Barb Wire had the potential to be a wild, bat-s insane sci-fi actioner and instead we get a sloppily edited movie with some poor performances combined with a bad script and pedestrian directing.
Barb Wire
(1996)
Genre(s): Action, Science Ficion
Mill Creek | R – 99 min. – $14.98 | February 19, 2019
Date Published: 03/01/2019 | Author: The Movieman
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Mill Creek Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 1.75/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Pamela Anderson is Barb Wire, the sexiest, toughest woman in Steel Harbor – a city marked by chaos and crime – providing a home for a new kind of mercenary. If you’ve got a problem, Barb Wire is the solution. She’ll use any dangerous weapon – including her body – to take what she wants, crossing the line for no man. When her ex-boyfriend, Axel Hood (TEMUERA MORRISON), hits town with his new wife Dr. Corrina Devonshire (VICTORIA ROWELL) and a threat to the oppressive Congressional Directorate, Barb is the only one who can get them out alive.
Quick Hit Review: For the longest time, despite the Universal Blu-ray being a part of my collection, I have wanted to watch Barb Wire knowing how bad it looked. Sitting down to watch this comic book adaptation during a time when comic book movies were very much on the cheesy side (Batman & Robin and Steel would be released a year later). That said, while indeed the movie is bad in most respects, including the horrible editing, pedestrian direction, poor script and even poorer acting, I did think there was some potential to the point where I wonder if someone like a Jason Blum could make a kick-ass, over-the-top and least of all, entertaining action flick with some hot heroine.(someone like Alia Shawkat in the lead role). In any case, this was Pamela Anderson’s early foray into the feature film realm after finding stardom on the hit series, Baywatch. I can’t attest to her talents in her first few films like Snapdragon and Raw Justice, clearly her assets weren’t on her acting ability and instead on her very revealing wardrobes and even a bit of nudity thrown in for good measure. Anderson does at least have the physicality for the role and although she is straddled with some bad dialogue. The supporting cast was alright, including Xander Berkeley whose talent far exceeds the screenplay and slapped together plot.
Barb Wire was directed by David Hogan who only has one other credit, that being 1997’s Most Wanted, a so-so thriller rip-off starring Keenan Ivory Wayans and Jon Voight. No surprise, at least for theatrical movies, Hogan’s career has been comprised of music videos (and nothing since 2004). The direction in of itself wasn’t terrible and instead the biggest culprit was some terrible, almost TV-like, editing (from Peter Schink), which was rather frustrating to watch with the constant fade-ins and fade-outs from scene to scene. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 0/5 |
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No features were included. |
VIDEO – 3.0/5 |
| Given I own the Universal Blu-ray of Barb Wire, I tried to do an eye-comparison between the two and didn’t see an incredible difference, as both the Universal and the Mill Creek transfers were both on the flawed side, though it seems the MC one had some more artifacting and over-sharpening in some scenes (could see the halo effect in one of them). Using BD-Info, there was also a slight difference in the bitrate for those who care with the Universal being 36.88 Mbps versus Mill Creek’s 32.03 Mbps. In any case, this is hardly a great looking video, but probably a slight upgrade from the DVD releases. |
AUDIO – 3.5/5 |
| The disc includes likely the same DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and although it is on the underwhelming side with the action-centric scenes having lackluster depth, everything else at least was satisfactory with clear dialogue levels coming through the center speaker. |
OVERALL – 1.5/5 |
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Overall, Barb Wire had the potential to be a wild, bat-s insane sci-fi actioner and instead we get a sloppily edited movie with some poor performances combined with a bad script and pedestrian directing. This bare-bones Blu-ray release from Mill Creek (didn’t even bother with a scene selection) has a flawed video, average audio and zero bonus features. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.