Bennett

Capt. Bennett

Captain Bennett is the main villain of the 1985 cult action film Commando portrayed by veteran villain actor Vernon Wells in the film.

Character Summary

Bennett was formerly part of an elite US Special Forces team led by legendary commando Delta Force Colonel John Matrix. He was booted off the team after they deposed Arius, the ruthless dictator of Val Verde, because Matrix thought Bennett "...enjoyed killing a little too much." Like the other members of Matrix’s team, Bennett was given a new identity when he retired to protect him from revenge by the various governments and terrorist groups Matrix’s team had hurt over the years.

Arius needed to remove Velasquez, the new president of Val Verde, to reclaim his old position. He remembered that Bennett had left Matrix’s team under bad circumstances and tracked Bennett down to make him an offer. Bennett was so thrilled at the chance to get his hands on Matrix that he turned down the offer of one-hundred grand and agreed to help Arius for free.

Bennett’s mercenaries started killing Matrix’s old team one by one including retired teammember Lawson. Bennett even faked his own death. Matrix’s former commander, General Kirby, visited Matrix to warn him about his team members’ deaths. Bennett and crew followed Kirby, allowing them to locate Matrix.

After kidnapping Matrix’s daughter Jenny to secure his cooperation, they ordered him to go to Val Verde. Once there, Matrix was to use his status as a "Hero of the Revolution" to get close to President Velasquez and kill him. 

Matrix killed the goon supervising him and got off the commercial flight to Val Verde just as it was about to take off and without Bennett’s men knowing. In the eleven hours before the flight landed in Val Verde, Matrix worked out the location of Arius’s secret island base and mounted a full assault in classic "one-man-army" style.

Disposing of Arius and his goons, Matrix at last confronted Bennett man-to-man to save his daughter. Matrix and Bennett engaged in a brutal exchange of blows from fists, knives, and every available piece of local terrain. Bennett was even electrocuted once — being thrown against a small transformer station — only to come out swinging again. Bennett finally gave up trying to beat Matrix and grabbed a gun, planning to blow his former commander away only to be pinned to the wall by a large pipe javelin-thrown by Matrix.

Background Information and Notes

• Bennett has been compared to and is often believed to have inspired similar over-the-top villains such as Richie Madano (portrayed by William Forsythe) in 1991's Out for Justice.
• Counter to this, Bennett is essentially everything that smart movie villains such as Die Hard 's Hans Gruber are not: clumsy, working for free and arrogant. He is also not a noble or efficient team player as he is constantly threatening Arius or his various henchmen as opposed to encouraging them that it's worth committing what villainous deeds they're about to carry out.
• Bennett is a middle-aged white male with a cleft chin, a crew cut and a push broom mustache whose tips curve down to meet the corners of his mouth. His retired status is starting to show in his expanding waistline, which made his final fight with ubermensch-made-flesh John Matrix all the more comical. 
• He wears attire that makes him look like an escapee from an overly-militant revival of the Village People: black leather pants, belt, boots, and fingerless gloves, a black sleeveless shirt, a chainmail vest, and a silver choke-chain collar holding his dog tags around his neck. Ruthless Reviews described his garb best: “your standard leather-daddy get-up, minus the cop hat.” Bennett speaks with a noticeable Australian accent. Like any properly macho ’80s bad guy, Bennett has a tattoo of a red snake wrapped around a knife on his inner right forearm.
• His attire can also be compared to the outrageous character clothing designs of mangaka Hirohiko Araki of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime and manga fame. He also has a bombast personality much like Araki's characters in his work.
• Bennett is a slave to his passions and besides his inability or unwillingness to curb his own homicidal impulses, he would completely lose his cool if frustrated or challenged by someone. He did incredibly foolish things to prove he was tougher than anyone else, like throwing away his gun and hostage to get in a knife fight with Matrix.
• Like most sociopaths, Bennett always blames others for his shortcomings. When confronted on the sadistic pleasure he took from killing, Bennett insisted that it was because of Matrix’s training. 
• Taking great stock in showing what a badass he was, Bennett took joy in snubbing other troops and taunting his opponents in fights. Because of that ego, Bennett is very unforgiving of any slights and he took great joy in avenging himself upon Matrix for being kicked out of the team.
• The action figure Psycho from the Commando toyline was based on Bennett.