Today’s review on Something Blu will cover 20th Century Fox’s UK release of the quintessential 80’s action romp Commando, with the one and only Arnold Schwarzenegger in the title role. This release is the Director’s Cut edition, which was not previously available on Blu-Ray until the film’s 30th anniversary.

Again, I’ll apologise for any bias but Arnie is outright my favourite actor of all time. Although his acting chops have only really recently been tested to their full degree, his influence in film as a whole is undoubtedly been immense. Even after his tenure in politics he is just the embodiment of perseverance and The American Dream, coming to the States as a plucky, shredded young bodybuilder in the late 1960’s, and becoming one of the most recognisable actors of all time.

As for the film, it is simply too stupid and basic to work. But everything involved in this film just falls into place. Arnie gives one of his most identifiable and macho performances, Rae Dawn Chong plays a rather shallow female partner character but gives a totally solid performance, Dan Hedeya plays a almost offensively stereotypical Southern American individual who wants to be in power, Vernon Wells plays the most ridiculously funny bad guy, just everything about this film is right. The late James Horner bashing the literal fuck out of steel drums gave this film an instantly recognisable and almost iconic score, Mark L. Lester gives a serviceable oversight from the director’s chair. It shouldn’t work, but it does oh so well.

And the plot? A retired Spec Ops soldier (Arnie) has his daughter (a sound performance from a young Alyssa Milano) kidnapped by a former soldier (Wells) in order to extort him into assassinating a South American political leader so a Dictator (Hedaya) can get back into power. I think you can work out the rest. Pure, balls to the wall action follows, best summed up by this great fan-made poster:

Plus Arnie racks up about 80 kills in about 10mins. No joke.

Blu-Ray – Packaging

Front

20th Century Fox have presented a nicely different new cover for this release. Lifted from the film is Arnie brandishing a rocket launcher, layered against a seemingly generic jungle background with a helicopter in the distance (which is unrelevant to the scene which Arnie’s still is lifted from). All previous releases of this film until the 2008 steelbook of the standard cut favoured using the original poster artwork, so this cover is a welcome and fan-pleasing change (especially the change in dominant colour) but a change that massively undersells the film to uneducated buyers.

Back

The back cover pleasingly continues the white colour motif and favors layering the text based elements of the cover over the stills from the film. Arnie’s still on this back is one of his most recognisable poses from the film whereas the exploding buildings seen above the special features tag is actually from the movie this time around, and from one of the film’s best scenes nonetheless. All necessary details are present and legible. A really good back cover on the whole.

Blu-Ray – Video

Exploding onto the screen in a 1080p AVC encode (improving on the 2008’s MPEG encode) in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio, Commando looks delightfully fresh on Blu-Ray. Although visually almost identical to the 2008 release, the newer encode tightens up the compression and allows the grain structure, while not perfect on this release, a bit more space to breathe and flourish. All foundational elements are present and in delightful abundance, with solid detail, nicely resolved contrast and black levels and sound colour reproduction. While definitely not as resolute as a full blown restoration, this is a perfectly serviceable presentation which will please everyone, myself included.

Blu-Ray – Audio

Matching up to the video presentation is a perfectly workmanlike DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, the only one on this release. Sounding almost, if not completely identical to the 2008’s mix, the track is technically proficient and serves all the necessary credentials. Detailing is present and good as the source allows, LFE, while not worked to overdrive, complements the mix fine and directionality is tastefully accomplished. James Horner’s score sounds gorgeous and all other music and sound effects are rendered nicely. For a film which is (as of time of writing) getting nearer to it’s 35th anniversary, the mix is perfectly fine. Subtitles are also provided in English and there are no alternative audio options.

Blu-Ray – Special Features

Improving notably on the barebones nature of the 2008 release is a nice selection of additional content. First up is a Director’s commentary from Lester, who serves up some noteworthy anecdotes at times but delivers a unremarkable track on the whole. Both the Pure Action and Let Off Some Steam featurettes offer up some nice behind the scenes/EPK fare, and the package is rounded off with the theatrical trailer. A small, but satisfactory collection.

Blu-Ray – Additionals

As mentioned before, this release features both the theatrical and director’s cut of the film (if the latter can even be called such). The original cut runs at 90mins whereas the Director’s Cut clocks in at the tiring length of 92mins. I’d stick with the latter purely for the added violence and a nicely reinstated expositional scene. There are no BBFC cuts to be seen anymore on this release either (the BBFC really didn’t like this until 2002).

Conclusion

To sum it up briefly, Commando is one of the most loved and iconic action films of all time. Everything is so right about the film, the same can be said for this Blu-Ray release. Strong A/V presentations and a nice amount of special features made this a rather definitive release of the film, and both for the film and Blu-Ray, this release comes with the highest honour, an ABSOLUTE MUST OWN recommendation.

– Matt.