Flashpoint X

Can it be? Is Flashpoint really that old? It seems like only yesterday I watched this big-budget feature for the first time, and here we are celebrating its 10th anniversary. Which means I've almost been reviewing porn for that long as well. A moment of silence, please.

By today's adult standards, Flashpoint seems rather average. It was shot by Wicked (and co-produced by Adam & Eve) back in 1997, in the days when porno was primarily shot full-frame, on video, and studios rarely spent much in terms of budget. Flashpoint followed the first two of that list, but didn't skimp on the last - being one of the most expensive movies made in adult to that date. In fact, we have the success of Flashpoint to thank for all the big-budget pornos that would follow.

I won't spend a ton of time in this review going over the actual movie...it's the same as it was back in 1997, although it has been remastered for this 10th anniversary release and also given new opening titles to change the name from "Flashpoint" to "Flashpoint X". Those wishing to go more in-depth as to what each sex scene has to offer should check out the Empire Reviews of the original version here on Adult DVD Empire, or the 100s of reviews that exist elsewhere online.

In short, Flashpoint stars Jenna Jameson (still a relative newbie to porn at the time of filming) as a firefighter who is being framed for arsons that are occurring around the city. The movie opens with a tense car rescue during which one of the firemen is killed in an explosion. The ending scenes that take place in a burning building also show off some of the impressive special effects...well, impressive for a 1997 adult flick, that is. In between these two stunt-filled scenes, we get a lot of shots in and outside of an actual firehouse (it's the same one used in the original Ghostbusters), as well as use of a real fire truck. And yes, there's a few sex scenes on the truck!

Speaking of sex, Jenna Jameson is featured in three of Flashpoint's seven sex scenes - starting with an opening scene with Mickey G.; a "fantasy" sequence in latex with T.T. Boy; and a wild bathroom girl on girl tryst (one of my all-time favorite girl/girl segments) with Brittany Andrews. Other scenes in the movie include a fire truck orgy scene involving Jill Kelly, Sindee Coxx, Johnni Black and a group of guys; and a foursome with Asia Carrera, Sydnee Steele, Eric Price and Jonathan Morgan.

Wicked Pictures has gone all-out with this anniversary release, which comes with a total of four DVDs. The first DVD contains the movie itself, along with a brand-new audio commentary by director Brad Armstrong. While the newly mastered version does look much better than the old release, there's still instances of "video noise" and occasional glitches in the print - although not enough to distract from one's enjoyment of the movie. Flashpoint's soundtrack has been upgraded here to 5.1 Dolby, with 5.1 options of a "Music Only" track, as well as a "Sex Only" track. 2.0 Spanish has also been included.

Disc Two contains all of the featurettes for the movie, starting with the 48-minute "Sex & Fire: The Making of Brad Armstrong's Flashpoint". There's also a brand-new 11-minute interview with Armstrong; an 8-minute look at the effects in the movie; a 1-minute clip of real firemen who helped with the filming; a 4-minute montage featuring "The Girls of Flashpoint"; 8-minutes worth of bloopers; an 8-minute "Shower Reel" with Jenna Jameson; a minute-long clip where Jenna talks about her tattoos; and another minute-long segments where Jenna discusses her fear of heights. All of these are presented in the full-frame format.

By far the coolest feature on Disc Two is a trivia game hosted by Carmen Hart. Like trivia games Wicked has put on some other multi-disc releases, the user is required to answer multiple choice questions about the movie. Get the questions right, and Carmen will remove some of her clothing and masturbate. Get all/enough of them right, and you're treated to a blowjob-only scene (10 ½ minutes), where Carmen sucks on Brad Armstrong. Disc Two also features 10 trailers; a promo reel; DVD-ROM content; and a handful of phone sex ads.

Disc Three is a Jenna Jameson fan's dream - assuming, that is, that you don't already own all of her Wicked DVD releases. The highlight of Disc Three are two totally uncut scenes from Flashpoint: the lesbian scene with Brittany; and the fantasy sequence with T.T. Boy. Both of these scenes give viewers an idea of what porno raw footage looks like before it goes to the editing room, and each runs about 30-minutes in length. The rest of Disc Three is filled up with 10 of Jenna's best scenes from her other Wicked movies. They are taken from the following titles: Priceless (with Peter North); Hell On Heels (with Stephanie Swift); The Kiss (with Mike Horner); Silver Screen Confidential (with T.T. Boy); Jenna Ink (with Alex Sanders); VR 69 (with Steven St. Croix); Phantasm (with Asia Carrera); Lip Service (with Brad Armstrong); Cover To Cover (with Mark Davis); and Jinx (with Alex Sanders and Nico Treasures).

Finally, Wicked has include a fourth disc, which is a softcore look at the shoot for the Y2K calendar that Jenna shot a few years back. It's about on the same level as a Playboy video in terms of what you'll get to see, but it's a nice addition for Jenna Jameson fans out there. This bonus disc also includes a photo gallery and a text biography. The feature portion of the disc runs approximately 52 minutes.

The release also comes with some nice packaging, as the case is held inside a larger box which also includes a small, full-color booklet about the movie and a collectable set of Flashpoint matches...although please try not to set anything on fire in hopes that Jenna will come rescue you!

Although it's more expensive than its predecessor (which, by the way, will go out of print when current supplies sell out), Flashpoint X is absolutely the version to own. In fact, if you already own the previous version (and given the sales, most of you do), there's plenty here to justify the upgrade. Overall, this is a top-notch, must-own effort from our friends at Wicked Pictures.

Flashpoint X has a plethora of features that are worthy of its price. Be warned though the movie is a bit different than the original version as the music in the sex scenes is different and the sex scenes, although extended, are altered. Overall good, but the original single disc edition has the better movie.