In 2028 Los Angeles, Cobra Strike Force battles the Viper Gang in a hostage standoff.
About the Film
Cobra Strike Force is a 2023 action film written and directed by Dustin Ferguson. Joseph Kelbie Williamson produced it for SCS Entertainment, and it came out on DVD on 14 February 2023. The running time is only forty-six minutes, which makes it closer to a television special than a full-length feature, and the film is in English.
A Name Worth Checking
One practical warning first. Searching for Cobra brings up Sylvester Stallone's 1986 thriller and the 2022 Tamil film starring Vikram, and neither is related to this title. Anyone looking for Ferguson's film should search for the full title and the year. It turns up on free streaming services and on Apple TV, so it is easy to find once you know what to look for.
The Premise
The story is set in 2028, after the Los Angeles Police have been defunded. In that world a team called the Cobra Strike Force must rescue employees of LA Plaza who are being held hostage by the Viper Gang.
The setup is a classic action template: a small elite unit, a gang of hostage-takers and a ticking clock. What distinguishes it is the near-future framing, which turns a current political debate into the background of a genre story. Viewers will bring their own opinions to that premise, and the film offers it as a starting point rather than as an argument.
The Cast
Dawna Lee Heising plays The Queen, Rocky DeMarco plays Bitch Face, Yan Birch plays Rolfe, Traci Burr plays June Taylor and Sue Price plays Macho. The character names suggest a comic-book tone, with nicknames and gang titles rather than ordinary names, and that fits the genre.
Heising is a recurring presence in Ferguson's circle. She plays Lindsay in Rattlers 2, Melanie in Garden Party Massacre and the lead, Nikki, in The Paradise Motel, so Cobra Strike Force gives her a different kind of part: a gang leader whose title is The Queen.
Ferguson and SCS Entertainment
Ferguson also directed Rattlers 2, which SCS Entertainment released on DVD in January 2021. One reviewer of that film said the director seemed to be improving with every film, and Cobra Strike Force is one of the later steps in that run. SCS Entertainment's name appears on both titles, which shows a consistent small-scale production and distribution pipeline.
That pipeline matters for understanding the film. Companies of this kind make titles quickly and economically, and they depend on loyal audiences who seek out independent action, horror and creature features. A forty-six minute running time is a practical choice in that context, since it keeps costs down and allows a story to be told without padding.
Reception and Availability
The film has little critical record. Rotten Tomatoes lists no critic reviews and fewer than fifty audience ratings, and the IMDb score sits around five out of ten. Those numbers say more about visibility than about quality: films at this level rarely attract professional coverage, and a handful of ratings do not settle anything.
The positive side of that obscurity is that it leaves room for discovery. Viewers who like low-budget action can approach the film without a pile of opinions in front of them, and the short running time makes it an easy gamble.
What to Expect
Anyone expecting a big-budget action film will be disappointed. A forty-six minute film with a modest budget cannot offer large-scale set pieces, and the story is necessarily compressed. What it can offer is a clear premise, a cast of familiar independent faces and the pleasures of watching filmmakers work with limited resources.
Compressed storytelling has its own appeal. There is no time for subplots, so the hostage standoff stays at the center, and the audience always knows what is at stake. For a viewer with an hour to spare, that clarity is a feature.
Verdict
Cobra Strike Force is a small, fast and unpretentious action film. It is best approached as a curiosity from a prolific independent filmmaker, and it will appeal most to viewers who already follow Ferguson, Heising and SCS Entertainment. Those who want polish should look elsewhere. Those who enjoy the spirit of independent action cinema, with its near-future premise and its nicknames and gangs, will find a short, straightforward and mildly entertaining diversion.
Leave a Reply