Cobra is a movie that I’ve always wanted to watch. I was always intrigued by the artwork and the concept. Is he a bad guy? Is he a cop? Is he a punisher rip-off? Who knows. Well, I eventually took the plunge and went ahead and bought the Arrow Limited Edition of the movie.
Overall, the movie was much different than I expected. The opening scene in the grocery store is pretty badass. It felt very much like a time capsule. At the risk of aging myself, I remember when grocery stores looked like that. I was definitely not a fan of his car. Not sure why they gave Cobra a 50’s car. Maybe in the 80’s it was nostalgic, similar to giving a character an 80’s car now. For me the car really knocked down Cobra’s badass level down a bit since it was so clunky.
After that we get a couple of scenes that really establish what a loner Cobra is. This is to be expected with a character like this. What’s missing throughout the movie is the why, though. Why is he so anti-social? Why does he only do zombie shift? What compels him to eat old pizza (which he snips in half with a pair of scissors). There’s a lot of style here but not a lot of development. It almost felt like I was watching a sequel. I don’t need everything explained to me. In fact, in fact I enjoy ambiguity when it comes to characters. However, there’s no real character arc that I can see. Same with the villains. We get no insight into why they do what they do. They’re just crazed killers.
That being said, the movie is still a solid watch, if only for the aggressively 80’s aesthetic. Everyone certainly looks the part as well. I thought it was pretty cool that they got Andrew Robinson (“Scorpio” from Dirty Harry) to play one of the detectives. Great way to subvert expectations. Brian Thompson did very well playing the crazed killer, despite not having much material to work with. I think his scary face did a lot of the heavy lifting.
Sylvester Stallone was pretty average in the role, not showing much range. I think this was also partly due to the lack of character development. I couldn’t tell if he was acting stoic or just lacking range. We never really see him acting any differently so we can compare as the audience. But again, he certainly has the look that the character needed, so it’s fine. I’m sure Brigitte Nielsen tried hard, but it’s clear acting was not her forte.
Something cool about the Arrow release is that they included the slightly longer (but censored) tv cut. The original cut apparently ran about 120-130 minutes and has never seen the light of day. The tv edit is a step closer to getting a proper release of that cut. I will be watching that at a later date.
The main reason the movie was cut down was due to an initial X rating (box office poison) and because Top Gun opened a week before Cobra. Warner Bros. panicked, and the film was chopped down so theaters could fit more showings into the day. And according to multiple accounts, Stallone did much of that cutting himself, pulling out plot, and pulling out scenes centered on characters who weren’t him. This is likely why the character development feels half baked.
Another fun fact about the movie is that Stallone was originally cast in Beverly Hills Cop but he rewrote it into something violent and humorless, and the studio rejected it. Cobra is what he built out of his version of BHC.
Overall, all of this makes me wish we could have access to that original cut done film. I’m sure it would be miles better than what we currently have.
Regarding the disc. Arrow’s 4K restoration comes from the original 35mm camera negative, presented in Dolby Vision with HDR10 compatibility. This is exactly the case where the 4K premium is justified. It’s not just an upscale of the old 2K master. Despite being aggressively 80’s in aesthetic, the picture still looks clean and sharp. For a movie this dependent on neon, backlight, and smoke, the HDR really gives the visuals a boost.
Additionally, there’s a plethora of great extras. 3 audio commentaries, the aforementioned tv cut, a new interview with composer Levay, visual essays from Abbey Bender on ’80s maximalism and Martyn Conterio on the maverick-cop cycle, as well as archival interviews with Brian Thompson, Marco Rodriguez and Andrew Robinson, the vintage 1986 making-of featurette, trailers and TV spots, and an image gallery.
So overall, this isn’t anything super groundbreaking nor a film bro recommendation. But it’s pretty entertaining for what it is. And again, very aggressively 80’s.