"Cobra" is pretty much Stallone's tribute to the quintessential maverick detective thriller "Dirty Harry". Stallone even went as far as casting Andrew Robinson and Reni Santori in his movie , both of which starred in "Dirty Harry". The film tries to say something about the inadequacies of the American legal system and that's the main reason why it was criticized by many people.It promotes vigilantism and breaking the rules, if it's necessary to destroy the evil. It also reminds that there is some kind of evil that can't be negotiated or reasoned with and that sometimes the violence is the only answer. The justice system is failing, letting monsters re-enter society causing a risk to the innocents. I agree with what the movie says and I'm not ashamed of it. It's not a movie for people obsessed with political correctness. I can understand people who hate "Cobra". You're either going to love or hate this movie.It is extremely stupid , cheesy and violent action movie. There's not really much plot here, the characters are less than one dimensional , the dialogues are sometimes flat and it all falls apart when you think about it for a second. It's so bad it's fascinating. That's why I love this movie.
This is an very entertaining movie if you don't take it seriously. This is one of the best cheesiest action classics out there. It's a corpse littered escapism . It has a message , but it's mostly pure old school fun. It's a movie where the good guy never gets hit and the villains get what they deserve. A silly, campy, unrealistic and illogical but an entertaining fun action film. They simply don't make 'em like this any more... Cobretti (Watch the movie to hear his real name !) is one of the coolest characters in movie history. He wears long overcoat, sunglasses, chews on a match-stick with a Cobra embossed handgun down the front of his tight jeans. He drives custom 1950 Mercury , cuts his pizza with scissors, puts his newspaper on the barbecue and has a witticism for almost every occasion. His one liners are certainly memorable : "You're the disease , I'm the cure" , "I don't shop here" , "You got a life preserver?... Cause your fries are drowning." , "This is where the law stops, and I start... sucker". Cobretti is invincible and arrogant , but he does have heart and sense of humor. Stallone has been unfairly criticized by his performance . He mumbles his lines with barely any emotion , but that's the whole point of his macho cop. He plays his character the way he should play Judge Dredd – as a tough , barely emotional bastard.
The screenplay was written by Stallone himself and is loosely based on a novel "Fair Game" by Paula Gosling. He just took the basic premise of a cop protecting a woman and going on the run with her. Stallone was also obviously inspired by the "Night Stalker" killings of the previous year (1985), so he gives his villain the similar moniker of the "Night Slasher". Stallone also used a lot of ideas in "Cobra" he developed for "Beverly Hills cop". "Cobra" is an action extravaganza full of violence. Director George P. Cosmatos keeps the movie at quite fast pace with some exciting action scenes . The car chase is one of the finest chases in history of cinema. Cosmatos also manages to successfully add a touch of slasher/horror into action genre. The photography by Ric Waite is excellent. It has a wonderfully moody/Gothic atmosphere at times . The editing is tight thanks to Don Zimmerman . The score by Sylvester Levay is good. There are some great songs here : John Cafferty and The Beaver band "Voice of America's sons" , Jean Brauvoir "Feel the heat" , Robert Tepper "Angel of the city" and Miami sound machine "Suave". Brian Thompson is quite scary and Lee Garlington quite creepy as the villains. Brigitte Nielsen is just bad and she has no chemistry with Sly (it's hard to believe that they were a couple in real life).
"Cobra" is one of the iconic images of the glorious 80's American pop culture. It's a perfectly agreeable time-waster. A fast food for the mind. Too bad they never made a sequel. It was reasonably successful at the Box Office . I've seen a lot , lot worse movies. This is a bad movie , kitsch , but a very likable one. I give it 7/10 , but deep down in my heart it's 10/10.
This is an very entertaining movie if you don't take it seriously. This is one of the best cheesiest action classics out there. It's a corpse littered escapism . It has a message , but it's mostly pure old school fun. It's a movie where the good guy never gets hit and the villains get what they deserve. A silly, campy, unrealistic and illogical but an entertaining fun action film. They simply don't make 'em like this any more... Cobretti (Watch the movie to hear his real name !) is one of the coolest characters in movie history. He wears long overcoat, sunglasses, chews on a match-stick with a Cobra embossed handgun down the front of his tight jeans. He drives custom 1950 Mercury , cuts his pizza with scissors, puts his newspaper on the barbecue and has a witticism for almost every occasion. His one liners are certainly memorable : "You're the disease , I'm the cure" , "I don't shop here" , "You got a life preserver?... Cause your fries are drowning." , "This is where the law stops, and I start... sucker". Cobretti is invincible and arrogant , but he does have heart and sense of humor. Stallone has been unfairly criticized by his performance . He mumbles his lines with barely any emotion , but that's the whole point of his macho cop. He plays his character the way he should play Judge Dredd – as a tough , barely emotional bastard.
The screenplay was written by Stallone himself and is loosely based on a novel "Fair Game" by Paula Gosling. He just took the basic premise of a cop protecting a woman and going on the run with her. Stallone was also obviously inspired by the "Night Stalker" killings of the previous year (1985), so he gives his villain the similar moniker of the "Night Slasher". Stallone also used a lot of ideas in "Cobra" he developed for "Beverly Hills cop". "Cobra" is an action extravaganza full of violence. Director George P. Cosmatos keeps the movie at quite fast pace with some exciting action scenes . The car chase is one of the finest chases in history of cinema. Cosmatos also manages to successfully add a touch of slasher/horror into action genre. The photography by Ric Waite is excellent. It has a wonderfully moody/Gothic atmosphere at times . The editing is tight thanks to Don Zimmerman . The score by Sylvester Levay is good. There are some great songs here : John Cafferty and The Beaver band "Voice of America's sons" , Jean Brauvoir "Feel the heat" , Robert Tepper "Angel of the city" and Miami sound machine "Suave". Brian Thompson is quite scary and Lee Garlington quite creepy as the villains. Brigitte Nielsen is just bad and she has no chemistry with Sly (it's hard to believe that they were a couple in real life).
"Cobra" is one of the iconic images of the glorious 80's American pop culture. It's a perfectly agreeable time-waster. A fast food for the mind. Too bad they never made a sequel. It was reasonably successful at the Box Office . I've seen a lot , lot worse movies. This is a bad movie , kitsch , but a very likable one. I give it 7/10 , but deep down in my heart it's 10/10.