From a technical standpoint, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Commando is far from a classic, and there are plenty of times during the third act massacre that you can literally see that the bad guys are being played by cardboard cutouts. However, that doesn’t mean that the movie isn’t awesome, because it most definitely is, and it endures as the near-perfect distillation of the 1980s action formula.
It ticks almost all of the boxes required from the genre’s heyday, starring a huge muscular dude in the lead role who possesses little dramatic acting capabilities but mountains of charisma, sporting a silly name like John Matrix for good measure. The villain, meanwhile, is a hammy Australian with a mustache and chain mail vest, with the entire thing tied together by a filmy revenge plot that allows Schwarzenegger to do what he does better than almost anyone else by mowing down a small army single-handedly while dropping a one-liner every now and again.
It would be difficult to duplicate never mind replicate, but Hollywood has tried before, with David Ayer once tasked to script a Commando remake that would have no doubt followed his gritty street-level aesthetic. However, insider Daniel Richtman reported a couple of months back that a reboot was on the table, and he’s now doubling down by claiming that not only is Austrian action icon set to return, but he wants to bring Sylvester Stallone along for the ride.
Of course, if Arnie is indeed returning, then that would technically make it a Commando sequel and not a reboot, and after decades as rivals, he’s now close friends with Stallone, as they’ve co-starred in three Expendables and one Escape Plan. Making a long-delayed follow up to one of his most popular movies and bringing Sly along would probably be akin to the Rocky star making Cobra 2 and getting Schwarzenegger involved, and honestly, it’s far from a bad idea.
