‎Cobra (1986) directed by George P. Cosmatos • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Cobra

1986 Directed by George P. Cosmatos

Crime is a disease. Meet the cure.

A tough-on-crime street cop must protect the only surviving witness to a strange murderous cult with far reaching plans.

Sylvester Stallone Brigitte Nielsen Reni Santoni Brian Thompson Lee Garlington Art LaFleur Andrew Robinson Marco Rodríguez Val Avery Nina Axelrod David Rasche John Herzfeld Ross St. Phillip John Hauk Nick Angotti

Alternative Titles

Kobra, Stallone Cobra, 浴血擒魔, 眼镜蛇

action crime thriller

87 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Hollie Horror ★★★½ 11

I'm always going to wonder why Cobra cut that slice of pizza in half with a large pair of scissors.
Review by Scumbalina ★★★★ 10

This is a great movie, but that's not why I'm here. I just want everyone on Letterboxd to know that I shaved Brian Thompson's face. Physically, with my hands, touched and shaved his beard. This is a true story, it's my reality, no one can take this from me.
Review by Ian West ★★★★ 14

Every time I revisit Cobra it never fails at being a fucking tastlessly, tasty treat... and it scrumptiously slaps hard.
Review by laird ★★★★ 7

Without any irony or that "aware of how silly it is" quality people for some goddamn reason champion in action movies these days, this Sylvester Stallone penned thriller hurls a big sleazeball of post-Dirty Harry fascism at your eyeballs faster than you can say MTV. I would argue that Cannon Films generally, and this film in particular, represent the nexus of low brow exploitation and slick Hollywood spectacle (and perhaps its apex too). This is a nasty and mean piece of work, that, though never overtly graphic, feels as grimy and ludicrous as some of the stuff that played on 42nd Street in the decade prior. It's all coated in a sheen of style from director George P. Cosmatos and…
Review by DirkH ★★★ 12

This is why you should give this film a pass:

- awsom(50)

- cutting pizza with scissors

- 'This is where the law ends and I start...........sucker!'

- Matchstick toothpick.

- Dennis Leary once said he wanted a cheese helmet so he could put it on and eat cheese the entire day. This is that.

- There is no plot. This is a good thing.

- Lots of A-team violence.

One thing:
Brigitte Nielsen is awful. It's like watching an East European shot put athlete trying to act.
Review by Eli Hayes ★★★½ 8

Gotta love the AWSOM 50 license plate; delicately complex writing from Sly. I mean, all Cobra brings to battle with him is a match to chew on and a Coors to sip on -- ain't no goofs or gaffs under those shades, my friends. If there's one thing that I learned from this movie, it's never to go to battle without a goddamn match between my teeth. I'd take a baker's dozen punches to the Adam's apple before smackin' back without my handy-dandy wick... can't be poppin' caps before, first and foremost, taking care of that oral fixation.

I don't mean to get mathematical on ya but I'd say that the oral fixation, the match, the shades and the license…

Recent reviews

Review by Curtis Everitt ★★★

Sylvester Stallone plays a hard-boiled cop who is on the trail of a motorcycle-riding, ax-wielding cult. That whole plotline is exceptionally chilling, and the opening shot of the movie rattles off a lot of statistics about crime in the US at the time. Brigitte Nielsen is absolutely gorgeous as a model who becomes a target to the cult.
Brian Thompson is honestly quite frigid in his performance as the Night Stalker. It's modeled after the villain from the original "Dirty Harry", an actor with much more fluidity. The Supermarket Killer at the beginning played by Marco Rodriguez is much more enthused to be in this movie, and I think it would have been better had the actors been switched in…
Review by Ilgvars Čevers

Cutting an an already decently fine sized pizza slice with scissors aside, why did Marion (catchy, isn't it?) tore up that latino neighbor's shirt?
And exactly how much does Cobretti earn as policeman? Given that he has (well, by the end of the movie - had) a suped up Mercury Monterey Coupe with friggin' NOS, a state of the art computer for at-home police work and not to mention an endless supply of matches to suck on.

Can't not mention that Cobra is the movie, where two of the most chiseled face owners - Sly and Brian Thompson - meet...err...face to face.

It's like they ran out of ways to get jacked up, so they started doing push-ups and other exercises with their faces. I mean, just look those ripped faces!
Review by Ryan Oliver ★★★½ 2

Round Two couldn’t help me make sense of the story, but it’s lean, mean, and one of the most beautifully shot action films I’ve seen. Cannon with a budget loses none of the charm. Also, COBRA >>>>>> RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II in the George P. Cosmatos oeuvre.
Review by Nice to Meat You, I'm Todd ★★★½

"Hey Dirtbag. You're a lousy shot. I don't like lousy shots. You wasted a kid. Now I think it's time to waste you." - Cobretti

The toothpick in mouth, the 50 Mercury Coupe, the Cobra insignia on the white pistol grip -- so many little things about this movie are pure style and substance for Sylvester Stallone. Rocking 80s soundtrack featuring the built-in video "Angel of the City" by Robert Tepper (Stallone would use Tepper in Rocky IV with the hit song "No Easy Way Out").

"I'll blow this whole place up!" said the psycho in the grocery store.
Cobretti replies, "Go ahead. I don't shop here."

I think stylistically this is one of the better Stallone movies he's ever…
Review by Vyacheslav Mikhalev ★★

Захотелось вечером в выходные посмотреть что-то старое... доброе, олдскульное. После последнего Рэмбо выбор пал на этот фильм. Почему? Не знаю. Он у меня достаточно туманно отзывался в голове, лишь момент, когда Кобра разговаривает со шпаной по поводу машины/парковки и социального поведения всякой швали на улице... Когда Кобра майку отрывает пареньку, а тот себя за промежность хватает в приступе благородного гнева, но... ничего сделать не может.

Фильм слабый. Какая-то секта(?), гоняется за блондинкой по всему городу лишь потому, что она не так посмотрела на их предводителя(?). А, как оказалось, она даже и не видела, как ребята прятали труп очередной жертвы. И потому её полфильма убивают, светясь где только можно, поднимая на уши весь эСэШАй... короче серьёзность и продуманность действий - налицо.…
Review by Cody Narveson ★★★

Before watching Cobra, I wasn't hungry, and yet I was still treated to a wide variety of yummy on-screen treats: ketchup-y french fries, gas station junk food, leftover pizza from the freezer, Coors, and hand grenades (<3).

This somehow certainly (probably) (not) spawned both Cowboy Bebop: The Movie's beginning and Terminator 2: Judgment Day's ending. I don't want to point fingers, but the Fast and Furious franchise may have also stolen the 'NITROUS' switch from Cobretti's car. Makes you think.

I came in prepared to hate Cobra, and I didn't. I couldn't.
Review by MuckyMuckMan ★★½

1st part of a Stallone double bill.
Cobra sees Stallone and Director George P. Cosmatos team up again straight after the box office hit of Rambo: First Blood Part II.
Stallone plays Marion Cobretti aka the Cobra, a detective who gets things done albeit not by the book. A series of grisly murders by a strange cult make the Police authorities assign Cobretti to the case. After Ingrid (Brigitte Nielsen) witnesses the Night Slasher post murder, the cult set out to eliminate her before the police force get the vital information on their identities. Step forward the Cobra.
Cobra is a product of its time. An action film that's unmistakably from the 80s. Some of it hits the mark but…
Review by Don Kiltz ★★★

“You’re the disease, I’m the cure.”

This movie is the biggest over-exaggeration of the old cliche “he’s a cop with an attitude, who doesn’t play by any rules but his own.” Cobra cuts up a slice of pizza with scissors and then eats it in this movie.
Review by Jason

Impossible to assign this film a star rating because it is both Not Good and Exactly What It Wanted To Be. It’s easily my vote for Most 80’s Movie, the photo shoot absolutely pushes it over the top. Extra points for casting the Zodiac Killer from Dirty Harry as the Angry Police Captain.