Cobra 4K 1986

After the incredible success of the sequel to First Blood, Stallone decided to continue his partnership with Kasmatos and began work on the script for Cobra, the plot of which was partly borrowed from Paula Gosling's novel. The novel, it must be said, was a rather sluggish mixture of detective story and melodrama. So Sly probably had to work hard at the typewriter, because the final product has practically nothing in common with the book.

The film tells the story of the coolest lieutenant Cobbetti, a police officer from the “Zombie” squad, the most reckless and courageous. He gets all the dirty work—shooting a madman in a supermarket, repelling an alien attack (just kidding), and so on. He does his job well and conscientiously, but, as is typical for this genre, his superiors hate him even more for it. And yet, when a young model who looks like Brigitte Nielsen witnesses a brutal attack and murder, it is Cobretti (or Cobra, as his few friends call him) who is assigned to protect her. And there is someone to protect the girl from: a whole herd of crazy cultists who have infiltrated even the police department with their rotten tentacles. In short, no one can be trusted.

Then Cobra comes up with a plan. It's risky and very unreliable, but risk is a noble thing...

Yes, it's a typical 80s action movie plot, yes, the number of villains killed by Sly is almost greater than the entire population of Washington State, yes, Nielsen is a terrible actress, and the script is full of holes.

But who cares about that? That's right, no one. Everyone is watching Stallone, chewing a matchstick with devilish style and drawing his Colt faster than a brand new Porsche can get moving.

Who cares about the simplicity of the plot when Sly is working his boxing moves on the bad guys? Does anyone really care that Brian Thompson has two or three lines in the film? But he growls and yells so loud that you can hear him in Zhmerinka, and he makes such a face that even Arnie the Terminator would be scared.

Yes, the film won a Golden Raspberry Award at the time. So what? Did that stop you from enjoying Sly's performance?

Admit it, this silly action movie is one of your favorites, especially when watched in terrible quality with Volodarsky's translation.

In short, I agree that Cobra is not a masterpiece of American cinema, but it is watched much more often and with greater pleasure than those very masterpieces.

So, go ahead and get the disc, and you're guaranteed a good mood.