Seeing the constant bombardment memes in my Facebook feed this week about Die Hard being/not being a Christmas movie (spoiler alert: It is), got me thinking about what useless trivia about the film I could dig up. And I found a Doozy!
We next hear about the Central American nation Val Verde when cigar chomping United States Special Forces Major Dutch, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the previously mentioned John Matrix, leads a team of muscle bound badasses into Val Verde on what they believed to be a rescue mission.
Except it turns out they were lied to by CIA stooge Dillon, who used to be somebody Dutch could trust, and end up being hunted down one by one through the jungles of the same nation of Val Verde for sport by a visitor from another world. This is of course one of the all time greatest sci-fi and action movies of all time: Predator.
But we are not done with the fictional nation of Val Verde or their evil former political leaders yet, because another one pops up in 1990 during Die Hard 2: Die Harder. (Seriously, how short are the political terms in this government?)
In this sequel to the greatest Christmas movie of all time (Christmas Vacation is a close second place), we meet another disposed Val Verde dictator that irked the U. S. of A. the wrong way and is being extradited to the States for trial or something.
What are your thoughts on this massive interconnected feature film universe? Does it change how you look at any of the films? Does it make you want to go back and re-watch these films in chronological order?
It's a funny thing about coming attractions trailers. They may or may not be an accurate reflection of the movies they advertise - but they're almost always a wonderful guide to what the movie the distributors wanted to make. Take "Suburban Commando," for example, which in the trailers looks like a wild comic romp through sci-fi and the suburbs, and in the movie version looks more like a slog.
This is the second feature starring Hulk Hogan, the man who looks like a comic strip hero. Hogan's range is limited, but not as limited as the movies he's appeared in. Despite the fact that his public image is often aimed at children - there's a whole line of Hulk Hogan toys - his first film, "No Holds Barred" (1989) was surprisingly violent, sexist and blood-soaked. Now here's "Suburban Commando," which is at least innocuous, but which gives the Hulkster so little to do that his fans may wonder why he bothered.
The movie's prologue takes place in outer space, where Shep Ramsey (Hogan) is an intergalactic bounty hunter. (Ever wonder, by the way, how much of a bounty they'd have to pay to finance an intergalactic hunt?) After a space battle with his archenemy Suitor (William Ball), Hogan's crippled ship lands on Earth, where he quickly becomes a confidant of the rather strange Wilcox family.
Charlie Wilcox, played by Christopher Lloyd (the mad scientist of the "Back to the Future" movies) and his wife Jenny (Shelley Duvall) don't suspect that Hogan is actually from outer space. I mean, why should they? If Hulk Hogan turned up at your door, where would you think he looked like he was from, aside from the funny pages? But Charlie is an inventor of sorts, and after he stumbles over Hogan's ship there is much nonsense involving earthlings getting caught in the middle of a battle between creatures from other worlds.
Somebody was asking the other day, do I ever get tired of going to the movies? Naw, I said, I love movies and so some days it's not really a job, it's more of a lucky break. But I wasn't feeling lucky the day I saw "Suburban Commando," and you know what? By golly, by the time it was over, I was feeling kind of tired of going to the movies.
Mainly the implied notions that Matrix is a devoted father, and the gung-ho vibe that one above-the-law guy with lots of firepower can take care of business, whereas police and legitimate military are useless.
Even though one commentator counted that he kills up to 95 or 96 people, Matrix is supposed to be a straight-ahead good guy and protective dad. The villain roster leans a little heavily toward dark-haired/darker-skinned foreign types (as opposed to Arnold, a very Anglo foreign type). Leading lady Stephanie is African American (rarer even back then than today), though at times she's a bit of a comic bumbler.
Blood spatters as people are shot, often multiple times. One arm cut off. An electrocution (oddly non-fatal), numerous stabbings/impalements, beat-downs, falls from lethal heights, big explosions, car crashes. One tranquilizer-darting. Another character fatally slammed into by a car. One character's neck broken.
Parents need to know that this action marathon has countless rounds of ammunition fired, some characters bloodily riddled with bullets, necks broken, one arm cut off, numerous stabbings/impalements, falls from lethal heights, ginormous fiery explosions, car crashes/rocket launches (sometimes in combination), etc. Real do-not-try-this-at-home moments include the main character leaping from an ascending airline to the ground and using buzz-saw blades as deadly Frisbees. Swearing is at R-level, with the hero dropping the F-bomb just like the other characters. Oh, and he lies when he promises one character he'll only kill him last. There's one quick, topless peek of woman in bed, part of a couple interrupted in motel sex. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
Muscleguy John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a retired super-soldier of some sort, leading a placid existence with his preteen daughter Jenny (Alyssa Milano) in the woods (no word about what happened to the mother). Old cohorts-turned-enemies invade, abducting Jenny to force Matrix to carry out an assassination/coup in the mythical Latin American nation of "Valverde." Instead, Matrix escapes their clutches and takes the fight to the bad guys, one-man-army fashion, with the sometimes-clumsy assistance of a scared stewardess (Rae Dawn Chong) he encounters en route to the villains' lair.
There were dopier 1980s action movies than this -- check out Sylvester Stallone in Cobra. Still, it's hard to argue very strongly with COMMANDO's listing by the cult-movie website Chud.com as one of the Ten Worst. While seldom boring (actually, when one fiery blast follows another by rote in the end, it does get pretty tiresome), the down-to-basics action narrative is ludicrous, and only Arnold's devoted (and juvenile) fans might find his "character'" compelling, as Matrix tears apart cars and malls with his bare hands. The champion bodybuilder-actor is indeed the one special effect that holds up best; when Arnold lifts a bad guy, the wire attached to the victim is visible, and "guards" around exploding buildings are clearly immobile cutouts/dummies.
When it comes to intergalactic confrontation, no one can beat Shep Ramsay. Let me tell you something brother, when it comes to bad movies starring wrestlers, no one can beat Hulk Hogan. I know what all you jabronis are going to think, I am hating on an icon of the wrestling world. I can tell you that I am not, I am a sucker for bad movies starring wrestlers.
God created the Heavens, he created the earth! He created all the Hulkamaniacs! Then, he created a set of 24-inch pythons, brother! The big man upstairs may have given the Hulkster 24-inch pythons. But, he certainly did him no favors with his big screen choices.
Hogan would star as Shep Ramsey as a space-vigilante who has issues with his rocket and that would result in him spending time on Earth. He would land down in the middle of suburbia where he would rent a room from Charlie who was played by Christopher Lloyd. I spent $2.99 on this to rent and watch it.
In 1989, Hulk Hogan decided to become Hollywood Hulk Hogan before he was \u201CHollywood Hulk Hogan\u201D of the NWO in WCW. Hogan would star in an action movie called \u201CNo Holds Barred\u201D. The movie would be his first major film since he was Thunderlips in \u201CRocky III\u201D back in 1982. In \u201CRocky III\u201D, Hogan got the name Thunderlips because he was \u201Cthe ultimate male\u201D, he would taunt his opponents by calling them a \u201Cmeatball\u201D and he had all the pretty ladies surrounding him. Let me tell you something my Hulkamaniacs, Thunderlips is getting all the ladies, but he doesn\u2019t have that Ric Flair drip.
The film \u201CNo Holds Barred\u201D didn\u2019t fare so well because the film went up against Batman, Ghostbusters 2, Karate Kid III and Dead Poet\u2019s Society. Batman would end up dropping the big leg on Hogan and the thought\u2019s of Hogan running wild on Hollywood, that would fizzle out.
While this movie was bad, it was so bad I couldn\u2019t stop watching. Hogan protecting the galaxy from space bad guys and has to be on Earth for six weeks. Hogan having to save Lloyd\u2019s son in the movie and fight off a bounty hunter played by the Deadman himself, the Undertaker! I mean c\u2019mon what more could you want? The Undertaker didn\u2019t nearly get enough screen time during this movie like he deserved. Plus, he was actually funny in this movie.
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