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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Cobra (1986)

Cobra (1986)

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Released 10-Jan-2000

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Action None
Rating Rated R
Year Of Production 1986
Running Time 83:28
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Programme
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By George P. Cosmatos
Studio
Distributor

Warner Home Video
Starring Sylvester Stallone
Brigitte Nielsen
Reni Santoni
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI $24.95 Music Sylvester Levay


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
French
Italian
Dutch
Arabic
Spanish
Portuguese
German
English for the Hearing Impaired
Italian for the Hearing Impaired
Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement Yes
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    This typical 1980s action flick stars our old friend Arnold Schwa... I beg your pardon, Sylvester Stallone. Actually, considering the movies these two icons of testosterone and muscle made during this period one could easily interchange them and not notice the difference. Neither, it can be said, has much acting ability nor are they particularly articulate but damn, could these boys make a bucketload of cash out of lame scripts sporting nothing more than bulging biceps, an attitude and some quirky one-liners (movies of this ilk that spring to mind are Raw Deal, Commando, Running Man and Red Heat from Arnie and Over The Top and Lock Up by Sly).

    Cobra is one of those movies that you either love or you hate. Personally, I liked it because there really is nothing to get too serious about in the film. Even the serial killer concept is played out merely as a device to load up the body count (Silence of the Lambs this isn't). The blood looks fake and the jokes are really lame, but then so is the acting.

    Stallone plays the anti-hero good guy (naturally), Lt Marion Cobretti, a member of the police's "zombie" squad (who tackle the jobs that nobody else wants). His partner, played by Reni Santoni, is a wise-cracking junk food junkie. Called into a hostage drama at a supermarket, Cobretti takes out the miscreant and learns of the "New Order". A couple of nights later, "The Night Slasher" (aka Brian Thompson who also plays the Alien Bounty Hunter in the X-Files and is suitably cast for this role) is seen by Brigitte Nielsen as he takes out his 16th victim. Brigitte also passes for the "eye candy" in this movie. In order to protect his identity, the Slasher goes after Nielsen, backed by his army of "New Order" psychos. Guess who stands in his way...

    George P. Cosmatos, who formerly teamed up with Stallone to make Rambo II, keeps this movie motoring along with a substantial body count and some good old smash-'em-up car chases that are entertaining, if not strictly believable. You never feel like the movie is overly long and there is enough action for any aficionados of the genre. Some of the one-liners are heavy "groan" material like (Bad Guy) "I'll blow this whole place up" (Stallone) "Go ahead, I don't shop here", but then it never claimed to be a Shakespearean drama either.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

    The transfer of this movie is adequate at best. The quality ranges from good to poor.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The sharpness varies widely during the movie. Outdoor shots look fine, but many indoor shots are fuzzy. There is a fair amount of grain in the transfer but fortunately it is not a distraction for the most part. Some low level noise is visible. Blacks are mostly solid, but shadow detail is poor with little fine detail visible making some scenes barely discernible.

    The colour looks faded or washed out in many scenes. One review I read of this DVD suggested that there was some colour bleed but I found no evidence of this. The Pepsi sign above Stallone's apartment does exhibit a halo effect, but this is caused more by reflection than any bleed through. I could detect no evidence of edge enhancement, the general 'softness' of the print basically precluded this.

    Film artefacts abound in this transfer. Moiré artefacts can be seen on the venetian blinds in the hospital at 42:15. There is an obvious missing frame at 26:06. There are myriads of little scratches and pieces of missing emulsion throughout the movie. Prime examples can be seen at 2:05 (large spots that look like dirt marks on the left of the screen) and 45:04 (black line down the middle of the picture). The opening credits are especially noteworthy for artefacts, since the red background during most of it highlights the blemishes enormously. There is also a noticeable shudder in the picture at 62:04-62:12 possibly caused by telecine wobble.

    Subtitles were nicely placed at the top of the movie and very readable (they are white and much of the movie is shot at night or in dark places) and weren't obtrusive.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are three soundtracks present on the disk, English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 2.0 and Italian Dolby Digital 2.0. I listened to the default English soundtrack.

    Apart from Stallone's tendency to mumble his words, the dialogue was clear and discernible at all times. Audio sync wasn't a problem. You may find the sound effects used throughout the movie very 70s'ish in timbre. Explosions had no real bass undertone to them, and gunshots sounded hollow and dubbed. One very audible pop can be heard at 11:35, but otherwise the soundtrack is nice and clean throughout.

    Sylvester Levay, whose musical credits include Navy Seals, Invaders From Mars, and Howard The Duck has adapted the score well to suit the action. Often using nothing more than subtle bass underlays, his score adds to the dialogue rather than being a distraction. Several songs litter the audio 'landscape' including Suave by Miami Sound Machine and Loving On Borrowed Time by Gladys Knight and Bill Medley amongst others and are quite reasonably located.

    The surround channels barely get used throughout the movie with the exception of some action scenes. At 44:40 you get some noticeable activity as cars scream around corners and again at 47:02 with the sound of explosions being clearly discernible, but otherwise they remained fairly dead.

    The subwoofer, like the surrounds is again barely used and only when there was action on the screen. There are some nice throaty rumbles emanating from the subwoofer at 43:44 during the car chase scene, but unless you really cranked the sound up you'd be hard pressed to really 'feel' any major activity.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    None.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The R1 version misses out on;     The R4 version misses out on;     Given PAL's innate superiority over NTSC I'd favour the R4 version, but if you are a "features" person then the R1 version may be more attractive. Another point that might shape any decision to buy is that Warner Home Video are placing this title on their $24.95 list, from recently received news. Given the current exchange rate and the average buy price of US$17.95 a $15+ price difference would be powerful incentive to buy local.

Summary

    Cobra is an average, enjoyable action flick that sustains itself with good pacing and rarely becomes boring. To be honest though, this is nothing more than the equivalent of a widescreen VHS version with better sound and no tracking errors. The quality of the transfer is average and this is another DVD that lacks even the most basic extra.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Carl Berry (read my bio)
Thursday, April 26, 2001
Review Equipment
DVDLoewe Xemix 5006DD, using RGB output
DisplayLoewe Xelos (81cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationYamaha RXV-595a
SpeakersJBL TLX16s Front Speakers, Polk Audio 3MIIs Rear Speakers, Polk Audio CS245 Centre Speaker, M&KV-75 Subwoofer

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