Dark City

Directed by the always visually-interesting Ethan Kane, Dark City has all the pieces in place for a great couples' porn movie except one: the actual storyline. For viewers who don't care about such things (this is porn after all), the movie delivers some nicely-shot erotic sex with a 1940s film noir look. Had the story matched the visuals, Dark City would be a home run. But even without a good plot and good acting, it's still worth a look.

From the beginning it looks like Kane spent more time worried about the look of the movie than the actors performing in it. Each scene is meticulously shot, with attention to detail and a lot of use of dutch angles (where the camera is tilted) and other frequently used camera moves that are reminiscent of film noir. Although the cover and packaging for the movie seem to suggest a Sin City-type movie, Dark City is definitely more a homage to Raymond Chandler than anything by Frank Miller.

Dark City stars Tommy Gunn as private eye Nick Caprice. As the movie opens, he gets a visit from Molly Breathless, played by sexy brunette Ava Rose. Molly tells Nick that her husband is cheating on her - but worse than that, her husband is notorious crime lord Big Boy Mahoney, who is played (in a non-sex performance) by porn legend Ron Jeremy.

Nick needs the time to think about taking the case, so to work out some of his stress he goes and visits a stripper/hooker played by Marie Luv. This sets up the first sex scene in the movie, in which Marie and Tommy fuck cowgirl, reverse cowgirl and spoon. It's not a bad scene, but it has the least appealing of any of the sex locations, as the two are going at it in an empty room with a makeshift bed (just a square with some sheets thrown over it, not really an actual bed). The pairing ends with a pop-shot that has Tommy jerking down onto Marie's chest, with a little bit hitting her tongue and chin.

Nick returns home and dozes off on his couch, leading him to fantasize about making love to Molly inside a church. This is a nicely-shot scene, with Ava taking standing doggy from Tommy, then joining him on a church pew for reverse cowgirl and cowgirl.

Back in reality, Nick heads off to Big Boy Mahoney's nightclub where he tells Molly that he'll take the case. Nick heads off, but the viewer gets to stay behind to see a nice orgy scene involving Paulina James, Faith Leon, Victoria Sin, Ava Rose, Ben English and Tee Reel.

Introduced earlier in the movie, Maya Hills gets my vote for the sexiest woman in Dark City, as well as the performer in the best sex scene. Maya plays Nick's secretary, and Director Ethan Kane goes out of his way to set up her character as a complete innocent. So when she has to distract two of Big Boy's thugs by offering up her body to them, that makes her threesome in this movie incredibly arousing to watch. The trio matches Maya with Jay Lassiter and Dirty Harry and takes place in the basement of Nick's building. Here, we get to see Maya give both guys head, and then allow them to take turns pounding her - ending with each guy shooting their respective loads into her mouth.

Before the climax of the movie, in which Nick squares off with Big Boy, Nick has one more fantasy about Molly - this time picturing her in a three-way with two other girls, played by Karlie Montana and blonde newcomer Ashlyn Page. The action has the three girls pleasuring each other with their tongues, fingers and a silver dildo. It's a solid lesbian scene, although one questions Kane's decision to make it the final sex scene of his movie.

Given the story (or lack of it) and the acting, I can only give the actual movie an average rating. However, Adam & Eve has done a top notch job with every other aspect of this release, beginning with the A/V quality. The movie is presented in anamorphic widescreen and with 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. So those with big-screen TVs should really enjoy what they get here.

All of the bonus material is located on the second DVD, and it's a nice selection of material indeed. Viewers are treated to a behind-the-scenes featurette on the making of the movie, as well as a bloopers reel, a music video, and a little bit entitled "Blow Job Hunt," in which Ethan Kane bets Mario Rossi that he can't find a girl on the set who will blow him for an extra $150 in pay. Disc 2 also includes a slide show, trailers, and four complete scenes from other Adam & Eve releases. The four scenes consist of the following: Bree Olson, Tommy Gunn and Jean Val Jean from Eden; Carmen Luvana and Jerry from Lady Scarface; Ava Rose and Brandon Iron from Fetish Dolls; and Ava Rose and Evan Stone from Pulp Friction.

Dark City is far from perfect, but at a time of year where new couples' oriented features are few, this one is worth taking a look at.