Rip is the World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Champion who is approached by Brell, the new head of the World Television Network, who wants Rip to wrestle for his network. Rip refuses and goes back to his normal life. Brell initiates a show called 'The Battle of the Tough Guys', and Zeus, wins the competition. This gets Brell to use him as an angle to get at Rip.
For months now, Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro have been sitting in their dens and nervously clutching their Oscars. They knew that an unprecedented challenge was looming... the arrival of Hulk Hogan in his first starring role in a movie.
Some may find the cartoonish violence excessive; the champion Tough Guy can't be anyone but a good guy, but that doesn't stop him from doling out to his enemies a very painful punishment.
While wrestling fans surely will queue up to see their boy win the day, No Holds Barred is just a sweaty headlock of a film, with dreary, gory scenes and a bunch of slope-headed hokum to propel it.
The final showdown between Rip and Zeus is overlong and full of uninspired wrestling stunts. The camera crews of the World Wrestling Federation do a much better job.
Barred is tremendously crude, unapologetically manipulative (Zeus finally breaks down Rip's reserve by crippling his kid brother), and aimed directly at easily entertained 13-year-old boys.
The movie never takes itself seriously and director Tom Wright (TV's "Beauty and the Beast") has fun with the wrestling montages. Hogan himself has an appealing screen presence -- like a gallant teddy bear who goes berserk every 10 minutes or so.
