  14. G
    Gimly 3 月 19, 2018

    Let the story, acting, stunt-work, script, cinematography, production value, and just about everything else all dribble away while you sit back and enjoy watching Arnie kill more than 80 antagonists in about 80 minutes.

    _Final rating:★★★ – I liked it. Would personally recommend you give it a go._

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A Arnold Schwarzenegger John Matrix
R Rae Dawn Chong Cindy
D Dan Hedaya Arius
V Vernon Wells Bennett
J James Olson Major General Franklin Kirby
D David Patrick Kelly Sully
A Alyssa Milano Jenny Matrix
B Bill Duke Cooke
D Drew Snyder Lawson
S Sharon Wyatt Leslie
M Michael Delano Forrestal
B Bob Minor Jackson
M Michael Adams Harris
G Gary Carlos Cervantes Diaz
L Lenny Juliano Soldier
C Charles Meshack Henriques
C Chelsea Field Vicky the Western Flight Attendant
J Julie Hayek Susan the Western Flight Attendant
H Hank Calia Latin Man
W Walter Scott Cates
Director Mark L. Lester
Writer Steven E. de Souza
Producer Joel Silver, Jeph Loeb, Matthew Weisman, Stephanie Brody, Robert Kosberg
Editor Glenn Farr, Mark Goldblatt, John F. Link
Original Music James Horner
Sound Evelyn Dutton, Gail Ganley, Margie O'Malley, Gary Bolger, Donald F. Johnson, Kevin F. Cleary, Richard Corwin, Michael O'Corrigan, William Hartman, Pieter Hubbard, David M. Ice, Craig Heath, Hank Salerno, Don J. Bassman, Richard Overton, Tim Webb
Special Effects Doug Hubbard, Gary L. King, Jay King, Roger Lifsey, Bill Mattox, Mike Millar, John Peyser, Richard L. Thompson, Henry Millar, Robert W. King
Stunts Bennie E. Dobbins, George Fisher, Michael Adams
Synopsis
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.
Director
Mark L. Lester
Writer
Steven E. de Souza
Studio
SLM Production Group, Silver Pictures, 20th Century Fox
Country
USA
Language
English
Year
1985
Runtime
90 mins

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  • USA03 Oct 1985
  • Spain20 Dec 1985
  • Netherlands23 Jan 1986
  • Denmark31 Jan 1986
  • France05 Feb 1986
  • Japan08 Feb 1986
  • UK22 Feb 1986
  • Ireland28 Mar 1986
  • Poland05 Apr 1988
  • Hungary06 Apr 1989
  • Czechoslovakia30 Jan 1992
  • Finland03 Oct 1985
  • USA25 May 1999
  • USA15 Apr 2008