Roger's Rating:

Someone once said “With great power comes great responsibility.” As true at that may be, it's not quite as accurate as this. “With great praise comes great expectation.” Four years ago John Stagliano released a movie that many critics and fans consider to be the single greatest piece of erotica ever created. We have been waiting for the sequel ever since and expectations couldn't be any higher if this were a follow-up to a movie about pirates. Like Coppola, Stagliano faces the daunting task of following up something that was so perfect that it almost makes one cringe at the mere thought of a sequel. John has brought back the main players in his fetish-heavy romance and that means the return of both Rocco Siffredi and Belladonna. Any time you have a movie with THIS much expected of it, there are bound to be issues. It is perfectly logical to assume that even if this movie is the best release of 2006 (As some people predicted it would be months ago) that it may still fall short of the original. That's what I call setting the bar high. To borrow from baseball, one has to wonder than when someone throws a perfect game, are they disappointed if their next start is 'only' a no-hitter? (This is what happens when someone reviews a porn flick during the NLDS.) With four hours ahead of us, let's stop with the expectations and see where the master pornographer takes us this time around.

Fashion mogul Rocco and his muse Jesse (Belladonna) have taken the world by storm. The movie opens with a lengthy fashion show that introduces their new line to the world. Peppered in between the beautiful models in their highly-stylized fetish gear are performers from the “Fashionistas” stage show. During the show Jenna Haze gets her hands on Rocco's big cock and starts jerking it desperately. Gianna eventually joins the fun and wraps her magnificent mams around his staff. It's just tease though, not a full scene. This is a long and ambitious bit of film without a 'proper' sex scene. I'm not sure how everyone will feel about twenty minutes plus of tease and fetish clothing. It's shot the way a stage or fashion should be shot as opposed to a typical movie set up. That can be a big jarring at times and doesn't give us the usual close ups we would see if it were shot like say “Showgirls.” I've always wanted to see the stage show so I found this very interesting, but I can certainly see how some strokers may be twitching with desire to grab the remote. The lengthy show ends when a rival fashion line, “Safado” throws down the video gauntlet. Things are going to get ugly.

With the story now set up, we move to a post-show sex party with wall to wall fetish models waiting to fuck and suck like porn stars. Sasha Grey draws the long straw and gets to suck off Rocco himself. The rest of the room is filled with other hotties busily sucking dick, getting their asses spanked and generally creating sexual mayhem. This is good, but we still don't get what could be considered a “complete” sex scene. That will have to wait for later though because Rocco busies himself with a journalist, (Melissa Lauren) who wants to snap some photos as he gets friendly with some of the girls.

Rocco finally gets to finish what he started with Jenna and Gianna. He begins by manhandling the busty babe and shoving her ass down on Jenna's face. She might smother down there if she wasn't so busy sucking up Gianna's juices. There is great sexual energy here from both women. They share his cock and can't get enough of each other either. Gianna is on fire as she sucks and strokes that huge pole. Jenna buries her face between the other girl's thighs with more sexual abandon than we usually see. Not to be outdone, Jenna strokes Rocco like she's trying to start a fire. We are used to seeing Gianna's big tits on display, but Rocco makes sure that we see how flexible she is as he pins her knees back and fucks the living shit out of her pussy. Jenna provides additional eye candy, moral support and some hot talk to an already blistering scene. Just when it looks like the scene is as hot as possible, Jenna opens up her little ass for his cock. She struggles quite a bit to take it and is quite clear bout the fact that she has never had anything so big in there. Once she gets used to it, Jenna kicks it into high gear and takes it all. When she takes a break for some A2M she holds those pretty cheeks open to show us just how well she opened up. They finish off with some serious doggy for Gianna and a massive load all over her gigantic tits. It took us an awful long time to get to this scene, but it's worth the wait. Thanks to two amazing women and one of porn's best meat slingers, this is one of the best scenes of 2006. Can disc two give us more of the same?

Disc two begins with Rocco discovering more about Safado. Mark Davis shows him the Safado web site which contains photos of Rocco's encounter with Jenna and Gianna. The rest of the site is a series of fetish room that take us to some very dark places. With music that reminds me something Trent Reznor might come up with during morose period and visuals that are right out of a David Fincher fetish nightmare, we are taken from room to room in a whirlwind of leather, rubber, bondage and other delectably debauched delights. If you aren't really into fetish, then the action isn't going to thrill you. I found the editing and music to be just disturbing enough to convey the proper feelings. I'm impressed by the film making, but sexually this portion of the movie is quite limited. This is probably where the strokers are really going to have a problem. No one said this was going to be a typical porn flick.

When are finished with this trip into the fetish world, we return to the big after party. No one in porn shoots these with the sort of frantic intensity the Stagliano brings. Bella steps out of the shadows to prowl around the room like a lioness stalking her prey. The sexual heat from the huge group grope comes in quick blasts that many strokers find frustrating. We get to watch Nicole Sheridan deep throating, but only for a second. Melissa Lauren is in the mix as well. (How did she upload the photos to the web site?) Flower Tucci does some other girl's A2M and Bella finally gets in on the fun. Nicole Sheridan beats Bella's plugged ass with a whip like she once bullied her on the schoolyard or something. There is a ton of choking, slapping spitting and of course, enough anal sex to make sure that everyone is going to have trouble sitting down. John throws in some slow motion action and the lighting is less than optimal for maximum strokeability. It's moody as hell, but I'm very much an old fashioned guy when it comes to my desire to really see the action. As orgy scenes go, this one has incredible intensity, but as such scenes do, it often becomes a clusterfuck of body parts complete with an overwhelming din that drowns out most of the heat. There are some very nice pops at the end of the action. Nicole takes a huge load from Voodoo, Flower goes cum crazy and Sasha chokes down Everhard's load. It just doesn't work for me from a lighting standpoint and the pace is as maddening as it is frantic.

Melissa, Bella and Manuel have their own party going on in another room. There is a stripper pole there so Bella can show off some of her hottest moves. We get to see more ass eating than anyone would ever ask for. Bella still has that great ass, but the energy in this scene seems a bit forced. Melissa always has that “done that” disaffected feel to her, but Bella always had a spark. Now she seems to feeding off of her partner's dispassionate sexuality. The action ends at this point and we move ahead in the story. That might actually be a blessing because the prospect of watching fifty minutes of Manuel fucking two girls who take it like glossy-eyed punching bags just made me want to cringe.

Rocco talks to Bella as she designs a new outfit. He tells her what he knows about Safado and then takes a look at their web site. The web site now features a video of a psychotic acting (And looking thanks to the bald head) Nacho Vidal growling down at Katsumi as she worships his big cock. Katsumi is in full slut mode as she sucks him deep into her throat, tongues his ass and acts like she is starved for his meat. Sometimes Katsumi is as flat as Melissa, but in this scene she has just enough desperation to go along with her skills to make it very hot. As much as we may love her energy, Nacho feels the need to fuck her face instead. He finally busts a huge nut all over her fingers and face. Katsumi licks up the goo and gives us one final deep throat stroke to impress everyone watching.

Katsumi moves to a blonde woman in a fetish outfit that includes inflatable boobs, huge black dildos and a gas mask. They follow this up with some extreme face sitting. Katsumi lowers her privates down on a guy who is helpless as she rubs her ass on his mouth. Eventually it becomes a full-blown three way with Katsumi once again working her pretty lips around a hard cock. The blonde girl has now lost her fetish gear and is doing a pretty damn nice job of deep throating as well. The highlight of this scene has to be the two women with their asses hanging over a bar on display. He buries his face in their cheeks, works toys into their tight holes and seems totally engrossed in the intense anal worship at work here. Katsumi gets her ass totally reamed by his cock while the blonde impatiently stuffs her own sphincter with a big glass plug. They end up sharing a load of cum to close the show. This is a really great combination of fetish and hard core anal action.

Rocco is obsessed with Katsumi and Safado. This doesn't sit well with Bella who seems desperate to re-connect with him. They go from zero to sixty in two strokes as he rams his cock down her throat. The intensity is there as he bends her over, goes balls deep in her ass and then makes her take every inch down her throat. Right in the middle of the action, Bella stops and runs out telling him that she just can't do it any more.

I suppose this is what we would call a perfect cliffhanger ending. It sets things up for Safado: Berlin which should bring this epic love story to a close.

So what is the end result? Is this as good as the original? Is it a great movie? Is it worth four hours? So many questions. The end result is something that is a mixed bag of fetish, sex and film making. No, I don't think it is as good as the original, but that's not unexpected. I rank Fashionistas among the very best movies in porn history so the bar is set impossibly high. Is it great? Tough call. Parts of it are stunning. Four hours? I'm not sure too many porn features can keep things going for that long. There are moments in this movie when things drag on too long. There are moments when we are so far down a fetish alley that I have to wonder if the raincoaters have all left the building. Disc one gives us ninety minutes and only one “full” sex scene. That scene however, is one of the five best I have seen all year. It has incredible intensity, is beautifully shot and features two women who should be up for Performer of the Year. (Jenna and Gianna) The long set up is interesting and certainly shows off the fetish fashion in fine style. I think it could be considerably shorter since we have to wait so long for the initial pay off. Disc two is even less conventional. It opens with a long trip into a fetish world that is interesting, frightening and potentially erotic if you're into that sort of thing. Personally I found it to be tightly edited, but not exactly great porn. The orgy is the big event in the second half of the movie and I just couldn't get into it. The lighting was moody, but took away from the action too much. The frantic pace of the action will delight orgy fans, but I found myself wanting to see some of these girls get fucked in a scene like we saw at the end of disc one. Katsumi takes us home and she does a very good job. I often find her scenes to be flat as she just seems oblivious to cocks sawing in and out of her holes. During her blowjob with Nacho and then again in the three-way she shows the kind of heat that she is capable of. Belladonna fans may be disappointed because she really doesn't have a lot to do in this movie. She was brilliant in the first flick and may come back big time in part three. In the end Safado is probably too long, a bit too moody and with too much of an emphasis on fetish. It is also well shot with a couple of blistering sex scenes. In the hands of a less talented director this could have been a train wreck. Instead it's an interesting, if uneven movie that probably could have been cut by an hour or made better by turning some of the half-scenes into full blown events in the same vein and the Gianna/Jenna/Rocco stunner.

Copyright © Roger T. Pipe

Posted By Roger, www.excaliburfilms.com | 10/5/06 1:58 PM