Cobra (1986) Warner Bros./Action RT: 87 Minutes Rated R (language, extreme violence) Director: George P. Cosmatos Screenplay: Sylvester Stallone Music: Sylvester Levay Cinematography: Ric Waite Release date: May 23, 1986 (US) Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Brigitte Nielsen, Reni Santoni, Andrew Robinson, Brian Thompson, John Herzfeld, Lee Garlington, Art LaFleur, Ross St. Phillip, Marco Rodriguez, Val Avery, David Rasche, John Hauk. Box Office: $49M (US)
Rating: *** ½
In the wake of the massive success of Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rocky IV the previous year, Warner Bros. made the decision to open the Sylvester Stallone actioner Cobra on Memorial Day weekend against Poltergeist II: The Other Side. It was a gamble that paid off when it took the number one spot, beating the horror sequel by $3 million.
Ultimately, it wasn’t the huge hit the studio anticipated, making less than $50 million in box office. Critics weren’t too kind either. It received mostly negative reviews for its excessive violence and extremist views on law and order. I didn’t and still don’t see it that way. When I look at Cobra, I see a slick, slamming, kick-ass action flick. It has its flaws to be sure, but it works on a fundamental level. It packs a lot of violent action into 87 minutes. That’s what I paid to see.
Stallone stars as Marion “Cobra” Cobretti, a member of the “Zombie Squad” division of the LAPD. They take the jobs no other cops want. In the opening sequence, he deals with a psycho (Rodriguez, Extreme Prejudice) holding people hostage. This is where Cobra utters the line that should have made him famous: “You’re a disease, and I’m the cure.” This is classic 80s cop movie dialogue.
Not everybody approves of Cobra’s methods, certainly not fellow cop Monte (Robinson, Dirty Harry) who’s always on his case about not following proper police procedure. He’s going to have to find a way to set his personal feelings as Cobra might be the only one that can help them solve a string of brutal killings taking place throughout the city. Dubbed “The Night Slasher” by the press, he has no pattern. His victims include women, elderly people, Asian immigrants, businessmen and children. After some debate by his superiors, Cobra and his partner Gonzalez (Santoni, Bad Boys) are assigned the case.
It turns out the Night Slasher is actually a group of extremists looking to rid society of the weak and establish a new world order or some such nonsense. One night while driving to a gig, model Ingrid (Nielsen, Rocky IV) witnesses one of their murders and can easily identify their leader (Thompson, Lionheart). Unfortunately, they know who she is and come after her. Cobra and his partner must protect her from the vicious killers who will stop at nothing to silence her.
In many ways, Cobra is similar to Dirty Harry. Both movies feature a renegade cop who doesn’t play by the rules going after a killer holding a city in the grip of terror. Like Callahan, Cobretti gets a lot of flak from his superiors about his attitude and methods. Is it or is it not coincidence that Santoni plays the titular characters’ partner in both films? Their fates are also similar. Robinson appears in both films too. As you may recall, he plays the killer Scorpio in the 1971 Clint Eastwood classic.
I’ll grant that Cobra is hardly a classic, but I LOVE it! Directed by George P. Cosmatos (Rambo: First Blood Part II), it’s a stylish, macho, fast-moving action flick with gunplay, car chases and explosions not to mention the climax where Cobra takes on an army of bad guys almost single-handedly. It has some neat, dopey tough guy dialogue like these gems:
“This is where the law stops and I start, sucker.”
“I don’t deal with psychos. I put them away.”
“As long as we play by these BS rules and the killer doesn’t, we’re gonna lose.”
“You wasted a kid…. for nothing. Now I think it’s time to waste you.”
All of these lines are spoken by Cobra, of course. This leads to a big question. Should I even bother commenting on the acting in Cobra? It seems rather pointless. Sly, looking like a fugitive from the 50s with his vintage car and matchstick hanging from his mouth, does what he does best. He postures, talks tough and blows away scumbags. Nielsen, Stallone’s girlfriend at the time, is pretty wooden. Thompson makes a great scary villain. Basically, it’s the level of acting one expects from a movie like this.
My gripe with Cobra has to do with the choppy narrative. I recently learned that it was heavily re-edited the week prior to its release. It was originally two hours long. Stallone and the studio cut scenes dealing with characters other than his own as well as much of the graphic violence. The MPAA threatened it with an X when it was first submitted. I always had a feeling there was more to the plot.
A couple more things before I close. First, Cobra has a cool soundtrack. I’m particularly fond of Robert Tepper’s “Angel of the City”, heard over a montage of Ingrid posing for photos with a robot (?!) and Cobra questioning various street types about the Night Slasher. Second, and this is important, it is every bit a Christmas movie as Die Hard, Lethal Weapon and The Long Kiss Goodnight. I try to watch it every year. The bottom line is this; Cobra is a good movie if you don’t think too hard about it by trying to find a message amidst the carnage and chaos.
