Sunday, July 26, 2015

Movie review - "Cobra" (1986) *

Nasty, mean spirited knock off of Dirty Harry which I wanted to enjoy in a dumb 80s action movie way but was simply too derivative, too mean. Surely after Rambo 2 and Rocky IV, Sly could have taken some time out to do something decent and intelligent - but he took the money and ran here, looking at Dirty Harry and Sudden Impact, ripping it off (even via casting - Reni Santoni is Cobra's partner), and adding more corpses.

To be fair he does look cool in a camp way, with his mirrored sunglasses, tooth pick, tight jeans and three day growth - not to mention awesome car. But the story makes no sense - it's about a serial killer running rampant in the city, yet there's also an army of killers (though only one seems to do the killing), plus some other guy who holds up a supermarket. Brigitte Nielsen is attacked and survives; even though she never gets a decent look at the people after her, the army of killers still come after her and Cobra has to save the day... by killing every single last one of them.

There is some decent, if not particularly memorable action, and it's beautifully photographed - rather like Rambo 2 come to think of it. Brigitte Nielsen is beautiful and looks great in a swimsuit during a photo shoot but isn't given much of a character to play and has to wear this silly red haired curly wig covering her face. Her chemistry with then-hubby Stallone isn't overwhelming. Brian Thompson probably gives the best performance as the head baddy.

The nasty tone comes from the fact so many innocent people are killed - that person at the supermarket, random nurses, strangers knocked off by the serial killer, security guards, etc. Also there are lots of knives and blood. There is little tension.

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