A sexy nightclub owner, Barb Wire moonlights as a mercenary in Steel Harbor, one of the last free zones in the now fascist United States. When scientist Cora Devonshire wanders into Barb's establishment, she gets roped into a top-secret government plot involving biological weapons. Soon Barb is reunited with her old flame Axel Hood, who is now Cora's husband and a guerrilla fighter, resulting in plenty of tense action.
The irony of this style, with its high-swank grunge clutter, is that it's too dissociated to have coherence even as pop; we're always aware that we're watching sets being photographed.
– Owen Gleiberman,
Entertainment Weekly,
7 Jul 2010
fresh:
The movie carries its cyberpunk variation right through to the end, and usually with enough wit and craziness to freshen the mix. Then, there is Pamela, whose tight, disciplined performance deserves more respect than it will almost certainly get.
– Hal Hinson,
Washington Post,
27 Apr 2007
rotten:
Its main source is a comic book, but it might as well be a computer.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
27 Apr 2007
rotten:
The film's haphazardly edited, lacks narrative clout, and rambles on to a ludicrously extended conclusion.
– Derek Adams,
Time Out,
26 Jan 2006
rotten:
Made with a wafer-thin stylishness that thinks dressing the Congressionals like storm troopers is creative, Barb Wire plods along, following one pro forma scene with the next.