Most film series see a reduction in quality as the films progress; so I have to say, I wasn't expecting much from this, the third entry in the Fred Williamson movie cycle and the last one that actually featured him acting – his appearance in the fourth was thanks to stock footage! However, the BLACK COBRA films are odd in that they actually get better as they progress. The first film followed Stallone's COBRA too slavishly and to its detriment, while the second offered more different action and was better for it. The main inspiration for this film seems to be Schwarzenegger's COMMANDO, and indeed the half-hour climax, an assault on an army base and then a house, has many of the same shots, scenery and shoot-outs as in that film.
Things begin in a hilarious fashion as we're introduced to a stock soldier hero, who has the oddest way of getting through an electric fence I've ever seen. Following that there's some decent action, including slow-mo shoot-outs with soldiers and other good stuff, and then we're back to the detective basics as Williamson is once again called in to tackle a missing person case. Williamson's introduction in this film is hilarious; he's in a supermarket held up by thugs (so predictable) and takes them down without bothering to remove the cigar from his mouth! After an excellently-timed comic scene between Williamson and his shouty superior, we're back in the Philippines again for some rather predictable investigations and fights with street thugs. It's all very familiar, and the entertainment comes from Williamson alone in these bits. As the hard-ass cop, Williamson whups ass over and over again and is impossible to dislike. Finally things turn into COMMANDO, accompanied by a rubbish synthesiser score and scenes of bad guys being shot over and over again.
A ton of Filipino film regulars fit out the rest of the cast, including the ubiquitous Mike Monty and also David Light and Ned Hourani, who have between them scored up quite a few cheesy-ass flicks. The director is Edoardo Margheriti, son of Antonio, one of my favourite Italian directors who worked from the '60s right through to the '90s. Edoardo doesn't have much of the skill of his dad, and this was one of his few directorial efforts; he seemed to do better when working as an assistant rather than the leading light. Still, BLACK COBRA 3 is an action film that's hard to dislike despite all the clichés, and having just watched the execrable THE MARINE, I'd sure as hell pick this over that any day of the week.
Things begin in a hilarious fashion as we're introduced to a stock soldier hero, who has the oddest way of getting through an electric fence I've ever seen. Following that there's some decent action, including slow-mo shoot-outs with soldiers and other good stuff, and then we're back to the detective basics as Williamson is once again called in to tackle a missing person case. Williamson's introduction in this film is hilarious; he's in a supermarket held up by thugs (so predictable) and takes them down without bothering to remove the cigar from his mouth! After an excellently-timed comic scene between Williamson and his shouty superior, we're back in the Philippines again for some rather predictable investigations and fights with street thugs. It's all very familiar, and the entertainment comes from Williamson alone in these bits. As the hard-ass cop, Williamson whups ass over and over again and is impossible to dislike. Finally things turn into COMMANDO, accompanied by a rubbish synthesiser score and scenes of bad guys being shot over and over again.
A ton of Filipino film regulars fit out the rest of the cast, including the ubiquitous Mike Monty and also David Light and Ned Hourani, who have between them scored up quite a few cheesy-ass flicks. The director is Edoardo Margheriti, son of Antonio, one of my favourite Italian directors who worked from the '60s right through to the '90s. Edoardo doesn't have much of the skill of his dad, and this was one of his few directorial efforts; he seemed to do better when working as an assistant rather than the leading light. Still, BLACK COBRA 3 is an action film that's hard to dislike despite all the clichés, and having just watched the execrable THE MARINE, I'd sure as hell pick this over that any day of the week.