Call the COBRA in 4K

COBRA Limited Edition (4K UHD)

1986 / 87 min

Arrow Video

Review by Mr. Bonnie, the Blaster😼

Rejoice, action fans…one of the 80s’ greatest comedies (second only to Endless Love) is finally on 4K.

Of course Cobra is a comedy. Its titular character (Sylvester Stallone) is an exaggerated amalgam of every rogue cop to blast his way across the big screen since Harry Callahan invited punks to press their luck. More of a cartoon thug than flesh & blood, Cobra’s character is completely defined by how he looks, dresses, kills, drives and slices pizza.

The movie’s villain, the Night Slasher (Brian Thompson), sweats, snarls, spits, growls and flares his nostrils big enough for Marion Cobretti to drive his Awsom 50 through. He’s aptly named, too. Stalking the streets of LA and killing victims at random (with help from his cult of axe-clanging minions), the only real difference between him and Jason Voorhees is that he speaks (sort of) and doesn’t wear a hockey mask.

The tone is set early-on when Captain Sears (Art LeFleur) ominously says “Call the Cobra” to deal with a shotgun-weilding maniac in a supermarket. Cobra roars up in a nitro-fueled, Titanic-sized hot rod. Decked-out in a skin-tight T-shirt, even tighter jeans, boots, mirrored shades, leather gloves and a toothpick in his jaw, Cobra strolls into the darkened store, cracks open a beer, tosses out a casual one-liner (“You're the disease...I'm the cure”) and blows the guy away. At no time does he remove his sunglasses. Afterwards, of course, he’s berated by his superior (Andrew Robinson) and the press for saving the hostages.

After another productive day of blowing folks away, Cobra retreats to his Malibu apartment. He turns on the TV so it can inform us of the movie's plot (the Night Slasher’s handiwork), and while cleaning his gun, Cobra grabs a slice of leftover pizza from his freezer and uses a pair of scissors to cut off a little triangle for himself...still wearing his gloves. Then he eats it frozen. 

The Night Slasher cult makes a serious mistake, leaving a living witness to one of their killings, Ingrid (Brigitte Nielsen), who’s established as a model by the hilarious photo shoot where she poses with robots that appear to be built from shit kids find in their garage. Fearing the Night Slasher will come after her, Cobra and his junk-food junkie partner, Tony (Reni Santoni), are assigned to protect her. 

It’s at this point that Cobra achieves a level comedic genius I never really noticed until revisiting the film for this review. Tony reassures Ingrid that no one is better than Cobra at catching psychos, yet the guy doesn’t actually do any catching (or much detective work). Cobra spends the entire movie running away from these psychos with Ingrid & Tony in-tow, destroying half of L.A. in the process. In fact, the Night Slasher appears to be far more adept at finding his quarry than Cobra is. 

Stallone and co-star.

Conversely, this cult of faceless followers is utterly fearless (or clueless), best exemplified in a scene where dozens of them are chasing Cobra & Ingrid on motorcycles. Cobra's in the bed of a pick-up, spraying machine gun fire at his pursuers, who start dropping like flies. Yet none of the others make any attempt to avoid a bullet (or even swerve out of harm’s way). They just keep coming, like my annual battle with ants in the kitchen. No matter how many bugs I dispatch with spray, traps or the good-old-fashioned fist, they keep coming out of the woodwork to march across my counter.

But it's not all mayhem. There's a tender moment when Ingrid is watching Cobra play with his guns. When she tries to get close, he warns her, “Not a lot of people like the way I live.” I don't know if this statement is supposed to signify his dedication to his job, his loner status or his penchant for using office supplies to cut food. I guess it doesn't matter, because they end up bumpin’ uglies anyway. It might actually be the film’s defining moment…the love scene is tastefully and romantically presented, whereas Cobra assembling his weapons is served-up in voyeuristic detail.

If it was Leslie Nielsen in the title role, almost the entire movie could be viewed as a parody without changing a single frame or line of dialogue.

But I genuinely do love Cobra, perhaps even more now than I did 40 years ago. Not only does it feature Stallone at his Stalloniest, its MTV aesthetic is like travelling back in time to an era when neon glitz, musical montages and studly cops defined action in the 80s. In that sense, Cobra is sort of a greatest hits album. And while most of the comedy is undoubtedly unintentional, there are brief moments of clever self-awareness here and there, such as some obvious homages to the Dirty Harry franchise, or better yet, a gravity-defying car chase that achieves a level of brilliance through its sheer outlandishness.

Though critically reviled when first released, the look, sound and campiness of Cobra has rendered it a cult classic, embraced over the years by fans who find it thrilling, funny or a combination of both. Arrow Video’s new Limited Edition set gives the film a great visual and audio facelift, with a 4K restoration that’s a big improvement over older releases, as well as three audio options (lossless stereo 2.0, 4.0 and DTS-HD MA 5.1). There’s also a big batch of new and archival bonus features, though the best ones are carried over from Shout Factory's previous Blu-ray edition. Whether one thinks Cobra is great or gaudy, this is an excellent new release.

EXTRA KIBBLES

NOTE: Free Kittens Movie Guide was provided with a promo disc for review purposes. Physical supplemental material included with the final product (booklets, artwork, inserts, etc) were not available for review.

THEATRICAL & TV VERSIONS - The latter features alternate scenes and is not in HD.

VISUAL ESSAYS - White Line Nightmare is by critic Martyn Conterio, who does briefly suggest the film is a parody; Dark Glasses, Violence & Robots is by critic Abbey Bander, who discusses Cobra as the quintessential 80s film, both narratively and aesthetically. Both of these essays afford the film more serious cultural importance than it actually deserves.

NEW INTERVIEW - With film composer Sylvester Levey.

ARCHIVAL INTERVIEWS - Individual interviews with actors Brian Thompson, Art LaFleur, Lee Garlington, Andrew Robinson & Marco Rodriguez. These are all entertaining and occasionally candid. Thompson, in particular, is pretty critical of ‘director’ George P. Cosmatos (and for good reason).

3 AUDIO COMMENTARIES - 1) By Kim Newman & Nick de Semlyen (NEW); 2) By Josh Nelson & Martyn Pedler (NEW); 3) By director George P. Cosmatos.

MAKING-OF FEATURETTE

TRAILERS & TV SPOTS

Revisiting LETHAL WEAPON in 4K

LETHAL WEAPON (4K UHD)

1987 / 110 & 117 min (2 versions)

Warner Bros

#InPartnershipwithWB

Review by Mr. Paws😺

Lethal Weapon isn’t the first buddy-cop action film (1974’s Freebie and the Bean might hold that distinction), nor is it the best (I’ll still throw my hat in the ring for the original 48 Hrs). However, it is arguably the quintessential one.

For better or worse, its influence on the action genre was far-reaching and can still be felt today. The list of films obviously inspired by Lethal Weapon runs longer than the Magna Carta. including Tango & Cash, Red Heat, Renegades, Alien Nation, The Hard Way, Midnight Run, The Rookie, Double Team, Bad Boys, The Last Boy Scout, Loose Cannons, Money Train, Ride Along, Rush Hour, Cop Out, The Nice Guys, The Heat…you get the idea. There are literally hundreds more.

Mel Gibson plays Martin Riggs, a psychotic cop whose suicidal tendencies make him fearless during stand-offs; Danny Glover is Roger Murtaugh, his beleaguered new partner and a straight-arrow family man on the verge of retirement. Like every similar movie which followed in its wake, they hate each other at first, but during the course of the story, become best friends while taking down a nefarious crew of heroin dealers.

Of course, the movie is to police work what Star Wars is to space travel. If the movie truly reflected reality, we'd be sitting through Internal Affairs hearings and psychological examinations of Martin Riggs, both conducted to get this psycho-with-a-badge off the streets. But Lethal Weapon was never about plot and plausibility. I’d even be willing to wager many of you reading this probably forgot the plot.

Mel didn't ask how hot dogs were made, but Danny told him anyway.

However, Richard Donner’s humorous approach to the mayhem and the lightning-in-a-bottle chemistry between Gibson & Glover is unforgettable, sustaining the franchise through three sequels (though only the second film really measured up to the first, and actually surpasses it in some aspects). The main protagonists’ personalities and banter are so well-conceived and cleverly written that the story itself almost never matters. It’s also an approach that screenwriter Shane Black would practically base his entire career on (with a surprising amount of continued success).

All this makes Lethal Weapon a landmark action film. Along with Die Hard, it has had a bigger impact on the genre than anything else released in the 1980s. A couple of years shy of its 40th anniversary, the movie is being given a 4K facelift with a disc that features a better overall picture than previous Blu-rays or DVDs, as well as two audio options, a new Dolby Atmos track and DTS-HD 2.0, which preserves the original theatrical mix. Speaking of which, the disc includes both the original and director’s cut, that latter of which is only offered in Dolby Atmos. There are couple of brief new retrospective bonus features, but none of the substantial extras available on previous editions are included. Of course, Lethal Weapon deserves to be in any action collection, but the primary appeal of this 4K edition are the technical upgrades.

EXTRA KIBBLES

THEATRICAL & DIRECTOR’S CUTS - The director’s cut runs about seven minutes longer, and while it’s not necessarily an improvement, one particular scene offers a little more insight on the mindset of the Martin Riggs character.

FEATURETTES - Both of these are new and look like they were put together at the same time, featuring the same cast & crew interviewees. A Legacy of Inspiration pays tribute to the late Richard Donner; “I’m Too Old for This…” takes a look at casting the film.

DIGITAL COPY

Take A Drive Down MYSTERY STREET

MYSTERY STREET (Blu-ray)

1950 / 93 min

From Warner Archive

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Mr. Paws😺

During my formative years, Ricardo Montalban was Mr. Roarke from Fantasy Island and Star Trek’s greatest bad guy. Those two roles alone showcased his range, but it wasn’t until much later that I was aware of his previous film & TV career. Quite a long one, actually, in both Mexico and the U.S.

1950’s Mystery Street gave Montalban an early lead role in an American film, playing Boston detective Peter Moralas, investigating the death of B-girl Vivian (Jan Sterling). Before that, however, we see Vivian coerce a drunk young stranger to take her to Cape Cod, where she plans to confront a man who got her "in trouble" (knocked up). But when they meet, the man shoots and kills her.

Vivian’s body is discovered three months later, but Moralas only has her skeletal remains to go on, and this is where the story gets really interesting. Through thorough investigative work and the aid of a Harvard forensic specialist, Dr. McAdoo (Bruce Bennet), not only is Moralas eventually able to identify her, he nabs who he believes to be the killer…Henry Shanway (Marshall Thompson), the poor drunk rube who met Vivian that night.

"Guys...could you stop playing with that?"

Of course, the only thing Henry is guilty of is bad judgment, drowning his sorrows in the bar after his wife, Grace (Sally Forrest), miscarried. The real killer is among the names in Vivian’s book of clients, which her conniving landlord, Mrs. Smerrling (Elsa Lanchester), learns the hard way when she tries to blackmail him. Meanwhile, Grace still insists Henry is innocent, and eventually, Moralas himself begins to have doubts about his own case.

Though initially a mystery with a film noir aesthetic, it’s the police procedural aspects that make the movie crackle. I don’t recall another film of this era where science plays such a major role in the investigation. How they identify the victim and piece together what happened to her is fascinating. Moralas isn’t a particularly dynamic character, but his detail-driven dedication is engaging, which Montalban conveys with authority. However, the film is briefly stolen a few times by Lanchester, who’s a real hoot.

As an admirer of John Sturges, I always enjoy discovering the films of his I haven’t seen yet. Mystery Street is an early one and he’s obviously more of a director-for-hire here, but he keeps things fast-paced and fun, aided by a smart screenplay, moody John Alton cinematography, and of course, an early turn by the guy I once knew simply as Khan. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTE - Murder at Harvard is a short retrospective appreciation of the film.

2 TOM & JERRY CARTOONS - Little Quacker and Tom & Jerry in the Hollywood Bowl.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward.

TRAILER