Arnold’s gearing up for a comeback. Here’s a sequel script to one of his most underrated flicks
Genre: Action
Premise: Former Special Forces Colonel John Matrix is back! After saving his daughter from the clutches of an evil South American dictator, he’s hired to become a security consultant for an American weapons manufacturer, who he slowly begins to realize is not on the up-and-up.
About: Arnold Schwarzenegger has been in the news lately as he’s planning on revisiting several of his old franchises, starting with Conan The Barbarian (not many people remember this but Conan was Arnold’s breakout film, not The Terminator). He was originally supposed to do all these sequels back in the 80s and 90s. He just didn’t have the time. This was one of those sequels he was slated to star in, and according to our own film historian, Scott Crawford, the film was canceled because the script called for so much action, it would’ve been the most expensive film in history. We may not have gotten to see that film, but we can finally find out what that movie would’ve looked like! The script was not only written by mega-writer at the time, Steven E. De Souza. But it was also rewritten by screenwriting titan Frank Darabont. Talk about screenwriting royalty!
Writer: Steven E. De Souza (Revised by Frank Darabont)
Details: 124 pages
Baller!
Believe it or not, there was a time when Alyssa Milano was the hottest thing since power steering. This was before she went full online psycho. Hey, I don’t blame her. Hollywood is a tough place. It doesn’t exactly inspire people to become their best selves. But the point is, Alyssa Milano was a mega-crush to a young boy going to the movie theaters in the 80s and when I found out she was kidnapped by terrorists and Arnold Schwarzenegger was the only one who could save her, you can bet your bottom dollar I was gonna be there opening day.
Had you then told me that Arnold and Alyssa would be back for a second film? You bet your ass I would’ve been there. Let’s find out what that young Carson would’ve experienced.
The big new drug titan in South America is a guy named Nestor Pedrosa. When the U.S. sends a team down to Panama to destroy him, John Matrix’s old friend, General Franklin Kirby, is slaughtered, along with his entire team. How did Pedrosa have access to the kind of weapons that could make mincemeat out of the richest military in the world? Hmmmmm….
Meanwhile, back in the US, John Matrix heads to the compound of current king of U.S. Military weapons manufacturing, Mr. McCarren, demanding to know how Kirby was slaughtered. After some back and forth, the arrogant McCarren is impressed with John’s knowledge of security systems and hires him to head up his own security.
Several weeks into the job, John goes to pick up a weapons shipment when one of his team can’t do it, only to find that the shipment isn’t weapons. IT’S DRUGS. Seconds later, John is arrested for smuggling drugs into the U.S. McCarren’s attorney, Melinda, comes to get John out of this. But John smells a rat. Someone seems to want him in prison. So he charges out of his arraignment with the judge in hand, and is now on the run!
After doing some “Fugitive-like” research, John learns that McCarren sent that team into Panama knowing they’d get slaughtered. So John takes it upon himself to execute McCarren. And guess what? He built the security system that protects him so McCarren is a sitting duck!
John Matrix breaks into the compound like only he can but McCarren escapes, leading to a helicopter chase, with John hanging off one of the helicopters, above the city. Just after John (spoilers) finally takes out McCarren (throwing him into the blades of another helicopter), he’s met with an impossible reveal! Kirby is in the helicopter too! Kirby is alive!
Once they get back on land, Kirby admits that the U.S. is working with Pedrosa. They give him weapons. He gives them drugs. And Kirby is getting kickbacks for it! Why you dirty little…! There’s only one way to put an end to this. It’s time for John to re-embrace his alter ego, Commando, go down to Panama, storm Pedrosa’s compound, and cut off the head of the snake.
I’ve read so many scripts at this point that I can actually read the history of the development of a script between the lines of a screenplay.
And when I read Commando 2, I thought, “Man, it must’ve been hard to work on this script.” At this point in his career, Arnold had done Conan, he’d done Terminator, he’d done Predator and The Running Man.
I remember it was around this time that Arnold wanted to stretch his acting muscles a bit. He was looking for different stuff. Which is why he ended up doing Twins and Kindergarten Cop.
Here’s what I think happened with Commando 2. The studio wanted badass Arnold marching through more forests and killing people. But Arnold was sick of that stuff and wanted something a little more cerebral, thoughtful, emotional. Which is how this screenplay came together. Cause you can feel these two entities (the studio vs. Arnold) battling on the page.
Commando 2 is a movie that really doesn’t know what it wants to be and I’m guessing that’s because the writers knew that they needed Arnold on board more than they needed the studio on board. Cause if they had Arnold, they’d have the studio. And so they were listening to Arnold’s notes. And, unfortunately, actors aren’t good writers. They understand character motivation and a character’s internal state. But they don’t understand things like tone and story consistency and genre consistency.
I mean, the first half of this movie is the most passive Arnold Schwarzenegger movie I’ve ever read. It’s Arnold being a nerdy security consultant. We’ve got numerous scenes of him sitting around a desk putting together his security plan. Studios do not pay actors 20 million dollars to sit at desks.
Now, to the writers’ credit, everything in the first half of the script is setup. And every single bit of it pays off. I was actually surprised at how intricately-woven this story was. This was not some script they whipped up in a month. There are enough setups and payoffs here to make Bob Gale and Bob Zemeckis blush.
And when we do get to that second half, it’s almost pure action the whole way through. I think that the reason it never quite met that “must make” threshold, though, was that it is always searching for what kind of movie it wanted to be.
It starts off as an ex-special forces guy retiring into a security consultant role. Then it briefly turns into a legal film. Then it’s a break out of prison film. Then it’s a revenge film. Then it’s travel to Panama to take out the big bad drug lord film. It’s like five movies in one.
Contrast this with Commando. It’s a “go rescue my daughter” movie.
This is what I always go back to and I know I beat this dead horse to numerous deaths on this site but, honestly, simplicity is your best friend in screenwriting. The more genres you throw into your story, the more plotlines, the more plot developments, you’re just juggling too many pins. Even the best jugglers in the world start dropping those pins if the volume is too heavy.
Now, how would this movie have played back in 1990?
I don’t see how it wouldn’t have been a hit with Arnold’s star power at the time. These movies are always about how much the hero kicks ass and how awesome the set pieces are. Arnold definitely kicks a lot of ass. The set pieces were strong overall. The star set piece is a helicopter chase with Arnold hanging from one of the copters during rush hour in Los Angeles. This is the sort of scene that would’ve been written up in every trade magazine and major newspaper as the selling point of the movie. Especially if they convinced Arnold to actually be up there on the helicopter.
Arnold going in to take down Nestor Pedrosa’s compound was the second big set piece in the movie and it was good. The problem was that we’ve seen this before. This is something Arnold already did in the first film. Rambo was doing this same kind of scene at the time. So it suffered a bit from “been here, done that.”
It’s always been the challenge of writing sequels. You have to give the audience what they fell in love with but also evolve things. If you evolve too much, the audience doesn’t recognize the original property anymore. If you don’t evolve it enough, you’re a one-hit wonder repeating the same song. To the writers’ credit, they really tried to make a different movie here. I just think, in the process, they learned that there wasn’t much to work with as far as mythology and lore when it came to John Matrix. This is just a special forces dude who tried to save his daughter. How much can you really evolve that?
But even with Arnold throwing all this choppy ass shit at the writers, the script’s mechanics are quite sound. They divide the story in half perfectly. They use that opening half to set up characters and seed a bunch of big reveals. The mystery aspect of the story is stronger than it deserves to be. It really almost reads like a murder-mystery. And I give the writers credit for taking such a strange swing at a genre whose demands are so different. And probably the most interesting thing about this script is that, outside of a goofy fax machine gag, the story is quite timely. Going into other countries and taking out drug lords? It’s almost uncanny how relevant that is in 2026. Might Fox revive the franchise with a new character? I could honestly see it happen.
Script link: Commando 2
[ ] What the hell did I just read?
[ ] wasn’t for me
[x] worth the read
[ ] impressive
[ ] genius
What I learned: This is something I personally love in screenplays – teachable moments regarding cool things. When Pedrosa first takes out the special forces unit, we’re introduced to the weapons he’s using. Now, normally, a writer would probably write, “Big guns. Shoots big guns. People riddled with bullets. The end.” But if you have something legitimately cool, it’s fine to get detailed in your description and provide a teachable moment. Which is exactly what the writers do here.
The catch is that the thing you spend all this time describing MUST BE COOL. If it’s not cool, don’t describe it. Cause we won’t care.
