Space Adventure Cobra

Potentially this was a great anime. Some interesting themes were up for exploration: a hero must do battle with death incarnate to save the woman (women?) he loves. The individual vs. the corrupt state.

But it's a bit of a let-down. The hero is just too indestructible and and in the English language version at least, seems emotionally disengaged from what's going on around him. The soft-porn card gets overplayed, too. Sexy girls with sexy guns? Yup. Some great visuals, as you would expect from Japanese anime, but not a great example of the genre.

This 1982 anime based on the comic books by Buichi Terasawa centres around the adventures of the infamous Space Pirate Cobra. After Cobra falls for the sultry bounty hunter Jane, he finds himself embroiled in an intergalactic power struggle. This film is best known for its attempt to re-create the 3D movie experience without the need for cardboard glasses. While this process makes for a few amazing and interesting shots, you can hardly tell the difference. The 3D effect may be limited, but the attempt makes for interesting cinematography. Director Osamu Dezaki can be applauded for combining the involving story and the stunning visuals, without letting one element drown out the other. If a few of the shots look familiar, it's because the film was showcased in Matthew Sweet's video for his song "Girlfriend." You can also look for quite a few references to 'Star Wars,' 'Star Trek,' '2001,' and a rip off of the 'Superman' theme during a heated battle scene. 'Space Adventure Cobra' is best recommended for those already familiar with this genre, as it provides an excellent example of the beginnings of modern Anime.

On a scale of 1 to 11, 11 being an example of "taking it up a notch," 'Cobra' gets a 7.

"Space Adventure Cobra" isn't as entertaining as I remembered. It's too good-natured to dislike openly, and I appreciated the fact that the hero is actually very unusual for an adventuresome protagonist. But I also found it impossible to follow or care about.

The movie begins with a pre-credits sequence showing Cobra performing some heroic action. The credits come on with music and slow visuals that are straight out of any James Bond movie. So I thought, oh, I get it, Cobra is like a spacefaring James Bond. When the Bond-girl stand in, a female bounty hunter was introduced, that seemed a safe bet.

But then the duo were attacked by a flying alien head, and Cobra's efforts to stop it were a failure - the bounty hunter lady saved the day. And she wasn't interested in Cobra, although he was interested in her. But when she realised who he was, she seduced him, rather than the other way around.

Cobra is actually a pretty hapless character, not suave at all, though he is charismatic. The movie is probably more about the lady and her sisters, who are imprisoned on a planet somewhere, and she wants Cobra to help her save them - although she hardly seems to need his help.

I wasn't able to interest myself in any of this, and nor could I focus on it for long. It's pretty boring and confusing, and just seems like style over anything else - and the style isn't even that great.

I've grown up with anime and I still watch it to this day. I heard of the manga and show of Space Adventure Cobra but I did not know there was a movie till recently. This movie is only for those who like anime, this in no way will convince people that are not into this stuff to start watching it.

The feel of this movie is a ton like others like Golgo 13: The Professional, which is a good thing for a action fan. The atmosphere in this movie is extremely 80's and the plot can be a bit weird at times, but this does not create much of a problem because it adds to the bizarreness of the galaxy the movie takes place in. This film does contain brief nudity, so if your weird-ed out by that sort of stuff then you have been warned.

All in All, this movie is a good action flick in its own universe and is worth a watch.

With AMAZING animation, beautiful soundtrack composed of hidden references (did somebody say "Superman" by Richard Donner) and highly influential, since somebody that goes with the name of James Cameron must have noticed the scene with Crystal Boy walking into the flames and then translated it four years after into an actual live-action movie named Terminator. It's incredible how many of these Hollywood directors copied or "were influenced" by anime, isn't it?