Director: David Hogan
Screenplay: Chuck Pfarrer and Ilene Chaiken
Starring: Pamela Anderson, Temuera Morrison, Victoria Rowell and Udo Kier
Country: United States
Running Time: 99 min
Year: 1996
I like to think I have a fairly varied taste in film. If you were to ask me my top five favourite films of all time, titles like Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-drunk Love, David Lynch’s Blue Velvet and Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre would make that list. However, regardless of my love for art-house or genre fare, I’m also a man who’s easily pleased by the junk food of cinema. The Charles Bronson Death Wish sequels, anything distributed by Troma or anything of similar ilk. When I caught wind that Altitude were porting German boutique label Turbine’s recent 4K UHD release of B movie classic (of sorts) Barb Wire, I had to request a copy so I could finally check this one off of the watchlist.
Directed by David Hogan, mostly known for his second-unit work on films like Batman Forever and Alien³ in his only credited feature to date, Barb Wire is an adaptation of the Dark Horse character starring the one and only Pamela Anderson as the titular character. In the futuristic world of… 2017, Barb Kopetski, mercenary/bounty hunter/nightclub owner finds herself caught up in a situation involving an ex lover turned freedom fighter and his government scientist wife who’s changed her identity to avoid the Nazi-esque regime that has eyes on everything. Fortunately, Barb can kick ass, doesn’t put up with any shit from those in her way and did I mention she can kick ass?
Barb Wire is an incredibly silly and campy film that most people seem to really dislike, given its 3.5 rating on IMDb, the paltry 28% on Rotten Tomatoes and outside of fans of ‘so-bad-its-good’ cinema, there’s few people who are coming to the defence of this film. Well, that changes today. Is Barb Wire a masterpiece in any stretch of the word? Well, it depends on what you consider a masterpiece.
Do you like the idea of Pamela Anderson playing Batman in a futuristic world where she has a bike that she can shoot rockets out of? Do you like the concept of a Mad Max inspired world with an evil Hitler figure who wants to scan everybody’s eyes to make sure that they’re not a fugitive, and Barb Wire is the only one that can stop him? Do you like the sound of corny one liners about Pamela Anderson’s large breasts, sex jokes and a scene where she hits a man in a gimp suit over the head with a bat? If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions or even laughed at the concept, you’ll have a blast with Barb Wire.
The acting’s all over the place, with some people completely understanding the assignment like the always reliable Udo Kier as Barb’s nightclub waiter and personal Alfred, Curly. Anderson’s having fun and sometimes sells the noir-like narration, and other times can feel stiff and wooden (har-har-har) but she’s always delightful to watch. She did a considerable amount of her own stunts and while the action isn’t great by any means, there’s some fun set-pieces that’ll get a laugh or two out of fans of B movies of a similar nature.
It’s a film that almost feels beat-for-beat like Casablanca, if you replaced Michael Curtiz’ iconic direction with shots of Pamela Anderson doing stripteases, having bubble baths and telling men to shut up before shooting them in the face. It’s a riot and while I can completely understand the argument that this film isn’t great, it doesn’t bother me one bit. It’s blissfully cartoony, and given the comic-book source material, does it really surprise anybody that it’s a little out there and over the top?
Barb Wire could very well be the worst motion picture you’ve ever seen, or a new favourite for you to show friends while cracking open a cold one. I fall into the latter crowd, and I for one can’t wait to recommend this one to unprepared friends who could lose their mind over Jango Fett and Borat’s wife killing an overweight junkyard overlord called Big Fatso. If that isn’t cinema, I don’t know what is.
Film: 
Barb Wire released on 4K UHD October 21st via Altitude Films and Turbine Media. It’s a direct port of Turbine’s German release from earlier this year and despite what you’d expect from a film this trashy getting a 4K disc, I was blown away by the presentation. For my money, this might be one of the best UHD discs of the entire year and thanks to a stellar Dolby Vision colour grade, consistently high bitrates and a grade A transfer, it transforms Barb Wire into a reference disc. That’s a sentence I never thought I’d say, but it’s true. I’m not too familiar with Turbine’s 4K output but if their other releases are anywhere near as good as this, I need to start collecting more. Audio wise, there’s four tracks. Two English audio tracks, DTS HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 tracks and two German tracks of the same type. I viewed the film with the 5.1 English track and thought it sounded absolutely fantastic. It’s a loud, bombastic film and each gunshot, explosion and car crash hit just right on my setup. While I can imagine some people being disappointed by the lack of an Atmos mix, I don’t think it’s needed when the 5.1 track sounds as great as it does. Optional English and German subtitles are included. On an A/V level, this easily ranks as one of the most impressive discs I’ve seen all year and I’m as surprised as you are by that statement. The following extras are included:
New 4K HDR restoration from the original negative with Dolby Vision by Turbine
New 5.1 and 2.0 mix
New interviews with producer Todd Moyer (18 mins), costume designer Rosanna Norton (18 mins) and visual effects supervisor Chris Brown (16 mins)
Sexy Outtakes (9 mins)
Making-of (15 mins)
Promo featurette (6 mins)
Trailers
The new interview with producer Todd Moyer runs for 18 minutes and it’s an entertaining watch. Moyer talks about some early Dark Horse comic-to-film adaptations that he had a hand in such as Timecop, The Mask and of course, Barb Wire. He’s open about the production troubles and how the original director wanted to make it like a Russ Meyer picture, but Hogan’s music video background helped give the film a sense of broader appeal and style. It’s a fun, insightful interview that’s absolutely worth your time.
The new interview with costume designer Rosanna Norton also runs for 18 minutes and like Moyers, Norton is open about the production, the costume designer who was fired before she came on board and more. She admits that its not an accurate comic-book adaptation and the film existed as a vehicle for Pamela Anderson, but mentions how kind Anderson was during the shoot. It’s another fun interview that I had a great time with.
Finally, the new interview with visual effects supervisor Chris Brown (not that one) is 16 minutes long and might be the most intriguing of the bunch. After working on David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, Brown ended up working on visual effects for films such as Turbulance, Air Force One and Barb Wire. He talks about his experiences working with Pamela Anderson, his working relationship with original director Adam Rifkin and then with David Hogan. Despite being the shortest of the three new interviews, it might be my favourite.
One of the most interestingly titled extras out there, the Sexy Outtakes are fascinating to say the least. Nine and a half minutes of Pamela Anderson being sprayed with water for the opening striptease sequence of the film. If this sounds interesting to you, then you’ll already be making your order, I’m sure.
An archival making-of is included, which runs for 15 minutes and features interviews with the main figures and features an incredibly dated but hilarious narrator, who describes the events of the film. It seems sourced from a VHS/DVD rip but it’s a blast to watch.
An archival promo featurette is included, which runs for 6 minutes and it’s similar to the making-of featurette but not as entertaining, unfortunately. Hearing Pamela state that Barb Wire is “probably the best role that I could ever do” was amusing though.
Four trailers are included, a teaser trailer, the US trailer, the UK trailer and the German trailer.
On the surface, a 4K UHD release of Barb Wire sounds silly and unnecessary but thanks to the outstanding work from Turbine, it ends up being one of the most essential purchases of the year to home media enthusiasts. A phenomenal transfer, great sound and solid extras to boot make Barb Wire worth owning in your collection. Highly recommended for fans.
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