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Space Adventure Cobra

Space Adventure Cobra

Written by Kevin Leathers on 30 Jul 2008


Distributor Manga Entertainment • Certificate 15 • Price £15.99


Cobra is the most wanted man in the universe, famous for the insanely high bounty on his head, the psycho gun concealed in his left arm and his death two years earlier. Now, a new figure has appeared claiming to be the legendary Cobra and now everyone is out to get him.

The best way to describe Space Adventure Cobra is to compare it to the action films of the time, such as Die Hard. Big, brash, dumb films, with throwaway plots, big explosions and sexy women thrown in to keep things interesting for every red blooded male that watches.

Space Adventure Cobra ticks all these boxes. It has sexy woman who remove their clothes at the drop of a hat (and bizarrely have star-shaped nipples), action, death and violence by the bucket load, an unstoppable bad guy and one of the most cheese-filled plots you could ever imagine. This is by no means a strike against the film, it's just important to understand what you're getting here - it is by no means a horrible film, but you may want to switch off the brain for this one.

Despite the age of the film, it's hard to fault Cobra on some fronts. It does make a conscious effort to be meaningful and artistic and in some cases it even works. However, there are some scenes which just reek of cheese and can quite happily destroy the tension that has been built up beforehand.

Another let down is the disc itself. At 25 years old it could have done with a bit of digital cleaning - the only feature that sets this aside from its earlier VHS release is the Japanese vocal track and an odd anti-piracy trailer. It does lend a budget feel to a release that needed all the help it could get to stand out - alas it stays distinctly average.

Overall SAC isn’t a bad film and is quite entertaining to watch, especially when viewed as ‘look at what they watched in the 20th century’ context. It’s not going to change your life or even give you a new appreciation for anime as an art form, but it’ll keep you going for its hour and a half. Though what price you think a mindless action film is worth is up to you.


Extras:

Trailers – which have an Australian anti-priacy trailer, which is damn odd.


5
As mindless as they come, but still worth a watch just to sample the 80’s

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