I just got Cobra on Blu-Ray...
It set me back $4 at a pawn shop, and it's been an interesting trip down memory lane. It's been a while, but I made a few observations:
* When you see the cult members clanking their axes together, you see a very eclectic cross section of people in work uniforms, including cops and construction workers. This is all superimposed over the Supermarket killer on a motorcycle. The only thing that is missing is an Indian Chief.
* The Supermarket killer wasn't planning on shooting up the store, but between the d-bag yuppie scum, and the produce clerk with his bowtie calling him pal, he really had no choice but to break out a 12 Gauge and start taking hostages.
* The Supermarket killer really doesn't like produce.
* I think Cobra is a bit off base calling SK a lousy shot. He blows away the Coors can less than a second after it lands outside his direct line of sight. I do think that he deserved to be admonished for wasting so much ammo, and for that matter, singlehandedly taking over a large crowded building with poor sightlines, multiple entrances, and security cameras.
* The reporter is a good expository tool to establish Cobra as an anti-hero, but I have a hard time imagining such a hostile confrontation after a hostage situation with a dead civilian.
* You gotta love police captains for being such a fount of exposition. I also like Monte as an obvious foil. We've seen the pistol in the first act, will it be fired in the third?
* I also like the fact that the LAPD has everything in one place. You can go from the Morgue to the captain's office, to the range in just a few steps.
* I love the Cholos who exist solely to demonstrate how tough that Cobra is. I also learned that the main Cholo's character is named "Low Rider"
* The apartment scene is a perennial fave. I believe that when the critics and film professors around the world begin to realize what a treasure that this film truly is, they will debate the symbolism of Cobra putting the newspaper in the grill before he enters his apartment, the gun oil stored in an egg carton in the freezer, and of course, cutting the pizza with scissors. But for me, the only issue I have is the fact that I have never been able to stop at one piece of pizza, but Cobra only needs the point.
* You gotta love the TV in movies. It always features a directly relevant and tight one minute news package that succinctly summarizes the story, and starts immediately after the hero turns on the TV.
* I did like the Toys R Us commercial playing ironically in the background as Cobra stripped and dry-fired his 1911 to further drive home the point that Cobra was a tough guy. I guess that was easier than inviting "Low rider" in and tearing his shirt again.
* The night slasher and his gang probably did Ingrid a favor by wasting the sleazy photographer. He was far more dangerous.
* The addition of Officer Stalk to the team assigned to protect Ingrid is accepted without question. We've established that Cobra and Gonzalez are on the zombie squad, and are used to having things run their own way. No hero ever welcomes new partners without a fight, and she just seems to slide right in.
* I understand that Gonzales is a supporting character, but he doesn't seem like a guy that they would put on the Zombie squad. He's actually a pretty affable sort, with a certain amount of people skills. About the only thing that they could come up with to give his character some personality was to make him a junk food junkie. They squandered a golden opportunity for a funny scene where Gonzalez gets on his case for stopping at half a slice of pizza
* Having said that, a large pizza could feed you for 16-20 meals if you could stop at half a slice. Now that I think about it, Cobra might be the guy who designates the serving sizes on food nutritional guides.
* The final confrontation between Cobra and the Night Slasher is a good one. It's pretty fortuitous that they managed to stumble into an unoccupied, but fully functional foundry, complete with giant hooks that pass through a wall of flames.
* It sure was convenient that Cobra had that Strike anywhere match
* Obligatory "you did well" speech from the Captain
* Obligatory handshake/right cross/we're good scene. The pistol from the first act has indeed been fired, and Monte served his purpose as a moral compass.
* Cobra and Ingrid commander a motorcycle, then ride off into the sunset.
* A couple of decades later, Ingrid inexplicably hooks up with Flavor Flav
In conclusion, Cobra is one of many action films that I consumed as a youngster and loved. I was in 6th grade, and I was able to persuade my favorite grandmother to take me to see the film, which I enjoyed immensely. As a grown-up, I have definitely come to realize that it is one of those "so bad it's good" films. But that doesn't make me love it less.