Pamela Anderson, also known as "Pambo," is the title character in this movie that's long on cheese cake and short on plot. There are lots of explosions and people yelling at each other and punching each other. Everyone is angry. The future is dark and dirty and menacing, as is almost every Hollywood view of the future Hollywood since "Blade Runner" came out.

In this particular future Barb Wire runs a raunchy bar in the last "Free City" on the continent. But nobody wants to live in America anymore, they want to make a lot of money and move to Canada as quickly as possible. That is bleak!

The evil Colonel Pryzer (Steve Railsback) and his Nazi SS Unit, er, government troops, burst into Barb's bar, looking for her old boyfriend, Axel Hood (Temuera Morrison) and his new girlfriend, Cora D (Victoria Rowell) he's a rebel, she's a scientist. When Hood does show up in Barb's bar, I expected Barb to say "Of all the gin joints in all the world, why did you have to walk into mine?"

Instead of the coveted Letters of Transit, the Nazis and rebels are both looking for contact lenses that get you past the retinal scanners and onto the last plane to Lisbon, er Quebec. I expected Dooley Wilson to break into "As Time Goes By" at any moment. I also expected to hear the "Hill of Beans" speech or the "We'll Always Have Paris" (in this case, Seattle) line.

Unfortunately, this isn't "Casablanca," but it is in good fun. It would have been nice if Pamela Anderson would smile once, just to prove she can do it. Anderson, a monument to the wonders of silicone, plays it straight and stone-faced in the film, in the mold of most male action heroes these days, and maybe that's for the best.

There are plenty of stunts and action in the film, and also lots of skin. It is an odd mixture of soft porn and action. In the recent tradition of Hollywood films, where all women are portrayed as strippers or hookers, Anderson's opening scene in the film shows her as a stripper. Later, we find out that she actually owns a strip joint, but is a mercenary on the side.

If you are looking for pure, non-serious escapism, this is it. It rates B. By the way, this film is based on a comic book (or "graphic novel" as they say in the credits. Whatever.

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