The Commando
Think of it as Great Value brand Schwarzenegger version.
Cast of Characters:
James Baker – Michael Jai White
Sheriff Alexander – Jeff Fahey
Lisa – Aris Mejias
Dominic – Gianni Capaldi
Sebastian – Brendan Fehr
Rudy – Cord Newman
Matthew – Matthew Van Wettering
Trey – John Enos III
Ray – Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone
Johnny – Mickey Rourke
Director – Asif Akbar
Writer – Koji Steven Sakai
Producer – Koji Steven Sakai, Asif Akbar, Philip Tan, Al Bravo & Elias Axume
Distributor – Saban Films
Rated R for strong violence, language throughout and some drug use.
The Rundown: Upon returning home from a devastating raid, DEA agent James Baker (Michael Jai White) heads off on a nice weekend getaway with his wife Lisa (Aris Mejias) in hopes of getting some very much needed r&r. While away, their two daughters left back home wind up facing more than they bargained for when newly released convict Johnny (Mickey Rourke) and his band of goons return to retrieve a very lucrative stash Johnny hid years ago.
And, of course, who better to take hostage than the daughters of a brutish, trigger-happy solider with raging PTSD?
As Jerry Seinfeld once said, “Well good luck with allllllll that.”
Pre-Release Buzz: Reportedly shot over the course of an eleven-day period in New Mexico, The Commando looks like your typical home invasion action-thriller that screams straight-to-video. That said, with Michael Jai White leading the pack, along with support from veteran character actors Jeff Fahey and Academy Award nominee Mickey Rourke, could this film maybe provide something a little more than what you’d usually find playing on Spike TV at 2am?
The Good: Well, there’s not much, if anything, but Jeff Fahey has that two-sided ability to play either likably charming or slick as a snake oil salesman evil very well. Here, his character pretty much serves no purpose at all to the story; in fact, one plot thread involving him trying to serve a bogus warrant to Michael Jai White is so superfluous it barely has a beginning to its thread much less a conclusion. Still, though getting next to nothing to do, Fahey at least appears to be having fun and does what he can as the corrupt, wolf in sheep’s clothing sheriff.
The Bad: To answer the question I posed back up in pre-release buzz, that would be a resounding hell, no. As already mentioned, this film was shot within eleven days, and when you finally see this flick, you’ll probably think to yourself, “Yeah, that sounds about right… but then what did they do with the remaining eight?”
Look, I get it. I’d be crazy to say I was going into this expecting something along the lines of Michael Mann’s Heat, but even by trashy, straight-to-video action film standards, this film is just mind-numbingly dull, and a little bit deceiving as well. For a film titled The Commando with the tagline “Only one will survive.”, director Asif Akbar has a whole lot of no action going on here. Koji Steven Sakai’s script, however, certainly has a shit-ton of talking between the characters. Perhaps Akbar and Sakai were wanting to go for a more character-centered approach? I’d totally be down for that if the script warranted such an approach, but its insight into the struggles with PTSD many soldiers and officers face is at best juvenile.
Seriously, know your place, movie. You’re not The Deer Hunter.
And that there is what really drags this film down into the gutter. There’s something to be well said about a film that knows what it is, knows what it’s supposed to do and then commits to doing it effectively. The Commando is not that movie, and for as much as it talks and talks and talks, by the end, it still somehow winds up having little to say from all that jabbering. When Akbar finally remembers that he’s making an action film and maybe should show some action, he serves up sequences that at worst are atrocious and at best laughable. If horrible CGI blood/gunfire and poorly staged hand-to-hand fights with punches and kicks missing their marks by miles are your thing, then you are in for a treat. It doesn’t help either that White’s James Baker just plows through the bad guys like it’s nothing, showing not even the tiniest, faintest, ever so slightest ounce of struggle, which deflates any sense of tension that could’ve been generated.
Bonus continuity points too for one character that gets a point-blank gunshot straight through the back of the head and blowing right out of the eye, but when he’s discovered later on his eye’s miraculously healed with just a few trickles of blood running down his cheek.
Another puzzling choice by Akbar and Sakai is the film’s awkward attempts at humor, which given the film’s tone and subject matter feel wildly out of place. Of course, depending on your mood, one of the bad guys shooting a high school partier while he’s peeing only to then get peed on as the teen falls to the ground dead could very well be the highlight of the film for you. This also marks the first and quite possibly only film I’ll hear a bad guy holler out a hearty “WOOOO!!!!” before raping a girl.
And, honestly, nothing says knee-slapper more than that.
What’s all the more disappointing is that I actually think White, with a decent script and director, could suit a solid action vehicle well. He certainly has the stature and presence for it, and does show a few glimmers of charisma here when the film provides him the opportunity to do so, but the film overall does him no favors by failing to capitalize on any of his strengths.
The Ugly: It’s been borderline depressing seeing Mickey Rourke’s talent get utterly wasted in straight-to-video hell over the past decade. Maybe he actually wants to do these kind of films (his very evident boredom would suggest otherwise), or maybe he should’ve started paying attention to Michael Keaton in how to handle a post-Oscar nomination career comeback (starring roles in two Best Picture winners in a row doesn’t hurt). Either way, watching him snooze his way through The Commando is downright tragic.
But the blame can’t all be laid on Rourke, ’cause it’s hard to really do anything with your performance when you are given absolutely nothing to do. Literally NOTHING, unless you want to count being relegated to mostly sitting on some steps while talking on the phone as something. One wonders why Akbar and Sakai didn’t just make Rourke and Fahey’s characters the central villains invading the home. Instead, they pull out the ole bait and switch by plastering Rourke all over the posters and trailers before sidelining him to the background and having lesser actors step in to either bore you to death with their lack of menace or bellow their horrible overacting all the way to the mezzanine. Would it have made the film better? Most certainly not. The script would still be terrible, the CGI shoddy and the film burdened by more talk and less action, but at the very least, you’d be giving two proven veteran talents more to work with than what they end up getting.
Make no mistake, Rourke’s Oscar-nominated turn in The Wrestler was by no means a fluke. This is a man that has given a number of other excellent character performances in films like Body Heat, Diner, Rumble Fish, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Barfly, and a cameo appearance as a grieving father in The Pledge where he only needed a minute to deliver a performance so raw and emotionally honest it’ll rip your heart out. Even within the action genre, Rourke has played the tough guy part well in Sin City, Domino, and though slightly underused, still delivered a fine turn in Iron Man 2 as the Marvel sequel’s villain. So, needless to say, he deserves better than this dreck.
Consensus: Inertly plotted, ineptly written and lethargically acted, The Commando brings everything you expect to see in a bargain bin, bottom of the barrel home invasion thriller, so make of that what you will.
Silver Screen Fanatic’s Verdict: I give The Commando a D- (½★).
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