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The Commander

Name: The Commander
Director: Antonio Margheriti
Released: 1988
Duration: 105 min

Representation Score

1.7/10

Minimal

1988

Director

Antonio Margheriti

Runtime

105 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

The Commander is a conventional 1980s action film that follows traditional masculine and Western-centric themes. Its narrative structure emphasizes masculine combat roles and Western perspectives, offering little engagement with diverse identities. The film centers on a male-dominated team of mercenaries and government officials, reinforcing traditional hierarchies and lacking meaningful representation of women or LGBTQ+ individuals. The story focuses on Western characters navigating a Southeast Asian setting without providing significant roles to non-Western individuals.

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Category Breakdown

Does The Commander have LGBTQ+ representation?

Minimal

The film follows traditional masculine action themes without any queer subtext or critique of the assumption that everyone is straight or cisgender.

How does The Commander portray gender?

Limited

The story centers on a male-dominated team of mercenaries and government officials, emphasizing conventional masculine roles without giving female characters much influence or control.

How racially and ethnically diverse is The Commander?

Limited

Set in Southeast Asia, the film features mostly Western actors. The story focuses on Western characters navigating a foreign land without giving significant roles to non-Western individuals.

How does The Commander represent religion and culture?

Limited

The film follows typical mercenary themes focused on personal gain and individual actions. It does not address any anti-Western sentiments or deeper critiques of systemic institutions.

Does The Commander include disability representation?

Minimal

The story emphasizes physical strength and combat skills without portraying characters with disabilities having significant influence or meaningful roles.

Present on Screen

The international cast offers a mix of actors from various backgrounds.

Limited or Absent

The film lacks female characters with significant influence or leadership roles.
There is no representation of LGBTQ+ identities or non-cisgender gender expressions.
The narrative fails to give non-Western individuals significant roles or influence.
Characters with disabilities are not portrayed with significant influence or meaningful presence.

Official Synopsis

Lewis Collins is back to leading mercenaries on the move in Southeast Asia. This time the cast is unusually good including Lee Van Cleef, Brett Halsey (Cop Game), Romano Puppo (Robowar), Mike Monty (Raiders of Atlantis), Bobby Rhodes (The Great Alligator), etc. Anyway, Van Cleef has Collins go on some random mission to locate a disc with all sorts of valuable crazy intelligence data on it. It just happens that Donald Pleasence, a random government official, hires another mercenary-for-hire Manfred Lehman to tag along and make sure the data ends up in the right hands. Van Cleef isn't taking any chances, and since he is crooked and murders Collins's other bosses quickly, he places Romano Puppo in the group as well to make sure the operation runs smoothly. Collins may not be too expressive but at least he seems to figure out quickly who's out to get him, so the mission continues with lots of double-crosses, twists and turns, and of course lots of explosions!

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