Angel X

Michael Raven's Angel X wants to be a live action adult version of Japanese Anime, but I got more of a Big Trouble in Little China feel when watching it...although that's certainly not a bad thing.

Kaylani Lei (in a role that was originally intended for Stephanie Swift) plays Angel, a young girl who is walking home with her boyfriend one night when they are attacked by a gang. The boyfriend is killed, but before they can get to Kaylani, she is rescued by Asia Carrera (playing a character named Fujiko), who takes Kaylani back to her place and explains why she was attacked.

Apparently, Kaylani's character is the offspring of a coupling between a Japanese queen (Olivia Del Rio) and an evil sorcerer named Gobo Daigon (Nick Manning). For reasons that aren't exactly clear, Gobo wants Angel dead because she is a threat to his power. Over the next weeks, Fujiko trains Angel and prepares her for her inevitable showdown with the evil Gobo.

If Angel X has a weak point, it's in the fact that so much of the movie's 89-minute running time is spent on Angel's background and how she turns into Angel X, that little time is left for the showdown between Gobo and Angel X, which lasts all of about 5-minutes. For a "super bad guy", Gobo seems awfully easy to kill!

Of course, there's plenty of sex thrown into the mix for your viewing enjoyment. The movie opens with a coupling between Asia and Dillion Day, and the second scene shows us the night that Olivia Del Rio spent with Nick Manning - of which Angel was the result. During the training sessions between Kaylani and Asia, the two share some lesbian love with one another, and the next to last scene is a wild orgy segment that involves (a barely-recognizable due to prosthetic makeup) Nick Manning, Alexis Malone, Lisa Parks, Brittney Skye, Lea De Mae, Lee Stone and John West. The movie's closing sex sequence is between Dale DaBone and Kaylani - with Dale playing a character who comes to Kaylani in her dreams and tries to explain what has happened to her and where she must go from here.

Although Angel X is nearly as visually stunning or as wide in scope as the recently released Space Nuts, there are a number of cool special effects in the title, including one where Angel flies from Earth into outer space (at the very end of the movie). While the video (sadly) is not presented in the anamorphic format, it is presented letterboxed (all except the opening titles) and has perhaps the best 5.1 audio transfer I have heard on an adult release, making good use of all speakers and the subwolfer.

Wicked has also done a nice job with the packaging of the disc, offering the movie on Disc One and a plethora of bonus material on a second disc. In addition to the movie, Disc One contains a feature-length commentary track with director Michael Raven and star Kaylani Lei. On Disc Two, viewers will discover a 16-minute "Making Of" featurette; a 17-minute "Director's Diary" (which is more behind-the-scenes material); 4 minutes of bloopers; "The Girls of Angel X" (vignettes of some of the female stars); slide shows; trailers; a look at the box cover shoot; plus interviews with both Michael Raven and Kaylani Lei which last about 2-minutes each.

Angel X is basically an "origin" story of an interesting new character that could be developed further in sequels, should Wicked want to make a few more movies. It's nice to see an adult film where a female character is so empowered, and fans of both Japanese chop-socky flicks and science fiction/fantasy will want to add Angel X to their collection.