Commando, Part 48
[1:21:28–1:23:12]
Synopsis
Bennett is still pointing his weapon at Matrix. But then he says, “I don’t need the gun, John. I can beat you. I don’t need no gun!” He throws the pistol aside, takes out his knife, and holds it up menacingly. “I’m gonna kill you now!” he shrieks. Bennett rushes forward, and he and Matrix begin swiping at each other with their blades. Each man is able to dodge most of the knife swings, but Bennett finally draws blood in a nick along Matrix’s abdomen. “Daddy!” Jenny calls out from the sidelines. Bennett says, “You’re getting old, John. You’re getting old.” A few more swipes, and then Matrix lands a hit on Bennett’s forearm. Bennett lunges forward, and the two are locked together against a wall—Bennett holding Matrix by the neck, and Matrix using his left arm to hold Bennett’s knife arm at bay.
Matrix escapes, pushing Bennett backwards and into a door. The door swings open, and the men both tumble over a guardrail on the other side, falling past some pipes onto a grated floor below. Their knives have been lost. Bennett picks up a metal pipe and swings it at Matrix, but Matrix dodges it and lands a left hook that knocks the pipe out of Bennett’s hands. The men continue grappling; Matrix flips Bennett over, but then Bennett opens the door to an industrial furnace and slams it into Matrix, who falls to the floor. Bennett rips that door off its hinges and hurls it down at Matrix, but he rolls out of the way. Bennett grabs the metal pipe again and hits Matrix with it; Matrix picks up the furnace door and blocks the next hit. Bennett gets a few more strikes in with the pipe, with Matrix able to block just one of them. Next, Matrix slams the door into Bennett, sending him backward and finally giving Matrix a chance to get to his feet.
Matrix blocks a punch from Bennett, grabs his arm, and twists it. He backs Bennett into a wall, but then Bennett is able to push back, moving Matrix closer and closer to an open furnace with a burning fire inside. The two men grunt and grapple as Matrix struggles to avoid the flames.
Analysis
Commando has used point-of-view shots several times already, but this final showdown features perhaps the most direct use of this technique during an intense action scene. We get POV shots from the perspectives of both Bennett and Matrix as they slash at each other, putting us right in the middle of the brutal, close-quarters fight. This action scene is not just nonstop intensity, though—that initial series of quick-cut knife swipes is followed by a few wider, longer shots as the two back off a bit, circle each other, and try to pick the perfect time to strike.
Their body language and posture help illustrate the hero/villain dynamic at play. Matrix stands upright, his arm extended with the knife, poised to fight. Bennett is hunched over, holding his knife lower, and on his other hand waving his fingers around to distract his opponent. Similarly, Matrix keeps his calm during the fight, with his steely gaze trained on Bennett, not betraying a hint of emotion. At the same time, Bennett is highly emotional, from his “I’m gonna kill you now!” shriek to his mid-fight taunts to his wide-eyed glares. These contrasts work as a great bit of character building through performance and action.
After Matrix and Bennett fall into the furnace room with the grated floor, they lose their knives and the fight becomes more about inventiveness and improvisation than raw combat training. They must make do with the objects and structures in their environment, which makes for a more thrilling fight scene—the audience is never quite sure what might happen next, partly because the characters aren’t either. It feels like the characters are making it up as they go along, even though in reality the scene is highly choreographed. Bennett grabs the metal pipe, flings open a furnace door, proceeds to rip that door off its hinges, and pushes Matrix toward the flaming furnace. For his part, Matrix recycles the furnace door as a shield and then bashes Bennett with it, sending him into a pipe-covered wall on the other side of the room. We see it only briefly in this segment, but there’s a clearly visible “Danger: High Voltage: Keep Out” sign and some electrical equipment in the furnace room, too—it doesn’t come into play here, but it seems likely that it will later.
(I couldn’t help but notice that the furnace door that Bennett picks up was, only seconds before, closed on an actively burning furnace, which means the metal door must be extraordinarily hot, which surely would burn his hands. Then again, he is wearing fingerless gloves, so maybe they are made from an exceptionally heat-resistant material.)
The stunt work is impressive in this sequence, in part because it looks like Schwarzenegger and Wells are actually doing most of it themselves, except, probably, for the fall over the handrail and into the room with the grated floor. But the grappling, knife swipes, punches, and hits pretty much all appear to be the actors. Naturally, editing and angles help smooth over the intentionally pulled punches and exaggerated reactions, but it still looks quite good. In particular it looks genuinely pretty harrowing when Bennett pushes Matrix up near the fire. I’m sure some angle trickery is making them look closer than they are, but the framing of the shots, the fiery lighting on their faces, and the sound effects of the fire work great together.
Speaking of audio, the filmmakers create an effective soundscape in this segment. When the knife fight begins, there is a musical score present, but it’s slow, foreboding, and almost ambient-feeling rather than bombastic and melodic. Eerie strings and pipes combine with low tones in the background that melt in with the natural background hum of this dank industrial space. And even this music disappears completely after the men tumble to the grated floor of the furnace room; from here on, all we get is the background sound of the space. These audio choices give plenty of room for some excellent sound effects; there’s a ton of foley work present in the segment, and it’s able to take center stage. The whip sound of a missed knife swing; the clattering sound of rolling around on a grated metal floor; the sounds of a metal pipe hitting a big furnace, Matrix’s torso, and a detached metal furnace door—these and many more help to give this final showdown some extra feeling and heft.