u/ramsaybaker

Anybody else get 'spurned lover' vibes off of the antagonist Bennett from the 1985 movie 'Commando', starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Vernon Wells?

Bennett, for me anyway, gives off the presence of someone who is grasping to reclaim some kind of power or identity throughout the film. I didn't catch when I saw it as a tiny child int he eighties (who's looking for subtext when Arnie is dispatching mercenaries in their dozens?), but now after working in a men's prison for a decade I picked up something from Bennett.

So here's my theory: Bennett and Matrix (Wells's and Schwarzenegger's characters respectively) were the leaders of a highly trained special operations group. That is established. This squad had many adventures together in some really rough situations, and always managed to pull through from their combined efforts, buttressed by Matrix's leadership and Bennett's determination. There is nothing that Bennett wouldn't do for John, and this squad works hard and plays hard.

So one night, possibly while working in Val Verde, during some much deserved R'n'R John cold chops up Bennett during a session of alcohol, combat stress and prostitutes. I picture just cigars, oil, ladies of the night, all in and John just seizes the moment. And it's life-changing for Bennett.
For John, who as the alpha-est male anyone is going to meet in a 1980's action movie and at just at that level of pure Win this isn't anything out of the ordinary. He'd be chopping up anyone, any time, any opportunity. But he wouldn't be one of those touchy-feely types: oh no. For John it would be the five 'f's: find 'em, follow 'em, finger 'em, fuck 'em, forget 'em. Man, woman, friend, stranger, doesn't matter. Once the mission is complete and the violence has ceased, time to unwind with some hot, oily action, and anyone who isn't standing still is an option, and if they weren't standing still he'd give them a push.

Bennett, in this scenario, has found something unlocked the type of which he has never, and will never, experience again. What was a footnote for John Matrix was an entire omnibus to Bennett. John wouldn't have been violent, just in the moment. Then onto the next conquest.

However, for Bennett... well... how are you going to go back to Nebraska after you've seen Carl Hungus? (Big Lebowski reference there)

So he starts spiralling. Nothing makes sense anymore, and never will. All of Bennett's pre-determined morals and values fly out the window. John never acknowledges it, no more than he would if he'd cut his fingernails, and this hurts Bennett. And he spirals... badly.
Starts trying out the BDSM scene when he gets back into the world... no joy...
Trys homosexuality... but no dice. He isn't homosexual. Oh no... much the same way Waylon Smithers isn't necessarily homosexual in 'The Simpsons', but more Burns-sexual, Bennett is Matrix-sexual. And he knows in his heart of hearts that this will never happen again. So, as a man of action and capable of much violence, he plots his revenge.

The former dictator of the South American country of Val Verde wants back in, after Matrix and his squad were fundamental in his ousting? This sort of plot would get to the ears of those keen to do dirty work, and Bennett would hear all about it, given the circles he travels in. Bennett sees this as the perfect opportunity to wreck vengeance on Matrix: undo all the work their collective blood, sweat and other precious bodily fluids completed. And better yet, as the crown jewel in the detail of this plan, Bennett will hold Matrix's daughter hostage to his compliance to this plot: the living embodiment of the proof Matrix IS capable of human connection and love. Non of which was ever an option for Bennett.

I mean... look at how Bennett acts throughout the film! Not the striding around in kinky-looking chain mail, brandishing a very phallic bladed weapon in quite a flamboyant manner at every opportunity. Not the delivery of his lines in a salacious whisper. It isn't about money, Bennett mentions he's doing everything for free. It isn't about revenge: Bennett is as capable a killer as any 1980's action movie character. If he wanted Matrix dead he could've just popped him from a distance, pocketed the shells and disappeared into anonymity.

During their final confrontation, Bennett is hysterical. Not that he's going to die, that was always a very real risk. It's that he's not going to get what he is after, despite everything he has attempted. He behaves less like a professional mercenary than someone in the middle of an emotional breakdown he can barely articulate. And Bennett never receives this acknowledgment.

To Matrix, this was a very personal mission, but still a mission that when broken down to it's composite parts it was simply a problem to solve: locate the hostage, neutralise the threat, rescue said hostage and eliminate anyone in his way. But it wasn't a mission for Bennett, it was an appeal. That every act in the film was to force Matrix to acknowledge what happened between them in a swampy hotel in a South American shit-hole hotel over a night of cigars, sex-workers and booze mattered. But Bennett dies knowing that the most significant thing that ever happened to him was, in the words of M. Bison, just another Tuesday...