Jason Sondhi

The much-hyped collaboration between Robert Rodriguez (director: El Mariachi, Sin City) & Kobe Bryant (player: 5 NBA titles) has been revealed to the public today on Nike.com. A 6 minute short film entitled Kobe Bryant is “The Black Mamba”, (a nickname Kobe shamelessly ripped off from Kill Bill), the setup is a pitch meeting where Robert Rodriguez tries to sell Kobe on the idea of an action film exploring the “Black Mamba” character. Kobe is reticent at first, but quickly warms to the idea, shooting out ideas of his own as the narrative develops and explosions go off.

Danny Trejo, Bruce Willis and Kanye guest-star as villains in a clever piece that’s not afraid to poke fun at itself as a promotional artifact. The downside is that mocking the trappings of stereotypical big budget action flicks is not the same as transcending them. The charisma of Robert Rodriguez and Kobe carry a lot of weight (especially if you adore both, like me), but ultimately the viewing experience is a bit flat. Hopefully they’ll retool before Black Mamba 2, 3 and 4.