Cobra is a 1986 American action drama film directed by George P. Cosmatos and written by Sylvester Stallone, who stars in the titular role.

Cobra was released to generally negative reviews with criticism on its excessive violence and overuse of genre tropes, but it was a box office success and also has since been considered as a cult classic.

Unbeknownst to the authorities, the supermarket incident is part of a string of violent crimes committed by The New World, a social Darwinist cult that despises modern society and believes in killing the weak, leaving only the strongest and smartest to rule.

Ingrid Knudsen, a local model and businesswoman, becomes the New World's priority target after she witnesses the group and their leader Night Slasher on a killing spree.

The pair flee to a steel mill, where Cobretti defeats the rest of the cultists and Stalk is accidentally shot by the Night Slasher.

When Sylvester Stallone was signed to play the lead in Beverly Hills Cop, he decided to rewrite the script almost completely, removing nearly all the comedic aspects and turning it into an action movie that he felt was better suited to him.

[7] When Stallone left Beverly Hills Cop, Eddie Murphy was brought in to play the lead role.

Stallone acknowledged Dirty Harry as an influence[11] and Cobra reunited two actors from the film: Reni Santoni and Andy Robinson.

Brigitte Nielsen, Stallone's then-wife who he had met filming Rocky IV, was cast as Ingrid Knudsen.

[6][11] Originally, Cobra was supposed to be filmed in Seattle, climaxing with a motorcycle chase scene on a ferry between the islands.

[12] At one point during filming, Stallone complained to cinematographer Ric Waite that they were falling behind and that he needed to push his crew to work harder.

Waite responded by telling Stallone that the delays were due to his fooling around with Brigitte Nielsen and showing off for his bodyguards.

[13] For the Night Slasher's monologue in the lead-up to the final fight, Brian Thompson did the scene with the script supervisor standing in for Stallone, who was busy watching a basketball game on TV.

Although they were identical on the outside, their moving parts were designed for specific sequences, involving high-speed swipes with other vehicles, 180-degree turns, jumps, and 360-degree spins.

However, after Top Gun became a smash hit, Stallone and Warner Bros. were worried that Cobra—which would premiere the following week—would be overshadowed, so in order to ensure at least one extra screening each day the movie was heavily re-edited.

[19] It is said "Feel The Heat" was overheard during the filming of its music video by Jean Beauvoir when they were editing in the same building complex, and was added because Stallone loved the song.

The website's consensus reads, "A disengaged Sylvester Stallone plays the titular Cobra with no bite in this leaden action thriller, queasily fixated on wanton carnage and nothing else.

"[27] Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times panned the film, saying "Cobra's pretentious emptiness, its dumbness, its two-faced morality make it a movie that begs to be laughed off.

"[28] Variety called it "a sleek, extremely violent and exciting police thriller" and compared Cobra favorably to Rocky and Rambo.

"[30] Siskel and Roger Ebert did not give the film a feature review on their TV show, but both gave it negative attention during a late-1986 segment on new video releases, in which Siskel noted that the film had a great opening sequence (the supermarket hostage scene) and couldn't maintain the momentum.