Sunday Matinee #76 Commando
Goliaths are all talk, even when they're up against Schwarzenegger.
1 Samuel 17:32-49 | EnterTheBible.org
Fifth Sunday After Pentecost | 06.23.2024
Context: King Saul has been in troubling spirits lately, though young David playing his lyre and singing has soothed his soul. Now, Saul’s armies face the Philistines, who have brought forth their mighty champion, Goliath. In one of the greatest displays of trash talk in the Bible, we see the Israelites cower at Goliath’s insults.
8 [Goliath the giant Philistine warrior] stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us." 10 And the Philistine said, "Today I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together." 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
For added context, here’s where we’re at in the Summer of Samuel:
Sunday Matinee #73 - Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
1 Samuel 3:1-20 - God tells young Samuel to give his mentor, Eli, a message.
Sunday Matinee #74 - Night of the Living Dead
1 Samuel 8:4-11, 16-20 - The Israelites tell Samuel they want a king, he tells God.
Sunday Matinee #75 - The Godfather, Part II
1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 - God is not pleased with King Saul, Samuel meets young David.
YOU ARE HERE: Sunday Matinee #76 - Commando
1 Samuel 17:32-49 - The giant warrior Goliath taunts King Saul's army, David kills him.
Commando | 1985
IMDb | Letterboxd | RRMC
Context: Someone has been murdering the unit members of US Army Special Forces Colonel John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Now, they've kidnapped his daughter, Jenny (Alyssa Milano), and Matrix is blackmailed into doing the bidding of the traitorous Captain Bennett (Vernon Wells). Bennett's henchmen are all pretty smarmy, especially Sully (David Patrick Kelly). Here's Sully mocking Matrix while Jenny is hostage and other smarmy henchmen Henriques (Charles Meshack) escort Matrix to his assignment:
Parting ways in the airport terminal, Sully stuffs a wad of cash in Matrix’s pocket.
Sully: Here, have some beers in Val Verde, Matrix. It'll give everyone a little more time with your daughter.
Henriques laughs.
John Matrix : You're a funny guy Sully, I like you. That's why I'm going to kill you last.
Later, Matrix got the best of Henriques and has tracked down Sully. After a car chase, Matrix holds the smarmy henchmen upside-down over a cliff. Sully panics.
Sully: You can't kill me Matrix! You need me to find your daughter!
John Matrix: Where is she?!
Sully: I don't know. But Cooke knows, I'll take you to where I'm supposed to meet him!
John Matrix: But you won't.
Sully: Why not?
Matrix holds up the hotel key that he stole from Sully, the key to Cooke’s room.
John Matrix: Because I already know. Remember, Sully, when I promised to kill you last?
Sully: (with a glimmer of desperate hope) That's right, Matrix! You did!
John Matrix: I lied.
Matrix lets go of Sully, who screams all the way down the cliff to his smarmy doom. Matrix returns to his companion, Cindy (Rae Dawn Chong).
Cindy : What did you do with Sully?
John Matrix : I let him go.
And if you need those two moments combined, here you go:
Commentary:
Here comes the big man on campus!
Have you ever heard that phrase? It’s usually said about someone who is well-known and likely important. I say “likely” because this phrase is sometimes used ironically. Sometimes, the big man on campus truly is just that. They are well-known, well-liked, and quite important to many people. Other times, “the big man on campus” are well-known or at least I should be! And they’re well-liked or at least I should be! And they’re quite important to me, I know I’m important! You get the picture.
Goliath is the big man on campus. He’s tall, nearly 7 feet, which is extraordinarily tall for there and then and I’d even say here and now. He’s got gigantic weapons and lots of ornate armor. Seriously, the writer slows everything down to spend several sentences describing Goliath’s clothes. It’s like he’s auditioning for E! TV network in case his gig of recording the life and times of the prophet Samuel falls through. But most of all, what makes Goliath big man on campus is his big mouth.
He spouts bravado and taunts the Israelites. He shouts, “Give me a man, that we may fight together!”
It’s the Biblical equivalent of the modern “Come at me, bro!”
But it’s all talk, isn’t it? For all of his height and weapons and bling-bling glamor armor, he’s moments away from being taken down by a shepherd boy with a sling named David. He’s more of the second kind of big man on campus, the self-aggrandizing, self-important kind. Maybe he did a lot of great stuff to get him to this point, but in the moment, he’s all big talk. And in a contest of BIG TALK vs. little rock, little rock wins.
We get a twisted image of body types from this picture when we turn to 80s action movie Commando. Colonel Matrix, in all of his beefy, muscular self, is at the mercy of a comparatively diminutive slimeball in a suit named Sully. None of Matrix’s brute strength can save him or his daughter from this situation. He’s going to have to rely on his brain just as much, and that means outwitting Sully. It’s an Arnold movie from 1985, so we know he’ll be just fine, but you know, for all intents and purposes.
It’s Sully who thinks his fancy suit does his talking. He thinks his money clip does his talking. He thinks his big mouth of bravado does his talking. He’s trying to be Goliath. There’s a satisfying irony in watching someone of David’s build talking down to someone of Goliath’s girth. Leave it to a movie like Commando to subvert expectations of the genre. Matrix fires back at Sully’s big mouth, saying he likes him, so he’ll kill him last.
Ends up second.
And oh, how the mighty fall.
A true big man on campus doesn’t need to show off. He doesn’t need to flaunt what he thinks makes him powerful, nor does he need to shoot off his big mouth. Doing all of that is more in alignment with the second way of understanding a “big man on campus,” an ironic way. God is interested in men - in everyone - being the “big person on campus” because they are well-respected for their values, their ethical actions, what they bring to the table, and how they welcome and include and encourage people at the table with them. That’s what God thinks is important.
Goliaths fall, Sullys stumble. Davids get smart, Matrixes get wise. “Come at me, bro!” is no way to live! Certainly, it’s not going to inspire a top military commando whose daughter you kidnapped to kill you last!