Cobra

"Cobra" was promoted internationally as a Bruce Le film (a strong indication that these movies were calculated to appeal to an undiscriminating audience), and even today the semi-official budget DVD release has two photos of Le on the cover. It *does* belong to the Bruceploitation subgenre, but this film actually stars Indonesian Bruce Lee imitator Steve(n) Lee as Indra, a kung-fu student whose instructor is felled by a mysterious, snakehead cane-wielding assassin known only as Tobias. Indra marries his instructor's daughter but they have trouble making ends meet in the big city, and soon Indra finds himself obliged to work as muscle for a local crime boss. Things go downhill from there.

This is not a good or even technically competent film; it's laden with all the bad acting, worse English dubbing and herky-jerky cinematography one expects from low-budget martial arts movies. But "Cobra" has a certain authenticity, a sweaty realism that a film with higher production values would have lacked, and Steve Lee's performance is just intense enough to work. Distinctive-looking Hong Kong character actor Peter Chen Lau (who choreographed the fights in Lee's only other starring vehicle, "The Steel-Fisted Dragon") portrays one of the villains, and there's an almost childishly absurd twist at the end that actually works in the context of the film.

The makers of "Cobra" didn't have much to work with, but they were aiming for something darker and more ambitious than the norm, and it shows. Worth a look despite the imperfect execution.