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!
Review of Black Cobra 3: The Manila Connection
