Commando

The only part of Commando's plot that had any complexity to it is practically exposed and explained away in the first few scenes, rather than waiting for the "big reveal"... I guess they realised they couldn't keep the main action villain off screen for that long given the amount of scenes he enlivens. Basically the plot is Colonel Matrix (yes, really), played by Arnie, has to get to his daughter (via a few henchmen) and save her from the small army of disposable guards, the dictator in charge and the main villain of the piece, all before the plane he's supposed to be on lands... and pretty much that's what you get, but with style!

Not only is Commando typical of mid-80s action films in style, I'd say it was the epitomé of the style deliberately making every set piece bigger, more explosive... and more violent (which finally we get to see in the UK this being the first time it has been released uncut over here) with every one backed up with a one-liner.

I hear much talk of 80s action movies being associated with homo-erotic imagery; to be honest most of the time I believe that the people who think this is so just aren't getting that the film was just trying to show off the that the hero was fit and had big muscles - it was called 'macho' back then - and the director probably hadn't even thought of the overtones... however, in this case I may have to concede that the main villain of the piece sometimes comes across as a muscle-bound version of Freddie Mercury and I find it hard to believe nobody noticed how camp some of his lines are... so deliberately homo-erotic or taking the mickey out of other films being so accidentally? You decide.

So in conclusion, it's taken a long time to get an uncut version of this 80s classic action blockbuster in the UK, so if you're any kind of fan of this type of film then you really should make the effort to pick up a copy.

The Blu-Ray Disc (UK; Region B)
As mentioned above, for the first time in the UK this is an uncut release (which is always good to hear) of the theatrical version of the film. The later DVD releases also included an extended version but, for whatever reason it isn't included in this, or any other, Blu-Ray release.

The picture quality is, in places, not up to the standard you would expect from a Blu-Ray of a recent release but this is often unavoidable given the film stock even the biggest films of the 80s used. However the picture is certainly better than its ever looked before with just some grainy backgrounds in wide exterior shots being the main let down - though that's not to say grain is always bad and its over-zealous removal on some recent Blu-Ray releases, giving the characters the look of shop mannequins, shows this. The interior close-ups are in fact remarkably sharp and skin tones are detailed and natural (and Arnie gives lots of chances to check this) and overall I was certainly more pleasantly surprised than disappointed.

The sound is a DTS MA 5.1 track which has been 'aggressively' mixed to provide a powerful surround sound experience. The heavy thump of machine gun fire is backed up in the sub-woofer and moves around the speakers with the camera angle very effectively and the music/tension effects mix uses all the speakers too, making me look around more than once whilst I was watching!

All you get on this release in the way of extras are trailers for the film; though lots of early release Blu-Ray's dropped the extras from the previous DVD release, in this case the previous UK release  had no extras either. However there were extras available (the Australian and US DVD releases had a Director's Commentary, 2 featurettes, some deleted & alternate scenes and a number of stills galleries) and it's a shame the opportunity wasn't taken to include these on the UK Blu-Ray, though to be fair they were not on the US Blu-Ray either!