No Holds Barred

it's silly,but pretty entertaining. i first saw this movie in 1990 i think. it's really the only hulk hogan movie worth watching more than once. it's the best pro wrestling movie ever. it's not as fun as pro wrestling itself,but still fun. i give no holds barred **1/2 out of

****

Hulk Hogan must have gotten other movie offers from other studios - so upon seeing his choice for his first starring role, you have to wonder why on earth he picked this one! Could the other offers been even worse than this? Seeing that the "trivia" section for this movie states that he found the original draft unsatisfying and rewrote it without credit, you also have to wonder how it was originally.

Whatever the case, the end results are really bad... but so bad that they are often hilarious to watch. Now, the movie was done somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but the acting is so over the top... the plot is so simple-minded and unbelievable... that you can't accept the majority of the hilarity as intentional.

If you can stop laughing long enough to study the movie, you'll see just how badly made it is. The editing is terrible - it's obvious a good number of scenes (containing a good amount of explanation) are missing, and other scenes are clearly chopped down to a fraction of their original length. This may explain why there's barely a feeling Hogan is the star of the movie - there are long stretches when he's nowhere in sight, and he actually doesn't get to do as much as you might think. (It doesn't help that in some long shots, he appears to be replaced by a double.) And while Hogan seems to have aimed the movie towards his youthful fans, the violence level (including attempted rape, savage beatings, and death) makes the movie a questionable choice for this age group.

My review was written in May 1989 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

A disappointing big-screen vehilce for wrestling champ Hulk Hogan, "No Holds Barred" should nonetheless birng out the Hulkster's legions of fans to generate good opening but wobbly legs this summer for New Line.

Despite pro wrestling's renewed popularity in recent years, the films about grapplers have all flopped, even with casts including Sylvester Stallone, Roddy Piper and Sgt. Slaughter.

Here Hogan plays himself, still the World Wrestling Federation champ (pic's executive producer is WWF's head honcho Vince McMahon). He's nmed Rip for story's sake. He strikes the same poses, makes the same grimaces and uses the same holds the fans are accustomed to, and is even accompanied by the same announcers (in cameos): Mean Gene Okerlund, Jesse (The Body) Venturaa and Howard Finkel.

Extremely lame plotline has tyrannical tv network boss Kurt Fuller unable to coax Rip away from a rival ewb. Fuller' countermove i to telecast live tough-guy contests, with muscular and mean black wrestler Tiny Lister emering the winner. In cliched fashion, Rip must meet Lister (as Zeus) in the octagonal ring while a race against the clock goes on to find his kidnapped girlfriend (Joan Severance) or Rip will have to "throw" the match to save her pretty neck.

Fan are bound to be disappointed by the uninteresting wrestling action on display here poorly photgraphed to boot. Toilet humor abounds and far too much footage is devoted to Fuller' wimpy, bumbling henchmen Charles Levin and David Palmer.

Best scenes, sure to please smallfry, are when Hogan as Rip takes his rassling into the street and applies it comicbook-style to smash up limos and anyting else in his way.

Unfortunately, Hogan's acting is poor, his line readings lacking any conviction. His talented and beautiful leading lady Severance has to carry all their scenes together, including a misjudged homage to Frank Capra's famous Walls of Jericho bedroom scene in "It Happened One Night".

As archvillain, Fuller closely resembles Bill Murray in "Scrooged", but overacts unbearably. Lister, with frightening crossed eyes, is physcially right but tuck with unfortunate stereotyping, as is the rest of the film's black cast. An engaging and funny supporting role is essayed by another pro wrestling champ, Stan (The Lariat) Hansen.

it was late one halloween night I had fallen asleep with my TV on and I woke up like 2 in the morning, opened my eyes and this movie was playing. I was a little groggy, but was then awake and couldnt get back to sleep and figured might as well watch this. the thing that surprised me, is, this movie is standard fair as far as fish out of water fighting against incredible odds to win something movies go, but I just LOVED the look of this movie. it was filmed very beaituflly, with some very surreal scenes. such as that rough bar hulk went to and got intoa fight, the look of the bar with the lights shining thru the walls and the colorful look of it really caught my eye. from then on, the strange thing was, while I wasnt incredibly taken with the plot, I thought the film itself, as far as the scenes was really....well........sharp and cool.

Hulk Hogan does it again a great movie with great acting, directing, and lighting. Hulk Kills people in this movie he electrocutes one guy. Hulk will be in the acting scene for another 50 years i'm sure. Hulk is a hungry young actor in 10 years he will blossom into a rose of an actor. No Holds Barred will take us into the next Millennium.