Black Cobra 2 - A Vingança

So first of all, my 8/10 rating is in comparison to other movies of this league--no budget, 70's-80's action films.

I had always had in interest in seeing Black Cobra but never got around to buying the movie. So when I saw Black Cobra and Black Cobra 2 at Walmart a few days ago, I picked it up. I was most impressed with the second film. It's very entertaining considering:

1. Its Badassness counterbalances its cheesiness

2. Fred Williamson kicks ass for an hour and 33 minutes

3. There is one really good explosion

4. Fred Williamson crashes through a window and blows away six terrorists with a shotgun

5. Most of the dialog, surprisingly, is very decently written and pretty funny.

Synopsis: Fred "The Hammer" Williamson reprises his role as Robert Malone, a street-smart cop who likes to law down the law and blow sh*t up. Malone's police chief gets frustrated with him when he continues to stubbornly deal in his own brand of justice. So the chief sends Malone to Manilla, the Phillipines, in a foreign police exchange program.

Mallone then teams up with Lt. McCall in the Phillipines, who seems to be a tight wad, but ends up becoming his friend. When the two go to retrieve Mallone's stolen wallet, they stumble upon a murder and soon get pulled into a conspiracy. Together they kick a lot of *ss, and shoot a lot of criminals.

One of my personal favorite parts is when McCall's little boy (who for some reason has a really ridiculously dubbed voice) gets kidnapped, McCall approaches the man responsible for it. The man turns around to shoot McCall, but he shoots the man like eight times, point blank. And Fred Williamson, being a martial artist, beats those henchmen to sh*t.

This movie is very reminiscent of Dirty Harry, if you dig that series. Fred Williamson has a lot of natural acting charm, Nicholas Hammond delivers and is very believable as well. This movie is a gem, don't miss out on it.

The Black Cobra 2 (1989) is a movie that I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows Lieutenant Bob Malone being restationed from Chicago to the Philippines where his methods hopefully cause less issues. He arrives in Manila and immediately is targeted by a local gang and pick pocketed. He will need to work with a local police officer, ie his new partner, to track down his stolen wallet and the people behind the act.

This movie is directed by Edoardo Margheriti (Black Cobra 3) and stars Fred Williamson (Dusk till Dawn), Nicholas Hammond (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and Peter Ladkani (Delta Force 2).

This picture has fun 80s music throughout. I really enjoyed the soundtrack. The writing is very average, both the storyline and dialogue. The one liners were corny and not as witty as they hoped. There was too much about this film that was cliche and the end felt like a bubble gum commercial.

Overall, I would consider this a below average addition to the buddy cop genre. I would score this a 3.5/10 and recommend skipping it.

Malone (Fred Williamson) is back (good gawd!).

The intro/beginning of this film is actually pretty funny. See a crummy car keep up with a Suzuki racing motorcycle looping through a parking garage! See a harrowing 2 MPH motorcycle crash! See the running bad-guy actor slow down to let a winded Williamson catch up to him - several times!

After Malone blasts this evil motorcyclist into oblivion, he gets shipped off to the Philippines until Chicago cools down. Apparently to help Interpol (huh? wha?). At this point the film becomes incomprehensible and boring like BC#1. Malones wallet is pinched, there are some sinister Iranians, microfilm, then there is a surreal hostage taking/rescue which belongs in a DADA performance art happening rather than in an action film.

Fred Williamson is a bit more awake in BC#2 than he is in BC#1. His acting is a little better, more relaxed, more focused. There are more laugh-out-loud lines in this film.

The soundtrack is better than BC#1. Decent Jan Hammer/Miami Vice ripoff sound. The film is also full of whacky 1980's artifacts. Williamson is constantly wears a powder blue Members Only jacket with the sleeves rolled up. Leather pants, The women in the film have some pretty scary haircuts. The sets/props/hair-do's blend seamlessly with the cheese-ball soundtrack.

Even with all the faults, if the pacing was better this could have been a watchable flick. Unfortunately the film is clunky and boaring at points when it needs to be exciting. Worth watching just the goofy intro and then F.F. to some of the more absurdist scenes.

Apparently there is a Black Cobra #3.

More easily viewable and audible than the first film, for starters (I'm not sure if it was shot more professionally, or if it was simply a better DVD transfer; and by "better" I mean not above VHS level, but at least not below it). But once again directed by Stelvio Massi in the same draggy, slow-as-molasses, uninspired style. The action scenes are mediocre at best: Fred Williamson is in good shape for his age (and I think we actually get to hear his own voice this time!), but a screen martial artist he is not. The climactic rescue operation has a 10-minute buildup for a 2-minute payoff. Sometimes the funky musical score is the only thing that drives this film forward. (*1/2)

Its not so much that I WANT to review this film, I just feel that I ought to! In a word, unadulterated, almost dubbed, buddy-cop crap! (I know, that's several words!)

Financed incredibly after the failure of the first "Black Cobra" outing, Malone is back as the cop whose lips are as out of sync as they were in the original...only Michael Winslow could do better! As for Nicholas Hammond, the globally loved little Von Trapp, his future never took off. He made this shortly after a lengthy stint living in Australia and appearing in a few reasonable teleplays!

Hey, but what can you expect from Director Stelvio Massie who for reasons best known to himself, has helmed productions in many European countries as either himself, Max Steele, Stefano Catalano, Newman Rostel or Dan Edwards, amongst others?

If you thought Stallone's COBRA was less than Oscar material, you just gotta see this!