Commando

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Commando

R

Released Oct 4, 1985

1h 30m

Action

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

68%

Tomatometer

38 Reviews

68%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

Retired Special Forces soldier John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger) lives with daughter Jenny (Alyssa Milano) in isolation, but his privacy is disturbed by former commander Franklin Kirby (James Olson), who warns him that his fellow soldiers are getting killed one by one. After Kirby leaves, Jenny is kidnapped by former Latin American dictator Arius (Dan Hedaya), who wants Matrix to restore him to power. Instead, Matrix sets out to take down the rogue leader and rescue his daughter.

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Critics Consensus

The ultimate '80s Schwarzenegger movie, replete with a threadbare plot, outsized action, and endless one-liners.

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Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Comic book stuff, helped out by the presence of Rae Dawn Chong as an airline stewardess whose sarcastic commentary adds some comic counterpoint to the deliberately overscaled action.

Sep 18, 2007

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Variety Staff

Variety

Chong lights up the film like a firefly, Schwarzenegger delivers a certain light touch of his own, [and] the result is palatable action comics.

Sep 18, 2007

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Trevor Johnston

Time Out

Lots of machine-gunfire, explosions and disposable khaki-clad extras, as you'd expect.

Jun 24, 2006

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

...there’s no real surprises as to how John Matrix’s mission goes in Commando, but there’s are high-points for sure...what’s notable here apart from the slick action is the comedy, which replaced the toughness in the star’s later vehicles...

Rated: 4/5

Jun 9, 2025

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Don Shanahan

Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast

Editing in action movies is underrated and this one is some of best and tightest you'll find.

Nov 16, 2024

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Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

As an action film, it decently collects a handful of clichés for Schwarzenegger to do his thing by arming himself with machine guns and one-liners, but somehow the adrenaline decreases with each body count. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 6/10

Jul 6, 2022

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Jerod S

Schwarz is retired but as buff as ever. Horrible one liners and really bad explosions and gun scenes make one big 80s blast.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

09/20/25

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Jonathan N

Spoilers: go watch before you read this review. This movie is very cheesy. Even the dialogue and one-liners are eye-rollingly cheesy. I guess there is lots of "action" and if you like watching people really fakely getting shot en mass, then perhaps this is your jam. I generally found the pacing pretty good, but just the whole movie was not that entertaining to me. I guess you pretty well know what's going to happen at about the 10 minute mark. This movie does deliver exactly what you think is going to happen. I will file this under "mundane" and move on with my life. No, I don't recommend you waste your time watching this unless you like watching people get "shot" over and over again.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

09/11/25

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Jason H

It's cheesy, it knows it's cheesy, and it takes great pride in being cheesy. Arnold shoots, stabs, punches, scalps, blows up, and impales about 206 people in this movie.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

09/06/25

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Stefano T

In its own genre (ignorant action movie packed with violence and Hollywood one-line jokes) it's absolutely one of the best movies ever. Also, there is Schwarzenegger at his peak physique.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

09/03/25

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David W

This is so quintisentially eighties just watching it transports me back to those great days again. Utterly daft but ridiculously entertaining one man army nonsense of the highest order.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/09/25

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Patrick C

What a marvellous film. For those of my generation, you can forget THE Matrix and all that tosh. It will always be JOHN MATRIX for us. A heartwarming tale of the lengths a man will go to to protect his beloved daughter, lengths often involving violent cushion attack, dropping people off cliffs, impaling them, blowing them up with rocket launchers, peppering them with machine guns and finding novel ways to smoke a pipe. A tremendous climactic scene involving a tête-à-tête with a butch Australian with an iconic moustache, this is fun for all the family.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/24/25

Full Review

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Mark L. Lester

Director

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Colonel John Matrix

Rae Dawn Chong

Cindy

Dan Hedaya

Arius

Vernon Wells

Bennett

David Patrick Kelly

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Synopsis

Retired Special Forces soldier John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger) lives with daughter Jenny (Alyssa Milano) in isolation, but his privacy is disturbed by former commander Franklin Kirby (James Olson), who warns him that his fellow soldiers are getting killed one by one. After Kirby leaves, Jenny is kidnapped by former Latin American dictator Arius (Dan Hedaya), who wants Matrix to restore him to power. Instead, Matrix sets out to take down the rogue leader and rescue his daughter.

Director: Mark L. Lester
Producer: Joel Silver
Screenwriter: Matthew Weisman, Jeph Loeb, Steven E. de Souza, Steven E. de Souza
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Silver Pictures, SLM Production Group, Twentieth Century Fox
Rating: R
Genre: Action
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 4, 1985, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 25, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $34.9M
Runtime: 1h 30m
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby A, Dolby SR, Dolby Stereo
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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