Commando (1985) vs. Cobra (1986).
 

Which of these 80s action movies from Schwarzenegger and Stallone was better do you think? I think each have their pros and cons, with Commando being better for humor overall, and Cobra better for action and style, but feels like a Dirty Harry rip off nonethess. What do you think?

Re: Commando (1985) vs. Cobra (1986).
 

Commando by a country mile.

Re: Commando (1985) vs. Cobra (1986).
 

Commando every day, all day.
In General, Arnold was a better action star, and took more risks (Twins, Junior, Kindergarten Cop) and was able to accurately gauge audiences growing tastes in films. That last point, he was able to identify the growing trend of sci fi action films and made The Terminator, Predator and The Running Man.

Commando is # 68 on my 1980's list.. Cobra is # 158..

More fair comparison would be maybe Cobra vs Red Heat or Raw Deal.

Commondo all the way.


Despite being fairly illogical in parts, Commando had a nice hint of humour and other emotions. You cared about the female characters.

Cobra felt like a polished C movie. However, one thing I will give Cobra - it had a superior villain.

Re: Commando (1985) vs. Cobra (1986).
 

Oh really? I thought that the villain in Commando might have been better, although he was more of a comic relief villain perhaps. As to compare to Raw Deal and Red Heat, I would say Red Heat, beats both Commando and Cobra, but I would have to see Raw Deal again.

Re: Commando (1985) vs. Cobra (1986).
 

Naah. Cobra had a creepy villain despite the poor plot to work with. As you yourself admit, Commando's villain was unintentionally funny.

To me Commando's villain came across as grumpy Dad who was upset that his son had chosen Soccer over American football.

Re: Commando (1985) vs. Cobra (1986).
 

Re: Commando (1985) vs. Cobra (1986).
 

I'm not a huge fan of either but Commando is clearly better of the two.

Oh I thought that that Commando was villain was INTENTIONALLY funny though. When Matrix seduces him into a knife fight, the villain makes an orgasm face at thought of a knife fight. This was intending to be funny, wasn't it?

As for the Cobra villain, he is creepy, but is he not too over the top, for a serious villain, where as an over the top funny villain may work better, when it comes to being over the top?

https://iruntheinternet.com/lulzdump...373105325a.gif

(Finally an excuse to post this gif again :D)

Re: Commando (1985) vs. Cobra (1986).
 

Something that gives Commando an edge is how it doesn't get weighed down by cop movie tropes - it's a very simple "guy must save his daughter in 11 hours" movie and it doesn't graze the 90-minute mark while the other titles mentioned tend to get caught up in police procedurals and buddy comedy so they come across as sluggish in comparison.

Re: Commando (1985) vs. Cobra (1986).
 

Oh really? I thought that in Cobra and Red Heat, the heroes don't give a damn about procedure and do what they want, so I didn't think of them as police procedurals.

I also felt that Commando felt oddly short on the first viewing, but got more use to it, on the second viewing.

Re: Commando (1985) vs. Cobra (1986).
 

Sure, I just mean in the sense that they maybe care too much about cop movie plotting to the point where very little about them really sticks in retrospect, whether that's in the form of procedurals or anything else.

Re: Commando (1985) vs. Cobra (1986).
 

Commando for sure, arnold owns the films with his presence, and the movie is just more solid than cobra

Commando, but Cobra was good too.

Re: Commando (1985) vs. Cobra (1986).
 

One thing about Cobra that I don't like is that it tries to force in these themes of injustice and how criminals have too many rights, where as Commando is a straight up action movie, which is probably better. However, in Commando, the female sidekick I find to be very whiny and over acting and annoying, which brings it down a couple of pegs as well.

Re: Commando (1985) vs. Cobra (1986).
 

Cobra was a much darker film.

Re: Commando (1985) vs. Cobra (1986).
 

That's a hard one. Gonna say Commando just for the big fun 80's action. Cobra is more gritty and dark, but not as fun to rewatch

Commando basically knows its silly fun but Cobra tries to take itself rather more seriously but comes off as cheesey.