Anti-Hero Week: Barb Wire

Greetings readers and welcome to Day 3 of Anti-Hero Week.  Normally I do not warn folks ahead of time of what they will be reading but yes today we are reviewing what most folks deem a turkey.   It is less than savory and has lifted a gorgeous story of many decades ago and as a whole the "writers" Ilene Chaiken and Chuck Pfarrer should be water boarded for, but again this is my humble opinion. Two talented writers think swapping genders in this time honored story Casablanca for a series of fist and gun fights isn't  a tremendous insult to Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch that brought that flick the love it got.   With that in mind, this is Barb Wire.

Tee hee!

Alexander Willis: Add it to my tab, Miss Kopetski. Boom boom boom!
Barb Wire: Barbara Kopetski died in the war. I'm Barb Spoiler.





In 2017,  the United States is undergoing a second civil war, a state of emergency has been declared allowing a fascist regime to happen and civil liberties has been thrown to the four winds.  One city still neutral territory is Steel Harbor, home of Barb Wire (Pamela Anderson of Baywatch, Raw Justice, Naked Souls, V.I.P.,  Scary Movie 3, Stripperella, Stacked and Blonde and Blonder) owner of the bar Hammerhead and moonlights as a mercenary and bounty hunter which keeps her club flush and her staff in the greenbacks..  sorry Canadian is the coin of the realm.

Her only real friend is corrupt Chief of Police Willis (character actor Xander Berkeley of Terminator 2, Apollo 13, Heat, Apollo 11, Gattaca, Universal Soldier: The Return and CSI: Criminal Scene Investigation)  who enjoys her top shelf booze and company.  A defector of the American Congress, a Doctor Corrina Devonshire (Victoria Rowell of The Young and the Restless, Diagnosis Murder, The Distinguished Gentleman and Dumb & Dumber) developed a bio-weapon of untold destruction, burned her notes and destroyed the prototype virus but Congress can still get what is in her head.  She has to flee into Canada to avoid this ever happening again.

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Her steadfast protector resistance fighter and former lover to Barb, Axel Hood (Temuera Morrison of Adventurer, Mauri, Once Were Warriors, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Star Wars: Episode II- Attack of the Clones, The Beautiful Country and Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge of the Sith) has his deal blown and he and "Cora D" are on the run in search of safe harbor until they can get her to Canada.  Will Barb once again take sides, sell out her former love or simply not care?

Now to the nitty gritty of this movie.  We open our film with a wet and wild dance number as our lead actress is topless and sprayed with hoses.  Yeah starting it off really classy.   When your sci-fi comic book hero starts off with a watery striptease, maybe the production has gone downhill.  Yes, we get it movie.  Pam is busty.   To be fair to Pam, her fight choreography was fair and damn did she learn firearms to the point she didn't even flinch when firing them but the character is over the top cheesecake for 12 year olds and even Anderson would state that Barb Wire is no role model.

Of course I could sit here comfortably dissecting every facet and nuance of the film but I would rather poke a little fun and talk about the goofs on film.   Saw the boom mic in Barb's bike helmet during her chatter with Big Fatso.   The crappy wooden table Barb is hiding behind for cover in gun play, the bullet marks made in the table switch sides in between shots.  Continuity no no!!!   Drinks keep refilling themselves between shots of Barb and her brother Charlie in different scenes more than four times.  Back to the hosing scene I swear there are shots during that sequence she is actually dry.   So like it or not, Barb Wire is an anti-hero.   Just needed an original script for the material.

Barb and her two besties... the guns, you pervs.