Don't listen to the negative reviews

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

So, after 28 years, Barb "Don't Call Her Babe" Wire references the exceedingly better movie, Batman. I guess I can't complain; The Matrix references Superman after 100 years.Don't hate me – I didn't hate this movie. Oh, yeah it wasn't good or great, but it wasn't terrible. I actually liked seeing the sassy Pamela Lee Anderson (PLA) in leather and her kick butting ways.I acknowledged right away: this is a leave-your-brain-at-the-door feature, so I let loose. And if you do, PLA is kinda fun and sexy. (And that's coming from a gay male.)So, what we have here is Post-Civil War II and a mercenary-for-hire but only to keep her night club afloat. Her past(s) get in the way and she truly must decide what side she doesn't want to be on.Yeah. I watched this as part of my mission of movies to see from the How Did This Get Made podcast list. Otherwise, I wouldn't have ever seen it. Did I hate it? Again, no. It was fun 1990s garb never to be taken seriously.For some reason – again from a gay guy – I found her sexy and ridged enough to like and care about her making it alive to the end. While not the best 1990s action film, I would actually still, unbelievably, recommend it!* * * Final thoughts: I try to do no research before I see a movie – I love to go in fresh and cold. I knew of this movie years (almost decades) ago, but never gave it a second thought until it popped up on my How Did This Get Made podcast list. OK, I knew it existed, was on the HDTGM list and it starred the voluptuous PLA, but what I wouldn't learn until following my viewing was that…this was a retelling of Casablanca??? Wow. I guess so. I already knew the story wasn't anything new, but to put this anywhere near Casablanca is just...crazy talk. Just leave your brain at the door and watch this fun little movie.Oh, and I almost forgot. This movie sparked my quote of the day at my employment: "How can you get Pamela Lee Anderson and Anna Nicole Smith confused?" asked a coworker after I did just that."How can you NOT get the two confused? Sorry, I meant four," I responded.

"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.

This movie is nearly unwatchable even if it has Pamela Anderson in it. She's not that sexy to spend 98 minutes watching a movie, loosely based on the movie plot of 1942's Casablanca. I wouldn't say this movie paying homage to it, as a lot of it was change, so it wouldn't be a total rip off of Casablanca. Barb Wire, the film is mostly based on the Dark Horse comics that bare its name. Barb Wire, the comic book wasn't that popular, and the film follows that. Barb Wire isn't that sharp, but it's does hurts to watch. Set in 2017 during the Second American Civil War, Barb Wire (Pamela Anderson) owns the Hammerhead, a nightclub in Steel Harbor. Steel Harbor is describe as the last free city in a United States that wasn't ravaged by the war. In my opinion, it was ravaged by a horrible script. Directed by David Hogan, everything looks dirty. Steel Harbor looks like a dump, and Hammerhead is like a hole in the wall strip club. There isn't no glamor here. I think the film makers were going the gritty Sci-Fi route with this story, but there is no class, when you make a movie that has your main character parading herself in her bathing suit. It's not a believable to believe this half naked woman is a bad ass mercenary and bounty hunter. Like the Casablanca movie, a Chief of Police comes around time to time to raid her club for fugitives. Willis (Xander Berkeley) is looking for fugitive Dr. Corrina "Cora D" Devonshire (Victoria Rowell), a former government scientist with information about a bioweapon being developed by her former superior, Colonel Pryzer (Steve Railsback) of the Congressional Directorate. Cora D later turns up at the club, with Axel Hood (Temuera Morrison) a freedom fighter from the United Front whom Barb had known and loved before the war. Both hopes to escape to Canada in order to make this information public. If you're looking for Casablanca like performance, here. You're deeply going to be disappointed. The characters in this movie are pretty unlikeable as Barb only cares about money. Barb doesn't go through any struggle with morality. The acting is bad. Pamela Anderson speaks in this movie with little to no emotion in her delivery. It's not like the dialogue is any good. Most of it was bland. Monologues are horrible. Show, don't tell, movie. The only reason why this movie was made was to capitalize on how hot and popular, Pamela Anderson was in the 1990s. The movie was made for the objectification of women. The opening shot of the movie, has a stripping, dancing wet Barb (Pamela Anderson) as a way to introduce this character. I thought I was watching a porno, then an action movie when I saw this. It tries to be feminist in a way, because Barb Wire hates being call 'babe', but fails miserably due to pointless nudity scenes, blatant sexual overtones and fantasies of torture to women. Plus, they even said Barb is also a hooker. This movie is disturbing. The action is pretty bad. The stunts are painfully unspectacular. She did some of her own stunts, although the corset and the heels she wore made fight scenes very challenging. I don't find how Barb Wire is able to fight off enemies wearing black leather and 7 inch high heeled boots. I would thought she would fall, a few times. Watching the outtakes, she did. The vision of a fascist America, is never that canny. In my opinion, if the story went deeper into how this world came to be, maybe this film could had work. The camera work is horrible. The obnoxious close-ups and the endless fade to black get tiresome. Yes, the movie does have some entertaining value as its target audience might like seeing Pamela's boobs and violent mixed together. Still, in the end, anybody that watch this, knows well that this is a bad movie. It was cheesy when it came out, and it's still cheesy. Don't expect this movie to be what it isn't. It's a B movie, with B everything. It's not supposed to be taken seriously. Still, this movie sucks.

Barb Wire isn't the worst movie of 1996(quite), Bio-Dome and Ed are worse, but it is a terrible movie with its only redeeming asset Pamela Anderson's cleavage. Anderson is very sexy and does better than expected in the action sequences, but the way she delivers her lines just for me amplifies her limitations as an actress. And the rest of the acting ranges to pretty poor to non-existent. The action sequences are in a way efficiently performed but choreographed in a generic way and some of the editing feels sloppy. I liked how catchy and how upbeat the soundtrack was but it got a bit too loud and too much after a while, the script is cheesy and weak and the story is so thin you have to watch closely to see if there is a story, and I have no better news about the direction. Overall, a terrible movie. 1/10 Bethany Cox