Laakbaar This movie is rated too low on IMDb. It's worth about a 7.5 It tells the true story of the murder of a gay porn producer (played by Christian Slater). There are two story lines.The first is about this porn producer and a new star (Brent Corrigan, played by Garrett Clayton). Brent stays at his place and together they have fun making some hot movies. But then they have a falling out when Brent finds out how much is being made from his films.The second is about two mentally unbalanced losers (Joe and Harlow) who hang around at the edges of the porn industry. They want to make a film with Brent, but decide that they have to kill the porn producer because he's not allowing Brent to use his trademarked porn name.I loved how this film dealt so naturally and explicitly with gay sexuality and with the gay porn and escorting aspects. The sex scenes were depicted with relish, but without genitalia. (After all, this is an American movie.) The depiction of stereotypical porn situations and dialogue and was hilarious. At times the real world in the main movie seemed disturbingly too close to the porn version of reality. These characters were so immersed in porn that they were leading porn lives.Part of me wishes that the director (Justin Kelly) had focused on creating just a feel-good movie about the gay porn industry, about gay escorting and about gay sexuality in California. This alone would have been a great film (or hell even better -- a Netflix series). He could have developed various interesting characters and just drawn the viewer into this sexy world.Kelly partly succeed in doing that in this film. But I had problems with some of it. Where were the drugs, for example? No drugs at all?? The dysfunctionality of the characters was also a major theme. I wish there had been some normal gay men in the film, because yes we still need to show that in a film like this.I thought the porn director and Brent parts were well played by Slater and Clayton. However, although Clayton is a stunningly handsome man, in this movie he didn't really generate the same erotic heat as a sleazy 18 year old porn star. The movie would have made more sense if they had found someone who can do that.I liked how the porn producer was torn between desire and greed when it came to Brent. He wanted Brent's love, of course. He wanted Brent to want him. Or at least to pretend that he wanted him. He was an older porn-producing lech, but there were a few perceptive lines in there about his motivation and he came across as a sympathetic character.The dysfunction of the Joe and Harlow characters got in the way for me. I found some of their scenes to be difficult and awkward to watch. Perhaps that was the point (because after all they were psychos). After just watching the film, I feel I still don't have a good understanding about the underlying forces that drove them to murder. Maybe the problem is with the basic plot. The murder was so senseless. Tbh, I think the movie would have been better without Franco (because...c'mon).This is the second movie I've seen this year in which the difficult relationship between porn producer and actor was central. (The other was Tickled.) These movies also have something to say about porn itself, how it can take over people's lives and ruin them.

Gordon-11 This film tells the story of a young man who goes into gay pornography at the age of seventeen. Initially he is enticed by the fame and attention. Due to his greed and inexperience in life, he gets into more trouble than he can imagine.I didn't know what "King Cobra" was about until I watched it. It tells a captivating story of how things can go wrong. It is a little sad that he gets trapped in the situation after he becomes famous. The course of action he follows in life unfortunately goes wrong repeatedly. I actually feel very sorry for Christian Slater's character, as I don't think he deserves the outcome in the end. It is also a pleasant surprise to see him in a gay movie, and he's surprisingly very convincing in his role too. I enjoyed the film.

tomparisnyc I love James Franco, but have no idea why he took on a ridiculously unimportant story of some gay teen porn star who is involved in some silly murder that makes no sense. Acting was ghastly of the entire cast, including poor Christian Slater and James Franco is only screaming f***, f***, f***! Horrible! The screenwriter must have been asleep or on crack, as there is really not a single dialogue in this movie that is funny or clever.What a waste of time and money!Save yourself! And to all gays, this is a joke of a movie, guys! Do yourself a favor and boycott this awful movie!

euroGary 'King Cobra' continues what appears to be co-producer James Franco's fascination with gay pornography (see also 'Interior. Leather Bar' and, to a certain extent, 'Kink'). I don't know why he doesn't just appear in a gay porn film himself and get it out of his system...... actually, Franco does play a porn actor in this, but anyone hoping for a display of Franco flesh is going to be disappointed: for a film set in the gay porn industry this is remarkably coy about male nudity: there are plenty of shirtless scenes, but only a few quick shots of bare backsides (none of them Franco's). So, having got that out of the way, what about the story?The film is based on the early career of porn star Brent Corrigan. He is hired by porn producer Stephen (the 'King Cobra' of the title, played - or rather shouted - by Christian Slater, looking more than ever like a bad-tempered monkey) and he soon has a large fan-base, but his contract with Stephen does not allow him to fully exploit his new-found fame. This frustrates not only Brent, but other, more dangerous folk as well.It is hard to comment on the quality of the acting when the actors are portraying members of a community that seems to attract larger-than-life personalities. For instance, Franco portrays his rival porn producer with sleazy relish - but is that merely a one-note performance, or was the real-life man like that? As Corrigan, Garrett Clayton queens his way through the film in a manner that could be offensive - but is that how the real Corrigan behaved? The only rounded performance seems to come from Keegan Allen as an abused performer.Ultimately, this is a dull film: for instance (SUPER SPOILER ALERT!), a scene where Corrigan tricks a confession from the murderers is a wasted opportunity to build up some tension: it is a dangerous situation; will he be able to get the information the police need; will the criminals suspect him - and if so, what will they do? Instead the scene has even less edge-of-your-seat tension than a reconstruction on the 'Yesterday' channel (admittedly, Yesterday would not include the swearing and possibly not the hot tub, either). In more than one way, this is disappointment, I'm afraid.