{"id":8214,"date":"2024-11-12T00:12:50","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T05:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=8214"},"modified":"2024-11-12T00:12:50","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T05:12:50","slug":"suburban-commando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/11\/12\/suburban-commando\/","title":{"rendered":"Suburban Commando"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Suburban Commando <\/strong>(1991)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Line\/Comedy-Sci-Fi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 90 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (violence, mild language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Burt Kennedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Frank Cappello\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: David Michael Frank\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Bernd Heinl\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 4, 1991 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Hulk Hogan, Christopher Lloyd, Shelley Duvall, Larry Miller, Michael Faustino, Laura Mooney, William Ball, Jo Ann Dearing, Jack Elam, Roy Dotrice, Tony Longo, Mark Calaway, Dennis Burkley, Luis Contreras, Nick Eldredge.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $8M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0In order to fully appreciate the Hulk Hogan starrer Suburban Commando<\/strong>, you have to understand what it is. It appears to have been made to be shown exclusively at Saturday matinees even though such movies had vanished by \u201991. It\u2019s aimed at 10YO boys too young to know an extended product placement when they see it, wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan being the product. Knowing this won\u2019t necessarily make it a more pleasurable viewing experience for some, but knowing what they\u2019re dealing with might make it a more tolerable one. Me, I like it and its big goofy heart.<\/p>\n

\u00a0By way of a follow-up to his debut feature No Holds Barred, the Hulkster rope-jumps into sci-fi mode to play Shep Ramsey, an ultimate intergalactic warrior we first meet trying to stop evil space despot General Suitor (Ball) who\u2019s been terrorizing the universe. The mission isn\u2019t exactly a success, a kidnapped planetary ruler is killed and Shep barely gets away with his life. Ordered to take a vacation while his damaged spaceship repairs itself, Shep is forced to crash-land on Earth where blending in with the indigenous dominant lifeform (i.e. earthlings) won\u2019t be easy because…. well, he\u2019s an alien. As we all know, they\u2019re never familiar with our customs. That\u2019s what makes them funny.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Shep rents a room at the suburban home of Charlie Wilcox (Lloyd, Back to the Future) and his family- wife Jenny (Duvall, The Shining) and two kids, Theresa (Mooney, She\u2019s Out of Control) and Mark (Faustino, The Monster Squad). Charlie, a talented architect, is a weak-willed type who lets everybody push him around especially his back-stabbing boss (Miller, 10 Things I Hate About You) who consistently takes all the credit for his hard work. He can\u2019t even get up the courage to ask him for a well-deserved raise.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s Charlie who first notices there\u2019s something strange about their new tenant. He starts following Shep around and soon discovers the truth. In doing so, he inadvertently alerts a pair of bounty hunters, played by Tony Longo (Sixteen Candles) and Mark \u201cThe Undertaker\u201d Calaway, to Shep\u2019s whereabouts. Show of hands, who thinks Charlie will grow a pair and fight alongside Shep?\u00a0 It\u2019s a rhetorical question, of course.<\/p>\n

\u00a0A few words come to mind in regards to Suburban Commando<\/strong>– stupid, lame-brained, moronic and inane; it\u2019s all of that and more. By more, I specifically mean silly, an apt description of the events that transpire over the movie\u2019s 90 minutes. Directed by Burt Kennedy (Dirty Dingus Magee), it\u2019s at its daffiest best when Shep goes around cleaning up the neighborhood, ridding it of purse snatchers, reckless drivers, junior bullies, rude gearheads and mimes. Ah yes, the mime. That poor guy gets it pretty hard from our large, muscular hero unfamiliar with the art of pantomime. When he sees him doing the \u201cstuck in an invisible box\u201d bit, he thinks it\u2019s a force field and uses his fist to help free him. OUCH! Another funny scene is Shep helping a little girl whose cat is stuck in a tree. He gives literal meaning to the term \u201ccatapult\u201d. BTW, the little girl is played by future Handmaid\u2019s Tale star Elisabeth Moss.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Saying that Hulk Hogan gives his finest performance ever in Suburban Commando<\/strong> isn\u2019t saying much at all since his filmography includes Mr. Nanny, Santa with Muscles and 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain. HOWEVER, he seems a little more relaxed than he did in No Holds Barred. Stripped of the intensity that comes with playing vengeful wrestlers, he\u2019s a surprisingly funny guy. He approaches his character with a light touch, relying heavily on Shep\u2019s natural inclination to be a hero in every situation. He\u2019s the perfect one to guide Charlie on the path to assertiveness. In the role, Lloyd dials it back just the right amount. Usually an eccentric loon, he steps out of character to play a slightly-off suburban family guy who always plays it safe. Lloyd\u2019s character transition from wimp to tough guy is believable in the context of such comedies. Miller was born to play sniveling, smarmy characters like Charlie\u2019s boss. He takes it to a cartoonish comic high.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Suburban Commando<\/strong> isn\u2019t without its problems. The plot, once Hulk is earthbound, is rather slim. Charlie\u2019s family disappears for a significant stretch, only reappearing when they\u2019re needed to advance the story. Western icon Jack Elam, playing the perennially sloshed WWII vet who lives next door to Charlie, is sadly underused. The way he sits in his old, broken-down jeep commenting on what goes on in the neighborhood is priceless.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Thankfully, Suburban Commando<\/strong> has many good points too. The special effects are decent. An alien creature that shows up late in the game is NOT a CGI creation. The opening space sequence doesn\u2019t look like a video game; it\u2019s more like what you\u2019d see in a cheap Star Wars knock-off. It gives the movie an old school feel albeit one with hideous 90s fashions. Most importantly, Suburban Commando<\/strong> is funny. It\u2019s funny in a very mindless way. I laughed several times. I\u2019m not proud of it, but I\u2019m not ashamed either.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Suburban Commando (1991)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Line\/Comedy-Sci-Fi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 90 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (violence, mild language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Burt Kennedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Frank Cappello\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: David Michael Frank\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Bernd Heinl\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 4, 1991 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Hulk Hogan, Christopher Lloyd, Shelley Duvall, Larry Miller, Michael Faustino, Laura Mooney, William Ball, Jo Ann Dearing, Jack Elam, Roy Dotrice, Tony […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies","category-guilty-pleasures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Suburban-Commando-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8214"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8397,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8214\/revisions\/8397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}