Rarely a decade has been as closely linked to a cinematographic genre in pop culture as the 1980s to ridiculous action films. The era of Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and others of their band certainly found themselves well in the 90s, but the 80s are the place where the great hero of the machine gun of machine guns, strong, sweaty has become a must -have of cinema. Of course, as with any kind, there have been better attempts and worse to hit the brand with this particular action film. Titles like “The Terminator” and “First Blood” gave credibility to their respective muscle stars, avoiding camp and absurdity for science fiction at high concept and the drama of gravelly political character, respectively. But there were then the less artistically sophisticated films – features like the “Commando” of Schwarzenegger and the “Cobra” of Stallone, which came out consecutive in 1985 and 1986.
“Cobra”, in particular, has become something of a classic cult, largely because of its caricatural protagonist. In the film, Stallone plays Lieutenant Marion “Cobra” Cobretti, member of the Los Angeles police department who carries airmen, chewed matches, leads a magnificent Mercury Eight 1950 and pizza cut with scissors. The film is more “Dirty Harry” than “Rambo”, and according to Stallone, it is the one he does not look too affectionately.
“‘Cobra’ for me, was half cooked,” admitted Stallone during a talkback at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2023 (via Joblo). “I could have done better, but I did not concentrate enough.”
Cobra was swept away in its time
Stallone has not only played in “Cobra”; He wrote the script, as he did when he broke out on the Hollywood scene with “Rocky”. Before Eddie Murphy was thrown into “Beverly Hills Cop”, the studio was in discussion with Stallone for the role, but he ended up finding the script significantly to make a comedy less and more an action thriller. This version of the film was rejected, but Stallone continued to modify his premise until he ended up with the scenario which became “Cobra”.
Although the film obviously has its creative fingerprints everywhere, Stallone seems to think that it would have been more successful if it had been even more involved in doing it, guiding the vision of its page on the screen. “I had the impression that it was something that I should have directed, and I did not do it, and I regret it,” he explained during the aforementioned Tiff Talkback. “It’s one thing to make movies, apart from watching your hair go back, you are going,” God, why didn’t I try stronger? “”
“Cobra” was shot by criticism and received six Razzie Award’s nominations in 1987, especially for the worst image and a worst actor sign for Stallone. Today, he is certainly not considered one of the best films in Stallone, but he also managed to stay in pop culture for one reason or another. Fans of the genre always appreciate his absurdity, and he was even cited by director Nicolas Winding Refn and star Ryan Gosling as an inspiration for their 2011 thriller acclaimed by criticism “Drive”.
Is Cobra really as bad as Stallone and many others seem to think?
The continuous popularity of “cobra” in certain circles would seem to suggest that there is merit beyond what criticism and Stallone both think of the film. But is it true? Or do you have a handful of lasting aesthetics and silly liners have simply kept the film in the good graces of fans? Zingers as “you are a disease, and I am the remedy”, or “this is where the law stops and I start” are fun in their ridiculous, although they are also practically plagiarized “Dirty Harry”. Is that enough to save this Slasher actors from which I can hardly recite you after several re-carrying out?
We can say that the “Cobra” camp factor is what kept him somewhat in the culture of decades later. In 2019, it was announced that Robert Rodriguez worked on a “Coba” television program RestartreAlthough this project seems to have calm. Rodriguez’s style and affection for Grindhouse, B-Film B styles seem to be a good choice for “Cobra”, because irony has always been a large part of the reason why people love the original film so much.
What is more difficult to face today is the brand of police brutality of the 80s of the film. Like many of his contemporaries in the genus COP, “Cobra” presents a type of sadistic and cult gangster that is so purely bad that they lose all semblance to criminals of the real world. This monstrous figure, which is poorly defined in the film itself, is used as justification for Cobra to deposit its own brand of violence without hindrances in response, drawing jokes in the process. That is to say that if there is a resounding problem with “Cobra”, then it is a problem with the genre in Lere. And yet, the pure absurdity of the film could be the reason why it is endured when other previous attempts and more anchored to make the same kind of film have faded.
