It was directed by David Hogan, produced by Brad Wyman, and written by Chuck Pfarrer and Ilene Chaiken.

The film stars Pamela Anderson in the title role, alongside Temuera Morrison, Victoria Rowell, Xander Berkeley, Udo Kier, and Steve Railsback.

Willis's target is fugitive Dr. Corrina 'Cora D' Devonshire, a former government scientist with information about a new bioweapon called Red Ribbon being developed by her former superiors in the Congressional Directorate.

The Congressional Council has tasked Colonel Victor Pryzer with finding Dr. Devonshire so they can end the Second Civil War by releasing the virus on the United Front territories.

They try to find a contraband pair of contact lenses that would allow Cora to evade the retinal scan identification at the Steel Harbor airport.

Rather than give the lenses to Cora and Axel, Barb makes a deal with 'Big Fatso', the leader of a junkyard gang: Fatso wants the lenses, which are worth a fortune on the black market, and Barb wants a million dollars and an armed escort to the airport, where she plans to get on the plane to Canada.

Roger Ebert pointed out that the plot was identical to that of Casablanca, and derided the low-brow attempts at sensuality, but praised the cast and crew's approach to the material: "The filmmakers must have known they were not making a good movie, but they didn't use that as an excuse to be boring and lazy.

The website's consensus reads: "Barb Wire could've been fun camp, but Pamela Anderson can't deliver her lines with any dramatic or comedic impact.

[2] GT Interactive announced that they would be publishing a video game based on the film for the PlayStation, Saturn, PC, and Macintosh in January 1997.