Sex Island

A companion piece of sorts to Tara's recent hit, SEX ISLAND is the latest big budget release from Adam & Eve and features a lot of the same cast and location settings, but with a different story to carry the movie's seven sex scenes. Since CARRIBEAN UNDERCOVER got some of the most mixed reviews I have ever read, most of them criticizing the lukewarm sex, washed out photography and overuse of slow motion in all the action scenes, I had some concern about whether SEX ISLAND would suffer the same fate. As it turns out, SEX ISLAND is a much better movie, but still not necessarily a great one. Despite the exotic locales, and superior performers like Tara and Jessica Drake, this DVD is nothing special despite all the extras like an extensive "behind the scenes" featurette, a biography section that only focuses on Tara, Mark Davis and Jessica Drake, and few of the obligatory still photos and trailers. In fact, all these bonus features actually underscore just how middling the main video feature really is.

Still, one look at the incredibly sexy Tara Patrick, who appears in two sex scenes but makes her presence known throughout the movie, and I was almost ready to consider this disc a keeper. Whether its her decked out in a sexy business outfit, or in a form-fitting one-piece bathing suit which shows off every delectable curve on her body, Tara is pure eye candy for the entire ninety minute running time. But by the time she has a very wet and very sandy romp on the beach with Evan Stone at the end of the movie, it really isn't enough to save the feature from being merely average overall. It's great to see Tara suck cock while her body is in full view of the camera, but surfside sex scenes aren't really my thing, since we all know how uncomfortable it can really be. Obviously, the producers needed at least one obligatory beach scene for this movie, and this video delivers that much at least. Tara's first sex scene, however, is even more disappointing, particularly since she is paired with co-cover girl Caroline Cage. Since I have only seen Tara perform a girl-girl once in Andrew Blake's AROUSED (and it was a very coy, non-aggressive lesbian encounter at that), I was anxiously awaiting to see her take the plunge down south on Caroline's hot box. Unfortunately, that never happens. After a very sexy kiss between the two, Tara lies back to get her pussy eaten but does not return the favor. As if to make up for her limited activity, Evan Stone walks in to take Caroline from behind and then takes his turn at both girls until he splashes his semen on their lips and tongues. Still, I would have been glad to forego this mediocre ménage a trois just to see Tara get it on with Caroline in a no-holds barred lesbian affair.

Caroline does return later on for an outdoor affair with Mark Davis, which features condomed anal penetration. The gorgeous Jessica Drake (who really should have been co-featured on the DVD's boxcover) does the nasty with Brick Majors at the beginning of the movie, and later shares a girl-girl scene with Shelly Elson. However, her mostly standing sex scene with Brick is marred by the waterfall which sometimes obscures the action, as well as the slow-motion editing which can really try a viewer's patience. However, since I am willing to take Ms. Drake any which way I can get her, I begrudgingly forgave the director's "artistic" excess. The remaining threesomes between Vanda, Brick Majors and Mickey G., and Judy, Cheila and Mickey G. are fairly standard fuck and suck encounters and held no repeat value for my tastes. What is really missing from this movie is the sapphic pairing of Tara and Jessica, a missed opportunity which would have really put this video over the top. I know that Tara isn't really too fond of girl-girl scenes, but golly-gosh darn it, I wish she would have a more open mind about different sexual practices!

Despite the admirable production values, and the obvious care Adam & Eve has placed in their "Premium Collection" title, this DVD still has problems which annoy me to no end. First of all, the producers (or whomever) have imprinted a non-removable company logo at the top right of the screen, with the explanation that this allows for selecting chapter stops and the climactic scenes (i.e., cumshots) with a simple press of the remote control buttons. To me, this "visable" [as it is misspelled on the DVD] feature is superfluous, unnecessary and a shameless gimmick to flash the company's red apple icon throughout the movie. Like the graphics which are used to show off multiple angles, this garish little image distracts the movie viewing experience; it's like watching one of those "station identification" logos on television. Since even the cheapest DVD players have speed-search and chapter skip buttons which have surely been "mastered" by their owners, I see no validly practical reason why Adam & Eve even included this useless "extra" which cannot be turned off nor disabled. Speaking of the search buttons, for some reason the disc would lock out these features at various times during playback without any rhyme or reason. I tried this DVD on two different mid- and high-end players with the same results. Maybe it's that damn Adam & Eve logo that's causing all the problems...

If I were a Tara Patrick, or Jessica Drake, completist then there would be no question as to whether I would purchase this disc. However, since my loyalties to these two porn superstars don't transcend my desire to save money for better pornos, I choose to give this DVD a polite pass.