John Matrix: He Eats Green Berets For Breakfast!

When this topic came up, there were a lot of names that came to mind, but there was only one character that to me exemplifies what it means to be awesome in an action movie.

That character is John Matrix from Commando. And if you haven’t seen the movie in question, there will be a lot of spoilers in this post.

There are a lot of Arnold Schwartzenegger characters that could have made the cut, but there is just something about the idea of a one-man army taking on an entire island full of paramilitary forces that elevates this character to the heights of awesomeness.

I might have went with Dutch from Predator if he killed someone by throwing a steam pipe into their torso. I mean, think about that… Matrix, with a wounded arm was still able to rip a pipe that was formerly full of steam and hurl it, Hercules-like, at an opponent and kill them with it. And then had the presence of mind to tell that dying character to let off some steam.

He was a man, who like the later Jack Bauer and Bryan Mills, that you don’t want to kidnap the daughter of, because he will use every resource at his disposal, every facet of his training, not just to get her back, but to make everyone responsible pay with painful interest. And he will do it in a short amount of time too. There is no negotiating with Matrix… if you mess with him, you are just asking for a violent and frightening death.

And let’s be honest, there are only a few men badass enough to not only survive a situation where they are wounded and relatively unarmed in a shed surrounded by armed gunmen, but to come out of that situation stronger and better armed.

I can see why the army is so interested in getting him to start his old unit back up, because he gets results. It may be messy, but if he sets his mind to something, it gets done, and in this world, sometimes you need that. But as the closing song says, “he fights for love.”