The Black Cobra 3

If the first film in this series was influenced by Cobra and the second was a riff on Lethal Weapon, this third instalment is channelling Commando. In this one, Fred is sent back to the Philippines for budgetary reasons and has to deal with some bad guys in the jungle. Cue lots of explosions and machine gun fire. This one is probably a slight drop in quality from the first two but amazingly, its still not that bad.

Black Cobra III finds Karl Malone (Fred Williamson) called to the Phillipines to help the son of a friend of his father who is also an Interpol Agent. Although the word 'Interpol' itself should be enough to explain what exactly this movie is about, I'll explain the plot a bit further. Interpol is a fictitious multinational intelligence agency which sometimes works with but also supersedes the CIA, FBI, etc. In this case, a shipment of missiles has been stolen and a trio consisting of two huge guys (Williamson and Forry Smith) and a tough young female CIA agent (Debra Ward) have two weeks to find the weapons and make the problem go away. The plot is also decorated with a few predictable twists and turns very typical of the B thriller genre.

Well shot, adequately directed by journeyman Dan Edwards, and decently scripted, Black Cobra III is probably the best of the Black Cobra Trilogy. However, the acting was just as poor as the previous efforts. Debra Ward was probably the best actor in this film and she never bothered to appear in another. Even the fight choreography is poorly acted - surprising given Williamson's background. Thankfully, the film does not take itself too seriously.

For Williamson and B thriller fans only. Others beware.

The third time is not the charm for this series, though it wasn't the charm with either part one or part two. In this entry, the production values take a couple of steps back, though they are not as dire as those in the first film. (But there are at least some colorful jungle locations in the beginning and end.) There is an unintentionally hilarious song ("The Power Of Love" - not the Huey Lewis version) played twice. There is also some nudity, which none of the first two movies had. But despite things like that, the movie still ends up being pretty dull. Williamson, like the first two movies, seems to be on autopilot, and the action (mostly punch-ups) gets tired pretty quick. The climatic action scene (which takes a long time to build up to) is the best action scene of any in the series, but that does not mean it's good. It's too little, too late.

Well, I've seen all three (official) entries of this series. Now hopefully I can now get to movies that might be GOOD.

I guess Fred Williamson's paycheck for appearing in the "Black Cobra" films got a lot bigger every time, because his performance and enthusiasm vastly improves with each installment! Robert Malone no longer resembles to the character that was introduced in the first film. He used to be silent, gruff and indifferent, but now he makes little jokes and smiles the entire time. Perhaps it also has something to do with the fact that the quality of the films slightly improves every time as well. Part three has a lousy and inexistent plot, but there's quite a lot of straightforward and undemanding action footage. Robert Malone is called back to Manila – choice of location is purely coincidental, apparently, because none of the people of his previous adventure in The Philippines reappear – to help locate a stolen shipment of American weapons. Another special agent already tried to infiltrate in the bad guys' military camp but failed. The guy kicked a lot of butt and had some very inventive methods to conquer electric fences, but ultimately died when he jumped down a waterfall. This is why local Interpol agent Greg Duncan calls in the help of his father's reliable Vietnam buddy Malone. The film is totally senseless and there are still quite a number of dull sequences, but the delightfully cheesy B-movie action footage truly compensates for everything. The army of ugly Philippine bad guys is inexhaustible (the body count must be hundreds!) and there are plenty of cool firearm toys like machine guns (the type Rambo uses as well) and crossbows. This is the second entry in the series that is set in Manila, but this one makes much better use of the jungle filming locations. Solid and surefooted directing by Edoardo Margheriti, who actually is the son of the legendary Italian filmmaker (and personal idol of mine) Antonio Margheriti!

Believe it or not: Fred "The Hammer" Williamson has made three Black Cobra movies. Three of 'em! Somebody else must like watching these thing if there's three of 'em (at least that's what I tell myself). Each Black Cobra flick is a little better than the one before it. These things deliver fun B movie entertainment, if you like that sort of thing, and I've had a blast watching these. There's just nothing like "The Hammer" kicking butt in Italy and the Philippines to make the world seem a like a whole lot better place on a rainy afternoon. Right from the start I knew that Black Cobra 3 was going to be fun stuff since the first scene with "The Hammer" is a real hoot. Pop some corn and take this flick for what it is: fun escapism.