Barb Wire (1996)

In the early 21st century, the USA is in the wake of the Second Civil War. The whole country is in a constant state of emergency. What was formerly called the American Congress now rules the country with fascistic methods. There is only one free city left, Steel Harbor, a coastal California industrial town which is headquarters for the resistance. This is the home town of Barb Wire, owner of the Hammerhead nightclub. Barb Wire is another forgettable and quite awful late 90's flick that proves me once again right that Pamela Anderson cannot act. (F)

"Barb Wire" (Pamela Anderson) is a nightclub owner in a futuristic America where a civil war has broken out between two distinct factions. The first is known as the "Congressional Directoret" and the second as the "Resistance". Now, as it so happens Barb Wire also moonlights as a mercenary who has little sympathy for either side and operates in the only free city left which is known as "Steel Harbor". However, when a former government scientist named "Dr. Corina Devonshire" (Victoria Rowell) escapes from the Congressional Directoret and arrives in Steel Harbor carrying some special contact lenses worth $2 million—along with Barb Wire's former lover named "Axel Hood" (Temuera Morrison)—Barb Wire becomes indirectly involved. And that spells bad news for whichever side she's not on. Anyway, rather than reveal the rest of the details and possibly spoil the film for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this movie was widely panned by the critics when it first came out. As a matter of fact, Pamela Anderson received several Razzie Awards for her performance which included "Worst New Star" and "Worst Actress". Other Razzie Awards for the film included "Worst Picture" along with being nominated for "Worst Screenplay" and "Worst Original Song". So judging from these awards and nominations one would think that this was an extremely bad movie. However, rather than simply going with the proverbial crowd I happen to have my own opinion which is quite different. First, I didn't think her performance was that bad. As a matter of fact I kind of enjoyed it. Not only that but I have seen a lot worse movies than this particular one. Now, that's not to say that this film was great by any means because it clearly wasn't. But it was hardly the worst movie for that year. Nowhere close. Likewise, although I didn't especially care for the performance of Temuera Morrison I thought the performance of Udo Kier (as "Curly") was actually quite good. Anyway, there you have it. Again, while "Barb Wire" may not be a great film I didn't think it was necessarily that bad either. I rate it as average.

At least they pretended to follow the plot of "Casablanca". Other than that, it's too strange for its own good. Anderson is deadpan throughout the entire movie but still manages to kick ass. Most of the characters were really insane. Charlie had really good vision for a blind guy, Big Fatso was pretty disgusting, and Curly seemed to only be there for comic relief, even though he provided none.It's still an entertaining movie, however. Watching Anderson beat up people was surprisingly funny, and the plot is /just/ crazy enough to be enjoyable. I'd recommend you listen to the "How Did This Get Made" episode for it as well.

15 years after it was made I finally bought this flick and even on Blu Ray, cheap of course. This is one of those flicks that always have got some bad reviews. I can't say anything about the script because I haven't seen the comic. But if I just have a look at the names appearing then you know that this isn't going to be a blockbuster. We have Udo Kier and Steven Railsback in it, for those into horror or exploitation those names are famous. And when I saw the name Rick Bota then I immediately must think of him being directing 3 Hellraisers. The story itself is post-apocalyptic so with those actors and the story we could add it into the grindhouse genre even as it wasn't attempt to be.Naturally the main lead was by Pamela Anderson Lee. Back then she was very hot on all aspects. Just made some nudity shots and a porn flick with her husband and of course Baywatch did the producers add her on the wanted list. But face it, she only in it as a teaser. Every time you see her, the most important things are her fake two penny worth breasts. I even has seen the unrated version and indeed, she goes naked now and then only showing tits and nipples.Did I enjoy it? Just looking towards the story and the actors and the gratuitous nudity I liked it and if it would have been made 20 years earlier or even nowadays (remember Bitch Slap also just made for the boys to watch girlies shooting around and posing) it could have been a bigger success. Naturally it was teared down due Pamela's performance. But Steve did good work as did the rest. But be honest, most flicks based on comics failed to deliver.