The ’80s was the birth of the over the top action movies. The biggest names were the Planet Hollywood opening night bunch of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone. They made films where plot holes were covered up with major explosions and firepower. What caused this new genre to take control of the box office and studio budgets? The discovery that cinematic destructive power doesn’t get lost in translation for like a romantic comedy or a melodrama. Audiences in various countries didn’t need to read a subtitle to see everything go boom. The ultimate example of this genre hit the screen when Sylvester Stallone made Cobra for Cannon Films. Stallone had made his name doing movies that while action oriented had serious plots and characters dealing with strong emotions such as Rocky, Paradise Alley, Lords of Flatbush and First Blood. But when he created Lieutenant Marion “Cobra” Cobretti, he threw away a multi-dimensional character with emotional depth for an over the top cartoon of the cop who wasn’t going to play by the rules who shot from the hip and the lip. And Cobra turned out to be a remarkable work of mindless genius.
The opening act of Cobra is a masterpiece of the era. During the Christmas season, a gunman (The Crow‘s Marco Rodriguez) has taken hostages inside a supermarket. He doesn’t seem to have a demand so much as to do the bidding for the New Order that’s going to be taking over soon. Into the chaos arrives Detective Cobra (Stallone). He’s beyond badass in his tight black outfit, gun with a Cobra on the handle, sunglasses and chewing on a match stick. He’s not your average cop. He sneaks into the grocery store and confronts the gunman. The dialogue is so quotable during the confrontation including when Cobra announces, “You’re a disease, and I’m the cure.” This leads to a clean up in the frozen food section. The opening is so good that we’d run it as a short film at film school. But the good news is the rest of the film is so over the top with action and weirdness that you shouldn’t stop watching only a few minutes into the film. Because it turns out that the gunman at the supermarket was part of a larger trend of guys with axes and sledgehammers who want to destroy America and take over. Super model Ingrid Knudsen (Rocky IV‘s Brigitte Nielsen) finds herself the target by The Night Slasher (Joe Dirt‘s Brian Thompson) and his crew. She barely escapes the first attack. She gets police protection from Cobra and his partner Sergeant Tony Gonzales (Dirty Harry‘s Reni Santoni). But can even Cobra keep her safe from dozens of insane guys on motorcycles ready to hack her away? How does it seem like The Night Slasher is always on their trail?
Cobra is so over the top in all aspect that you can’t stop watching until the end of it’s 87 minutes. The action scenes don’t spare a bullet. The axes and sledgehammers smash and crash everything in their swing rang. The film allowed Stallone to once more share the screen with his short term wife Brigitte Nielsen. She was able to use the role to promote her modeling career although the scene where she poses with the clunky robots is hilarious. The element that really keeps the movie pumping is Brian Thompson as the unrelenting killer. He has a knife that more fearful than a Ginsu. His character’s relentless nature covers up big questions such as “what’s the point of the New Order?” You just have to fear him slicing and dicing is way through anyone that gets between him and the super model. Most of the time that turns out to be Cobra. Cobra: Limited Edition in 4K UHD is the finest way to experience the prime ’80s action.
Cobra is a film my dad always wants us to watch around Christmas time since it features the holiday. True story, when my dad went to Los Angeles, he tracked down the grocery store from the opening scene. Now with the 4K UHD, Cobra, I can’t wait to watch the film with the whole family when the winter holidays arrive.
The video is 1.85:1. The 4K UHD transfer is a 4K restoration of the film from the original 35mm negative by Arrow Films. This brings out the details of Stallone’s amazing wardrobe and his stubble. This was prime Sly. The audio is 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, 3.1 DTS-HD MA and 2.0 DTS-HD MA. Crank up the volume and let the bullets fly all over the house. You will want to hear all of Stallone’s great lines The movie is subtitled in English.
Stalking And Slashing (26:00) is an interview with actor Brian Thompson. Is the reason to update from your old DVD of Cobra. Thompson breaks down the entire experience. He has great memories of Stallone including how the script made little sense and Stallone didn’t seem to care. He explains his way of dealing with the guy who rigs explosions on set. He talks about how Cosmatos wasn’t calling the shots on the set.
Meet The Disease (24:05) is an interview with actor Marco Rodriguez is about the impact this first act role had on his career.
Feel The Heat (14:15) is an interview with actor Andrew Robinson that exposes how his character had a bigger reveal at the end of the film that was canceled.
Double Crossed (9:05) is an interview with actress Lee Garlington about playing the woman who set up the attacks. She enjoys playing bad guys and didn’t do this for the art. Her memory of the director involves crumbs on his shirt.
A Work Of Art (8:23) is an interview with actor Art LaFleur about how he worked a bit in Italy before working with Stallone as the captain.
Audio Commentary With Director George P. Cosmatos is fun to hear after hearing Brian Thompson talk about him.
Making Of Cobra (7:51) is a vintage featurette with behind the scenes views of the supermarket scene.
Teaser Trailer (1:20) makes Sly look so badass.
Theatrical Trailer (1:55) dips deeper into the action with a pumping synth score.
Images includes over 150 Stills, Behind the Scenes shots, VHS box and Movie Posters.
Brand new audio commentary by film critics Kim Newman and Nick de Semlyen. Has Semlyen get to deep dive into the film. He talks about how Cobra started when Stallone was attached to Beverly Hills Cop. He rewrote the script so dramatically different and removed the comedy. The studio decided to go elsewhere and Stallone took the script with him. Newman gets into the Fair Game novel that was grafted with his script.
Brand new audio commentary by film scholars Josh Nelson and Martyn Pedler has them talk about the 87 minutes of glory. They talk about how the film fit with the action films on the era.
TV version of the film (94:32) is actually longer than the theatrical release. The violence is “toned down.” There are deleted and alternate scenes. This is the first time the cut has been available on home video. The film is in standard definition.
Slashing the Night Away (17:23) has composer Sylvester Levay talk about learning keyboards at six. He got into all sorts of music and even skipped school to see The Glenn Miller Story. He recounts getting a mini-Moog that changed his style. He came to America when he wrote a song for Donna Summer and this lead to him being on the soundtrack for Flashdance. Later he created the theme song for Airwolf and scored episodes. When he got on Cobra, this wasn’t an easy project trying to make Sly happy with the music.
Dark Glasses, Violence & Robots (10:12) is a new visual essay by film critic Abbey Bender. We get a sense of the 80s maximalist cinema and how Cobra excelled in it. She brings up how Stallone wished he’d directed the film.
White Line Nightmare (13:32) is a new visual essay by film critic Martyn Conterio. He talks about how Cobra fits into the “Maverick Cop” genre. He talks about how Cobra is more up for shipping his suspects to the morgue than the jailhouse. He mentions how Cobra cuts his pizza with scissors.
Illustrated collector’s booklet containing new writing on the film by film critics Clem Bastow, William Bibbiani, Priscilla Page, and Ariel Schudson
Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tommy Pocket is suitable for framing.
Arrow Video presents Cobra: Limited Edition. Directed by George P. Cosmatos. Screenplay by: Sylvester Stallone. Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Brigitte Nielsen, Reni Santoni, Andrew Robinson and Brian Thompson. Rated: R. Running Time: 87 minutes. Released: July 22, 2025.
