Commando, Part 11
[00:17:20–00:19:04]
Synopsis
The guy looking down on a chained-up Matrix continues to explain the nation of Val Verde: “It is a country that needs a president who has an understanding of discipline.” Matrix: “Why tell me?” The guy: “Because you’re going to return to Val Verde and you are going to kill the president that you helped to overthrow me.”
He explains that Matrix is the only one who can do this, as President Velasquez trusts him. Bennett, on the other hand, left Val Verde, “shall we say, under a cloud.” Matrix looks at Bennett and says he enjoyed killing a little too much. Bennett retorts that Matrix’s training was responsible.
The would-be president continues to explain the plot, and how it came to be. “You can get close to President Velasquez. You will kill him. You know, colonel, we went to a lot of trouble to you. We had to pretend Captain Bennett’s dead so that General Kirby would become agitated and lead us to you. And now that I have you, you will do exactly as I tell you.” Matrix: “Fuck you.”
Bennett yanks open a sliding steel door to reveal Jenny, tied to a wooden chair. He then holds a knife to her throat. The would-be president says that if Matrix kills Velasquez, Jenny will be safe. But, “If you try anything else, I will mail her to you in pieces.”
In the final few seconds of this segment we cut back to the mountain cabin. The whir of helicopters fills the background. Troops are carrying out on a stretcher the body of the first guy Matrix shot, and General Kirby follows them out of the house.
Analysis
This is what we’ve been building to—the pieces of the plot have all fallen into place. We’ve finally learned the reason behind the assassinations in the movie’s opening. We know why Bennett wasn’t actually killed in the boat explosion. We’ve discovered how the goons could find Matrix’s forest retreat, and why they didn’t kill him when they got there. They need to use his considerable commando skills for one last mission. And Matrix’s relationship with his daughter, built up in the film’s first few minutes, provides a powerful motivation for him to comply.
This exposition is delivered in a pretty straightforward way. We mostly get fairly stationary shots in the nondescript warehouse-style room where they’re holding Matrix. When Matrix is speaking to the bad guys, we generally see him in pretty tight close-ups, which fits well with his confinement and discomfort in the scene. The goons are mostly standing around nonchalantly—one of them is smoking, another wears a Hawaiian shirt and has a hand in his pocket, Bennett’s futzing with his gun, and the would-be president is casually half-sitting on the steel table where Matrix is chained up—and we see them in wider, more open shots.
There are a couple of weird, minor continuity glitches in this chunk. Most notably, when Bennett says, “Your training, Matrix,” he emotes quite a bit, going wide-eyed and giving a sneering smile. We immediately cut to a wide shot showing all the goons, and he’s back to a neutral expression in a way that feels sudden enough to be jarring.
The appearance of Jenny is shot really effectively, reinforcing our understanding of Matrix’s desire to protect her. We first see her in a wide shot as Bennett yanks the door open. The goons push her forward, toward Matrix and toward the camera, and she fills the frame. Each time we see her for the rest of the scene, she appears in close or medium shots; Bennett stands behind her, mostly unseen from the waist up. As it has before, the camera is taking on Matrix’s point of view—once he sees she is in danger, he focuses on her to the exclusion of everything else around him.
We see just a few seconds of General Kirby at the forest retreat at the end of this segment, but there’s enough to get the picture. It seems likely that this won’t be the last time Kirby follows one step behind on Matrix’s trail of death and destruction.