Director George P. Cosmatos (Tombstone 1993) teams up with writer/star Sylvester Stallone once again to bring us the non-stop action movie thriller, Cobra (1986). Sly stars as a street-tough, rebel cop who plays by his own rules and meters out a brutal brand of justice that rubs some people the wrong way. The Cobra is all business when a gang of psychos hunts down innocent victims as part of their twisted, new-world order.
Buy Cobra Blu-rayLos Angeles is tormented by a vicious serial killer known as the Night Slasher (Brian Thompson). He strikes with seemingly no reason or pattern, and the LAPD are on edge as the crimes grow more grizzly. Leadless and cornered, the police turn to loose cannon, Lt. Marion “The Cobra” Cobretti and his breakneck style of justice. As Cobra and his partner Sergeant Gonzales (Reni Santoni) hunt for clues, they happen across the case’s biggest break. One woman, a model named Ingrid (Brigitte Neilsen), has seen the killer and can confirm he does not work alone. Now Cobra must protect the only witness who can identify the Slasher. Not an easy task as the crazed killer deploys his entire cult of loonies to take out the Cobra and keep their sick cause alive.
Cobra is all action from the jump. No brakes, just fast-paced action. There’s some good, funny one-liners and playful, witty banter between Stallone and Santoni. The plot is based on the novel A Running Duck by Paula Gosling and according to Cosmatos’ Blu-ray commentary track, Stallone cooked up his version to be used as the basis for Beverly Hills Cop before he left that project. Sly then turned to Rambo: First Blood Part 2 director Cosmatos, and Cobra was hatched. It’s fitting that Cosmatos would later direct 1993’s Tombstone as Cobra pretty much plays like a 1950s western where the sheriff shoots fast and straight knowing the black hat is pure evil and deserves Boot Hill. Cobretti, whose first name is a nod to John Wayne, can even twirl and holster his pearl-handled Colt .45 model 1911, emblazoned with a hooded cobra ready to strike, like the Lone Ranger. Cheesy ’80s, over the top goodness.
The highly aggressive nature of the action is aimed as a jab at “ultra liberal” judges of the ’80s who went light on crime and criminals, causing panic in the streets of the U.S. (according to some views and pundits). Taking this vantage point in the movie and acting as Cobra’s work nemesis is Andrew Robinson as Detective Monte, who loathes Cobra’s caveman-cop approach and would rather play nice with the bad guys. Robinson, one will recall, played the psycho killer in Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry (1971), the original violent-cop, justice flick. Rounding out the cast of cops is legendary character actor Art Lafleur playing Captain Sears, the easy-going, gruff older guy who’s more understanding of Cobra’s tactics and is all for kicking crime in the ass with a steel-toed engineer boot.
Stallone’s violent cop fantasy is more of a cult classic than his other action movies and still packs a fun wallop. Cobra stands as a classic of its genre and a true product of its time, like ’80s slashers and hair-metal bands. We’ll never see anything quite like them ever again, good or bad, and some are still worth 87 minutes of our time.
