Commando, Part 16
[00:26:00–00:27:44]
Synopsis
The would-be dictator says, “Gracias, Sully,” and hangs up his comically large portable phone. He tells Bennett they are right on schedule, and that today will be his “last day as a civilian.” Then he turns to Jenny, telling her that her father is cooperating and that they will be together soon. “Won’t that be nice?” Her response: “Not nearly as nice as watching him smash your face in.” Bennett is visibly amused, and he’s told to take her below. The boat departs.
Meanwhile, at the airport, Matrix has made his way back to the terminal. He’s walking around looking for someone—presumably Sully. He scans the crowd. Then he spots the bank of payphones where Sully is standing, and he begins making his way over there.
Sully, oblivious to Matrix approaching, is watching as a nearby woman (played by Rae Dawn Chong) is speaking on one of the phones. From her clothing and dialogue, she appears to be a flight attendant. After explaining that her 7:45 flight to Vancouver was cancelled, she asks the person on the other end of the line to dinner. She notices Sully hovering behind her. A little ways away, Matrix is getting closer.
Sully creepily interrupts the phone conversation—“Sounds like he’s mad at you.” She wraps up her call and hangs up. He says, “Love and careers, it’s tough, ain’t it? Sounds like you need a date.” Her response: “I don’t.” He persists: “Listen, I bet girls like you meet a lot of nice boys at airports.”
Analysis
At the marina, we see again that Jenny shares her father’s taste for comebacks and one-liners, taunting the dictator as he tries to put on a friendly face. The dictator is predictably not amused, but we do get an interesting glimpse into the schism between him and Bennett. Bennett is amused by her verbal jab—we know that he doesn’t have a particular interest in returning the dictator to power, and is just in this to get personal revenge on Matrix. What’s more, he knows what Matrix is capable of, and he knows that alone, the dictator stands no chance against Matrix. Bennett isn’t scared of the dictator—but he’s smart enough to respect Matrix. So, he feels free here to chuckle at the dictator’s expense.
As Matrix searches the airport for Sully, we get some more point-of-view shots. They’re well-put-together. First we see him from the front, scanning from his left to his right (from this angle, screen right to screen left). Then we reverse to the POV shot, which slowly tracks from left to right across the crowded terminal. Next we get a closer shot of him from the front, as he continues to look. We cut then to a zoomed-in POV shot of him scanning; his view moves toward the payphones, where he finds Sully. This sequence of shots does a nice job of visually showing how he’s narrowing his focus.
Sully continues to be built up as a real creep here, leering at the flight attendant as she’s talking on the payphone. (Sidebar here—I always love when watching older films to consider how plot points would be impossible or improbable today, given the advance of technology. Cell phones are by far the biggest plot-wreckers. Here, Sully encounters the flight attendant only because they are both at the same bank of payphones, and can stand and leer at her because the phone’s cord prevents her from moving away. As we saw with the dictator, though, portable phones are available but unwieldy. The result is that mobile telephony can be used when necessary for the story, but otherwise the restrictions of landlines are largely in place. This makes 1985 a pretty fascinating time for movies, in terms of this technological transition.)
Some effective shots and audio choices are at play in the scene at the payphones. The flight attendant quickly notices Sully once he starts hovering behind her, looking over her shoulder while still talking on the phone then quickly looking away. Then we cut to a shot showing Sully from the front—it’s not a POV shot, but it’s close to what her view would be. The audio of her phone call continues; this shot suggests that even as she keeps talking on the phone, now her mind is distracted by the creepy guy behind her. Sully says his “Sounds like he’s mad at you” line in a wide shot showing both of them, and then we cut back to a shot of him from the front. He’s forced his way into her attention again. In a closeup she turns away from him and back to the phone. As she starts to wrap up her phone call, we go back to the shot of him. Then we return to her as she hangs up. Sully begins his “Love and careers…” line in this same shot, when he’s not in frame at all. She turns to look over her shoulder at him, and once her gaze fully turns around, we cut back to the shot of him. The editing choices in this sequence, both with picture and with sound, help get across the sense of this guy looming behind the flight attendant, distracting her, annoying her, and dividing her attention.
