The Commando (2022) User Reviews

Such a waste of decent talent.

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 3/10 · 10 January 2022]

I'm a fan of both Michael Jai White, and the almost 70 years old Mickey Rourke, who is - botox aside, still built like a brick house. But what experienced B-film writer, producer and director Asif Akbar, along with two other experienced B-film filmmakers/writers gave use here, is an embarrassment to MJW and Rourke. How these three seasoned filmmakers and producers could present this mess, is astonishing.

The conceptual story was interesting, and had potential. But the terrible screenplay with long dragged out scenes and laughable dialogue, along with Akbar's 5th grade drama class level of directing, just made the entire film cringe, with the viewer praying for the end credits.

The sound was off and distant - y'all ever hear of "boom mics"? The score was your typical B-grade loud, constant, annoying and unfitting score. The cinematography and camera work was horrid. The acting lacked any direction, and for the most part, you can tell the actors tried their best, considering. There were endless plot and technical issues. Even the action was poorly choreographed and looked like something out of the 80's. The editing was really bad, with scenes dragged out and/or unnecessary. The 93 min runtime felt endless with the slow pacing and dragged out scenes. There was just too much nonsense filler, and very little substance, and everything was predictable and cliched.

I don't know who's funding Akbar's films, but they should make him go to film school before handing over any more cash for other films. It's a very generous 3/10 from me.

Disappointing

[stephen-93875 · 3/10 · 8 January 2022]

I'vr enjoyed many of Michael Jai White's movies but not this one. He seemed to phone in his performance. Mickey Rourke was almost unrecognizable and moved robotically. The script was predictable and the dialogue awkward.

Slow pace

[staunton-gary · 4/10 · 7 January 2022]

Ha ha ha, Mickey Rourke has pumped so many fillers, I think he uses the same surgeon as Val Kilmer as they now look similar. Michael Jai White obviously hasn't kept up with his workout regime, I'm guessing that he enjoys puddings. The movie missed its mark, sadly. I found the pace a little slow and too many long winded scenes that did nothing for the movie. After the 10:30 mark I couldn't take this seriously. I don't think that I'll be recommending this.

Not what I expected

[neil_davison-354-77074 · 1/10 · 8 January 2022]

....just a lot worse. The Movie Albeit could have had Potential but this played out like a pretty bad B Movie at best. The Actors other than Jai White,Rourke and Fahey all looked like they had one screen test and we're just hired on the Spot.

Rourke Seriously looks cosmetically like things just went from bad to worse over the years and I Still never understand why these people do these things to their Faces and Bodies in the USA. He actually looks Scary!!! Maybe a Horror Genre May suit him these days.

Jai White I know is getting on in years now and although I've a lot of respect for most of the movies he's done this one he should have passed on. At some point watching this I almost expected Steven Seagal to make an appearance as it has the same style to the repetitive bad Movies he churned out over the last few years.

A Harsh Review I know but deservedly so in my opinion. Watch it and you will agree.

Oh boy!!! Stinkiest of the stinky!!!

[hosenoggin · 2/10 · 9 January 2022]

Oh boy!!! Stinkiest of the stinky!!!

You might as well just watch the trailer because it has all the good parts crammed into one minute. The rest of the movie is just horrible. The worst part about this movie is the technical errors. Poor lighting poor audio and the continuity is just pathetic. Silencer on gun, silencer off gun... the next shot silencer back on gun. Simple errors like that.

bad B

[SnoopyStyle · 3/10 · 27 January 2022]

DEA agent James Baker (Michael Jai White) is struggling after a bad mission. He returns home suffering PTSD. Unbeknownst to him, his daughter found some money hidden in their house. Harden criminal Johnny (Mickey Rourke) had hid his loot in various places in the house. He gets released from prison and is looking to recover his money.

There are a few guys here that I haven't seen for awhile. Rourke looks like he took all the steroids and HGH. He's definitely been using his drug muscle and he's a far worst actor for it. This is a B-action movie. I don't mind the action. Some of it is actually professional bordering on fair. On the other hand, the acting is bad and the two young actresses are probably the worst. They are fingernails on the chalkboard. They make this bad movie even worst.

Martial arts movie stars

[Plazeebo · 1/10 · 11 January 2022]

I see a theme going on here. Steven Segal introduced the world to Aikido, and went downhill from there.

Dolp Lundgreen had the looks and the physique but went from action star to Bruce Willis low quality movies.

Scott Adkins had a good thing going with Boyka and Blood & Bone, but turned towards low budget movies.

Michael Jay White has amazing physique and iconic moves - such as Blood & Bone prison scene, but his latest movies has followed the same path. Low quality crap that no one wants to watch.

Hey martial artists! We are here - your fans. Give us good movies we will give you good reviews. We will buy cinema tickets if you make it to the silver screen. But don't go Bruce Willis on us. We'll leave.

Torture

[qvytzw · 1/10 · 9 January 2022]

1hour 30 mins of pure mental torture. Cringe worthy dialogue, honestly the script writer needs to rethink his/her career. If youve not seen it yet, don't bother. If you have I'm sorry you had to go through that. Absolute disaster of a movie.

Way to Much Wasted time in Film

[MennoMan · 4/10 · 7 January 2022]

Way over two thirds of the movie is a back story that could have been told in 10min.

Very poorly written and produced.

With exception of a Fake DEA raid at beginning where DEA Snipes and cuts throats and shoot up gangsters with never empty magazines. And s cheese 1 min fight scene... Story line get revenge action doesn't even start until 30min before ending and the actual get revenge by "The Comando" doesn't start till 13min before ending.

Movie should have been called "Is Mickie Rourke still Standing" most of his scenes looks like he is about to fall over.

It's watchable if you can make it through the first hour.

I don't get it?

[sales-30878 · 4/10 · 10 January 2022]

Why break in and have all the drama? Eventually everyone will leave the house, and they can go in peacefully and get the money, it's not like they need it right now, it's been there 15 years, what's the hurry?

Worst Covid film yet

[mingrech · 19 March 2022]

Couldn't tell if I was watching mrs doubtfire or an action movie. Worst acting, obvious story line, and just plain boring. Wish Apple had a request refund button.

Cool movie

[devonleblanc · 8/10 · 10 January 2022]

Went to the movies with a group of friends not knowing wat we were gonna watch and decided to watch this one cause none of us heard of it and the poster looked cool. We liked it we all cracked up when the guy shot at the dead guy thrown thru the door. Told my other friends to go see it it's a pretty good movie.

WSatching movies

[ephuigens · 6/10 · 10 January 2022]

It's so great everyone is allowed to give their opinion, but it stops where one says what must be altered in characters and scripts and the whole screenplay.. You just say you like or dislike a movie, got amused or angered, but if you have critics of the actors, director, and the movie in it's whole, you must be able to proove, that you can do better.

As swollen as Mickey's face.

[chintones-72269 · 3/10 · 8 January 2022]

At a trim 93 minutes, this movie felt like it was over 2 hours. Bad writing and wooden acting didn't help it either. Ludicrous action scenes and too many subplots kept this movie bouncing around like a pinball trying to stay alive in an arcade. Unfortunately, all it can register is a big 'TILT'.

Big names, big flop!

[paul-ayres-60784 · 3/10 · 4 May 2022]

I'm disappointed by this appalling attempt at a thrilling action movie. The story is very basic, the script atrocious along with the directing. Such a shame to see the likes of Mickey Rourke and Michael Jai putting their names to this.

The most ridiculous thing I found was how so many people in a average size house seem to have no idea of what is occurring in the other rooms. I think I have been generous giving it a 3.

Don't waste 90 mins of your life on this one.

The trailers was the movie...

[hotboys-02635 · 2/10 · 8 January 2022]

I was going to send a letter to the writers to ask for my time back that was wasted but I know that won't happen. The acting was horrible, and the special effects was not special. Michael Jai White was OK in this movie just not enough action, and he looked like he had a few more cheeseburgers recently. Mickey Rourke........bout time to call it quits his face looked like it was molded from playdough. And some scenes it looked like he was in lala land or just not following lol watch how short his lines are!! I had more fun pointing out the flaws in the movie that is what made able to watch it.

Truly mediocre with far too much botox and filler

[imdb-23821 · 2/10 · 8 January 2022]

Mickey Rourke has become almost unrecognizable, with his mouth and face resembling your typical Hollywood starlet crossed with Val Kilmer sporting aged tanned skin. If he's sporting a 6 pack, it looks more like he's been drinking them. He's clearly the best actor in this film, with a number of bit players (like the parole board) who appear to be bargain basement amateurs to save money on this low budget bore.

Michael Jai White continues to have his career plod through films far too terrible for his talent and, alas, he too is starting to show some middle age, slowness, and lacking that super quick, powerful badassery that was his trademark. He looks like he's added some middle age heft in his midsection.

And then there is the script, typical, lazy crap that makes you wonder why these writers still exist in Hollywood. Funny stuff like a man who is still haunted by his missions, taking his pistol and shooting up the wall in his sleep - coincidentally at the exact same time some baddies are reconning his house... oh boy. After the first half hour, it was clear this slow burner was a real loser with some reasonably well known names. Yawner.

It's so bad that even Michael Jai White's martial arts are non-existent. You can see the choreography going in slow motion. Since MJW seems unable to pull off what he was known for, the camera does cut shots of results, like leg hitting head instead of showing MJW executing a simple hook kick. It's a phoned in performance with Rourke walking through his sleep in Expendables mode. This movie is totally dispensible.

Unconvincing Acting and Predictable Storyline

[kalvinbird · 3/10 · 18 March 2022]

After a lifetime in prison, Micky Rourke's character is released with pearly white teeth and a face that's received a considerable amount of cosmetic surgery. Not very realistic at all. He seems very unsteady on his feet but manages to fight off three attackers whilst in prison. He stumbled entering his friends garage.

His friends that have been waiting for him since Rourke's character was locked up appear to be a lot younger the him. And how the Scottish fella fits in is a mystery. A picture of Rourke's character on incarceration is shown several times throughout the film, where he depicted as being a very young lad with long hair. However, he was awarded several military medals prior to being incarcerated.

You would expect Michael Jai White's acting to be convincing, as he's the main character in the film but it's far from being so. The sleepwalking scene was particularly irritating as his acting was ridiculous. His acting is pretty bad throughout the movie.

The storyline is slow, predictable and boring. It's unrealistic that the occupants of a house start finding money stashed away in it, just as Rourke's character leaves prison and is ready to retrieve the loot he hid.

Rourke is not seen much throughout the film, as his lesser known actor mates end up taking over the rest of the film. The characters don masks to enter the house, then take them off as soon as they confront the occupants.

The fight scenes are unconvincing, particularly those involving Rourke who moves clumsily.

What's that dirty bandage all about?

This is real. This is fake.

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 16 January 2022]

James Baker (Michael Jai White) shot and killed some women hiding in the closet working as a DEA agent. He returns home after his hiatus to an unsuspecting stash house. Johnny (Mickey Rourke) the guy who hid it there is now getting out on parole and is coming for it with his henchmen.

Mickey Rourke looks like Botox gone ugly. His face is comical. The acting in this film wasn't strong and neither was the plot. Just another paycheck.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

Mediocre storyline and falls apart fast

[ukmikec-85225 · 3/10 · 18 March 2022]

This movie moves like a steam train low on coal. I only gave it a 3 because I like Michael Jai White. Opening scenes were good and then the steam started to run out. It's a B movie from a B movie director. I found it funny how the gun carried by James toward the end of the movie loses and regains it silencer between cut scenes. Michael please consider the scripts you are presented with more carefully in future. You are way more talented than this. The five senses says this is FAKE.

A Half-Baked Home Invasion Thriller

[zardoz-13 · 3/10 · 21 January 2022]

Imagine buying a nice two-story, four-bedroom house for your family, only to discover crooks have been using it as a stash house. "Morbid Stories" director Asif Akbar's half-baked crime thriller "The Commando," co-starring Michael Jai White, Mickey Rourke, and Jeff Fahey, appropriates all the usual tropes of a standard-issue, plot-by-the-numbers home invasion melodrama. Cast as a murderous ex-con named Johnny Norris who stole $3 million in cash, Mickey Rourke qualifies as a flabby villain. Legendary B-movie nemesis Jeff Fahey of "The Lawnmower Man" plays a shady sheriff in cahoots with Johnny. Michael Jai White is the hero of this improbable 93-minute potboiler. "Dying to Kill" scenarist Koji Steven Sakai's superficial script serves up no surprises, and its logic seems skewered. Despite his conviction for robbing a bank and killing a guard, Johnny persuades the parole board to release him based on his exemplary military heroics in the Middle East. Mind you, it is difficult to believe nobody searched Johnny's house after he went to prison. Meantime, DEA Agent James Baker (Michael Jai White of "Spawn"), is recovering from a botched bust. "The Commando" opens with a bullet-riddled raid on an illegal narcotics lab in an abandoned warehouse. Baker swapped lead with a sentry. Although his bullets missed the sentry, those slugs struck three young innocent females held hostage in the room where the sentry was holed up. Now, the grief-stricken Baker struggles with PSTD since he hasn't come to grips with the enormity of his action. Finally, when he comes home to the house that Johnny once owned, Baker entrusts his gun to his wife Lisa (Aris Mejias of "The Vessel") for safekeeping.

Johnny's two brothers, Rudy (Cord Newman of "Streets of Blood") and Matthew (Matthew Van Wettering of "12 Strong"), pick him up in their yellow Mustang and cruise back to their garage where they restore cars. Johnny slips Rudy a map of the places he stashed the money. He wants Rudy, Matthew, and their volatile Scottish mechanic Dominic (Gianni Capaldi of "Robert the Bruce") to stake out their old residence and break into it later when the owners are away. Johnny warns Dominic to stay straight until they remove the $3 million. Meantime, James' daughter Dyana (newcomer Andrea Sherrill) stumbles onto one of Johnny's stashes. Dyana's sister Natalie (Noa Maes of "Into America's Wild") compliments her sister on her new clothes. Dyana shows Natalie the stacks of $100 bills under a loose floorboard in her bedroom. She offers to share, but Natalie declines. Instead, she urges Dyana to tell their parents. Predictably, Dyana doesn't. Later, while they eat supper, Dyana surprises her parents with a gift of resort motel reservations. James calls it a second honeymoon. At the same time, Dyana has been planning a secret soiree with their friends after their folks leave. Neither the Baker sisters nor their parents realize they are being surveilled by Johnny's two brothers and Dominic.

The villains wait impatiently for the party goers to leave so they can retrieve their money. Breaking his promise to Johnny, Dominic chokes down some white pills and calls them "the calm before the storm." Seizing his silenced pistol, the Scotsman breaks up the party and starts gunning down the guests. Desperately, Natalie uses her cell phone to contact her dad. Frantically, James and Luis careen back before the villains are finished. Apparently, James and Lisa hadn't gone too far when Natalie called. Nevertheless, trigger-happy Dominic has shot several unarmed guests. James' friend Sebastian (Brendan Fehr of "Final Destination") suffers the deadly fate of being the hero's best friend. Naturally, Johnny goes berserk when he hears about the massacre. He storms the premises with a biker gang. Inevitably, James and Johnny tangle. Just as James gains an advantage over Johnny, despicable Sheriff Alexander interrupts them with his drawn gun.

Director Asif Akbar and scenarist Koji Steven Sakai expect audiences to believe the New Mexico State Parole Board would free a murderer who refused to divulge the whereabouts of his plunder in return for clemency. When they found the hidden packets of loot in the floor, the Baker sisters prised the floorboards out of place with their fingertips! Oddly enough, you would think Dyana's new wardrobe would have aroused Luis' suspicions. Moreover, in the first place, the addlepated authorities should have ransacked Johnny's domicile. Dyana's bogus story about a friend giving up their motel reservations should have made her parents think twice. Sadly, nothing about Kieran Gallagher's fight choreography is special. The only excuse for suffering through a second-rate saga like "The Commando" is if you're stuck in quarantine with nothing else to watch.

MJW!

[reviewer-64471 · 9/10 · 9 January 2022]

I'll start by saying I'm a big MJW fan so I had high expectations watching this movie and man did it deliver. Even my wife enjoyed watching it after reluctantly agreeing to watch it with me. Worth the watch, good movie.

PTSD

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 26 July 2022]

Punisher traumatic stress disorder ... no wait that's post, so no pun intended. Actually if you saw the Netflix show (now on Disney plus) of Frank Castle also known as the Punisher, you'll get my pun and very likely will agree with it.

That said, you should not compare those two items. The Punisher was above and beyond - this is flawed to say the least. I reckon I am a bit of a sucker for action movies - even the low budget ones. Even the ones that have more than one issue to them. Add to that an inflated Mickey Rourke and you'd be excused for not really liking this. Even though it has a Michael Jai White in it - who is always trying to do his best.

Action scenes are decent - but the story is out there. With a lot of madness going on. And quite a bit of convenient timing .. but hey, that's to be expected, yes?

I DIDN'T RATE IT 0/10 BECAUSE THERE'S WASN'T THAT OPTION

[msangis2 · 1/10 · 8 January 2022]

OMG.... This is THE most disgusting movie, laughable, absolutely horrible I have EVER seen in my entire life. I don't do the commenting etc on here but I had to with this movie. DELETE!!!!!!

Is It Finished Yet??

[bookers-49574 · 2/10 · 8 January 2022]

So much wrong with this movie. You have to question how stupid criminals can be. Around every corner there's a seriously dumb decision. Amongst many confusing things throughout the movie how do the parents drive for what is likely hours considering everything that happened from when they left the house, to being able to arrive back in what seemed like 5-10min after receiving the phone call. It was just poor from start to finish (which I somehow made). Majorly disappointing.