Barb Wire Review

Barb Wire
Barb Wire is the owner of a night club called Hammerhead. As times aren't good, Barb has a second job. She's a bounty hunter and you probably wouldn't want her after you. Barb's credo is to never take sides for anybody and that's the only way to survive these days. As her former lover Axel Hood appears asking for a favour, Barb suddenly finds herself to be key player on high political stage.

by Neil Jeffries |
Published on
Release Date:

01 Jan 1996

Running Time:

109 minutes

Certificate:

18

Original Title:

Barb Wire

Rumours of the film being disastrous evaporate — at least for the red-blooded male section of the audience — within seconds of the opening voiceover turning into a frankly gobsmacking sequence of Our Pam, dripping wet, dancing and periodically falling out of the first of countless black costumes. It’s not great cinema, but it is as great as this gets.

Few would dare hope for more given the titular character’s comic book origins or the lead actress’ sex-pot credentials. Barb Wire is pure shoot-’em-up hokum, set during the second American Civil War in 2017, where Miss Wire runs a seedy nightclub, refusing to take sides, only money for various nefarious tasks, until she crosses paths with her ex- (Morrison), a resistance figure (Rowell) and a set of super hi-tech contact lenses. Honest.

Pam (now identified as Pamela Anderson Lee to avoid confusion with all the other statuesque blondes not married to heavy metal drummers) spits out her lines in short bursts of eight words (or less) with an impressively bitchy attitude. The action is fast, furious but not always convincing.

But mainly this is an excuse to see Pam change her clothes and show her cleavage. Director Hogan misses no opportunity to show the latter from all angles. The shots from above in a steel cage lift, where Pam appears to be standing very close to two bald fellas, are typical, and act as a perfect synopsis of the whole movie.

Crap, but undeniably enjoyable crap.
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