On Commando

Commando begins with a happy (presumably married) couple in bed, unexpectedly woken up by the morning garbage pickup. The man, frustrated, brings the garbage cans to the curb, where he is promptly murdered for his trouble by two of the henchmen of the film.


Our introduction to Arnold Schwarzenegger's role features scenes establishing the lifestyle of John Matrix and his young daughter, Jenny (a very young Alyssa Milano). He is capable of displays of masculinity--chopping wood, moving giant logs, muscles glistening with sweat, for example--but the example set down by the film has the juxtaposition of that masculine display with the emasculation of the forest. At any rate, there is no sexual outlet provided for Matrix.


Later, we learn that his own past as a sort of special military operative is something he would very much like to distance himself from, and Jenny has an obvious distaste of his promiscuous past as well: "You said you weren't going away again. You said you were through." A clue, perhaps, toward how Matrix's disavowed sexuality was a bad influence on his family. Jenny's mother, interestingly, is never seen or mentioned; it's possible she was adopted, which would make sense for a gay man or a gay couple. Of course, Matrix was very good at what he did: "silent and smooth, just like always." Relatedly, when Matrix first escapes after having been captured, he escapes from a passenger airplane, which symbolizes succinctly his readiness to escape from male sexual norms.


The obvious clue toward Matrix's sexuality, of course, is the lingering shot of him attempting to clean ice cream off his face, at the beginning of the film. And all the background we need is given to us when the film shows us Matrix's truck, sabotaged by the villains of the film--impotent. Without his daughter, he has absolutely nothing going for him: or as Matrix puts it, "the only thing that matters now is Jenny."


James Horner's main theme deserves special mention for reinforcing the impressions we're given visually about Matrix. The orchestration features the melody carried by prominent steelpans, with the occasional prominent saxophone fill, and the later appearance of a pan flute. This is not exactly the most traditionally masculine combination of instruments, but forceful synthesized percussion provides the needed punch.


Without exception, every person in the film who displays any heterosexuality whatsoever is portrayed as disgusting and repulsive. Take, for example, Sully, who is shown making labored advances on Cindy (Rae Down Chong) the first time the film introduces us to her. He later follows her to her car, opening with the jaw-droppingly creepy "I've got something I'd really like to give you." But slightly after she rejects his advances, Sully is shown very deliberately smoking a cigarette, and appearing to be satisfied. So we are left with the impression that perhaps his advances seemed so forced because he was forcing himself to make them, counter to his actual sexuality.


Later, Matrix is arrested by the police, and it falls to Cindy to rescue him. She pulls up next to the van at a red light, and the two officers in the cab proceed to harass her: "I think she's got something for us." "I bet she does." Notice that the euphemism is the same one Sully chose, except this time inverted humorously.  Cindy pulls out a rocket launcher after the van starts moving again, disables the vehicle, and rescues Matrix. It's a woman that rescued him from the clutches of the leering straight cops, but she did so using a very male weapon.


The act of shooting should be read as a sexual act, which in turn reinforces the usual subtext of guns as phallic objects. Throughout the film, Matrix dispatches his opponents with cold and dispassionate efficiency, using various firearms (most of which are large-caliber, i.e. vicious and damaging). Conversely, their guns might as well be cosmetic. Matrix achieves satisfaction and at once denies it to his counterparts. This implies his sexual proclivities: he is a power top, but also derives pleasure from denying his sexual partners any chance at a climax. The implication for Matrix's character is that he very much does not participate fully in the range of interactions with his partners, denoting a sort of self-denial which has already been established in the film otherwise. And to boot, this is not a rejection of gay norms, since roles like top and bottom are accepted and acknowledged.


Matrix does manage to show emotion occasionally, but only when he is in combat with another powerful man, with an outstanding example being the duel he has with Cooke (Bill Duke). Throughout the action, they completely smash a room up, break into another with a naked male/female couple having a good time on the box spring (they are ignored), and finally Matrix manages to knock Cooke on his back and at the same time impale him. The symbolism is straightforward.


Another interesting thing to note is that almost every time Matrix commandeers a vehicle, the act is preceded by the literal murder of the owner or the caretaker of the vehicle. In effect, it is a trophy-taking after the conquest. In fact, every vehicle he commandeers is non-masculine in some way: the two convertible coupes, Cooke's teal convertible, the seaplane. In the case of  Cindy's vehicle, he does not kill her; he doesn't treat her like anything other than a warm body. And he rips the passenger seat out of her car in particular.


Cindy provides a comedic foil for Matrix from the very moment she is introduced, but there is never any development of a romantic relationship, or sexual tension; Matrix simply uses her as a means to an end. His interactions with her are clipped, and brusque: early in the film, shortly after we're first introduced to  Cindy, she delivers a hysterical monologue that finishes with, "Are you going to tell me what's going on, or not?" Matrix's response is, of course, "no."  This only emphasizes that Matrix is a man, but he is completely uninterested in comforting  Cindy or even giving her any information.


Bennett (Vernon Woods), conversely, is an extreme stereotype of the gay man: in the words of Woods, Bennett is "Freddie Mercury on steroids," and if he were attired like the biker from the Village People with a chain mail vest for the road. Where Matrix is totally dispassionate about killing, Bennett relishes it, to an extent that Matrix purposefully points out that Bennett enjoys killing a little too much. Bennett's reply? "Your training, John." Later, he goes on to say: "When I found out I'd get my hands on you, I said I'd do it for nothing."


Where Matrix uses the impersonal ranged firearm to dispatch enemies, Bennett's weapon of choice is a fairly large combat knife. Again, this reinforces Bennett being much more intense and personal about killing than Matrix. Whenever we see Bennett walking anywhere, we see him walking in a way that immediately recalls the way the stereotype of the "flamboyantly gay man" moves, and he is constantly brandishing his knife.


Early in the film, when Jenny is being used as leverage to force Matrix to assassinate a democratically-elected Central American (presumably) president, Bennett presses the knife to her throat. He draws pleasure from the experience, but only from the discomfort that the threat causes Matrix. Clearly Bennett is really interested in turning the tables on Matrix, as his enjoyment of being in the position of power is obvious. This desire causes Bennett to disregard an obviously dangerous situation when Matrix begins his attack on the island compound, simply fingering his knife in response and musing: "Welcome back, John. So glad you could make it." You can imagine the twinkle in his eye.


During the attack, Matrix is a nigh-invincible killing machine, but there comes a point where he is outmaneuvered and forced to hide inside a tool shed (he literally hides in a closet for tools!). The weapon that finally wounds him is, unsurprisingly, a ball-shaped grenade. Matrix manages to extricate himself from this situation by bursting out of the tool shed and killing his immediate attackers with whatever is handy: a pitchfork, a machete, and so on. So here we see the first instance of Matrix realizing that maybe he doesn't need to be so detached all the time; maybe the emotion of Bennett's lifestyle has some positives.


The tension between the ostentatious Bennett and the neutered Matrix is more or less the main thrust (!) the film. All of this tension comes to a head (!!) in the climax (!!!) of the film. By this point Matrix has defeated every enemy with guns, but no firearm avails him when he is confronted by Bennett in the basement, who has taken his daughter hostage with a knife; the impotence suggested at the beginning of the film is brought full circle. It should be no surprise at this point that the basement is a steam room, filled with pipes that are constantly dripping moisture, mirroring Matrix's complete toplessness and sweatiness.


A surprisingly competent bit of filmmaking also occurs in the buildup to the firefight, with a statue of what appears to be the Madonna featuring prominently in the frame. Mary, like Matrix, is obviously not a sexual being, despite her parenthood. In addition, there is the obvious connection between the distress of both Mary and Matrix's children.


Despite Matrix taking cover behind a semi-clothed statue of a woman, Bennett manages to wound him with a firearm, causing Matrix considerable distress. As Matrix hides, trying to recover some strength, Bennett taunts him: "Stick your head out. One shot between the eyes." Matrix successfully goads Bennett into abandoning the impersonal gun by appealing to his baser instincts: "Stick the knife in me. Look me in the eye, see what's going on in there as you turn it...don't deprive yourself of that pleasure." Bennett's visible arousal at the thought pushes the subtext dangerously close to becoming text.


Matrix's fear of no longer being the most powerful man in the room is given physical expression when, during their fight, Bennett successfully wounds Matrix with his knife. He then very evocatively licks the blood off of the knife, eyes locked on Matrix. Bennett picks up a loose pipe at some point, and ends up knocked into a chain link fence (remember, he is wearing chain mail as well) appearing to be electrocuted as a shower of (white) sparks shoot everywhere. Instead of dying, he bounces off the fence and clobbers Matrix: "I feel good, John."


But Matrix doesn't give up without a fight; as you might expect, he holds his own well enough that Bennett abandons his knife in despair and reaches for a gun. "I'm not going to shoot you between the eyes," he shouts, "I'm going to shoot you between the balls!" Matrix, thinking quickly, picks up the same pipe Bennett had discarded when he was electrocuted, winds up and hurls it at him. The outcome is an unsurprising impalement, but Bennett is standing directly in front of a large steam pipe, so (white) steam begins to shoot out of the pipe lodged in Bennett. Matrix is Johnny-on-the-spot with a quip: "Let off some steam, Bennett." Really, Matrix, you're the one who did the penetrating.


The film's final shot is Matrix,  Cindy, and Jenny walking toward the seaplane, with Matrix having told his commanding officer that he was done with this business for good ("no chance"). The shot indicates that they're going to end up being a happy family, but the positioning of the characters belies that:  Cindy is next to Matrix, rather than both being on either side of Jenny as you'd expect parents to be. The film, moreover, gives us no indication that Matrix is at any point interested in Cindy romantically or sexually, despite some indications that she is interested--after all, she is really the only heterosexual in the film who is not treated repulsively. No, Matrix is not turning straight, and he and Rae Dawn Chong are going their separate ways.


Matrix's commanding officer told him the truth when he said that Matrix could not escape his own nature, but Matrix's victory over Bennett is Matrix's epiphany: he can be a sexual being but not be dominated by his own sexuality, as Bennett was. More importantly, he can be homosexual in his society and not have to distance himself from his own nature; he does not have to limit or sanitize his own experiences, or lead an entirely sexless life, in order to be a self-actualized person.