Anyone who knows me, knows I have a soft spot for brainless action films, so when I heard of Arrow’s special edition 4K of Cobra I was absolutely thrilled.
This is Stallone at the height of his powers and ego, as we find out. Despite his acting talents (see the fantastic Cop Land), this Stallone aping on Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry.
His titular Cobra, real name Marion Cobretti is tasked with hunting a serial killer coined the Night Slasher, who it turns out is part of a larger cult of killers wanting to liberate the world of the weak, by murdering them.
What we have here for the first time on home release, is a closer examination of Cobra which include an extended version screened on television. Sadly, an elusive 2-hour-plus super cut still alludes us, but this adds more context to some scenes that may have feel rushed in the final release.
Like many Arrow releases, it is the special features here that really shine, as we hear from numerous people behind the scenes including fascinating interviews with Brian Thompson, Marco Rodriguez, Lee Garlington plus composer Sylvester Levay, who provides an underrated score.
We also have two new commentaries to add to director George P. Cosmatos’ rather monotone archival commentary plus two new visual essays that focus on the ’80s excess cinema sub-genre Cobra falls into plus the ‘Maverick Cop’ motif, once again apeing on Dirty Harry.
The only thing missing here is input from Stallone himself, but that would be a tall ask.
Cobra is another stellar package from Arrow for a true cult classic.
Cobra is available on 4K and Blu-Ray now from Arrow Video.
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